"That was more than one word," she said, but there wasn't really any censure in it. I'm sorry for it. And I'm promising to try to do better in the future - and everything else was window dressing. It was actually more than she'd expected.

She exhaled slowly, rubbing a hand across her face.

"Okay. I -- okay."

She'd expected to feel some sort of satisfaction at making him flinch, but she'd just felt sick, and maybe that was a sign that things weren't a total wreck.