I'm quiet for a moment, doing nothing but staring off into the dark and sucking on my cigarette. All of that sounds good. It sounds real, and I know that it's at least half of the truth. It makes sense, that he'd want all that. Hell, I'm starting to want the same thing, too.

"But some of it... Some of it's 'cause of me," I say, and it's not really a question, and I can't really do a goddamn thing about how fuckin' hopeful it sounds, underneath all the fear and all that disbelief.