Page 83 of Kaine

“You did the best you could have at any given moment. Tell me, go back to any of those other times, what would you have differently”

He knows I don’t have an answer. He knows.

“Trust me, I’ve been there,” he offers.

“Been where.”

“Hopelessness. Helplessness.”

“With who?”

“My whole family,” he says. And stops there.

I stare at him open mouthed and all he can do is tilt his head, his eyes tender and full of pain.

“Kaine?”

“I don’t want to talk about it right now. I just wanted you to know, I know what it feels like. To feel like you’ve let down the people you love most.”

He drops a kiss onto my forehead and then helps me into the car.

We drive back to Manhattan in silence, our hands in each other’s. Each living our own nightmare but trying to find the way out together.