As a rule, people don’t ask if Anthony is all right. As a rule, Anthony doesn’t want them to. He cultivates his air of cold detachment carefully, creating the facade of a man who is never anything but. But Gabriel’s question gets under his skin; it makes him question the effort he has put into creating his emotional armor. He almost answers, no. He nearly admits, barely. He considers what it would mean to say aloud, I failed those I love most, and I do not know what to do.

In the end he says none of these things, but he can feel his resolve to leave with little fuss weakening.

“I’m all right.” A beat. “Would you like me to buy you a drink somewhere? Or do you and your fellow thespians already have plans?”

Christ, he was doomed from the moment they spotted one another.