And when she had said that, all Reno could do was stare. Stare until his brain jump-started itself and his heart crawled back down out of his throat, where it had attempted to pull what was left of the ramen he'd had for lunch up to.

"You... really believe that?"

His tone was tired. Flat. Dead all over again. He couldn't cry, this time. All he could do was stand there and wonder what he'd done so wrong that she honestly thought she meant... damn near nothing to him.