Anna Trevelyan returned mid-stream to help the many-sided story; Nate learned more about the present than the past, however. Nate reflected the smiles with his own, watching the brief and tender banter between the married couple about their origin story, their sacred little tale kept carefully and tended well, like a little ember. His instinct was to dislike or mock it. It was a chasm in any common ground Nate and Jonas might be able to stake out. Engaging marriage, family drama, houses with living rooms with sofas, and kitchens with nice beer in electric refrigerators. Careers with coworkers and bosses and risks and rewards. Days had starts and ends.

But Nate wouldn't sneer. Not the least because he'd been invited in this and accepted the invitation; Jonas had been a pal about the whole thing.

"It would've been within your rights to kick him," Nate said but suspecting Anna hadn't. Anna and Jonas made more sense to Nate as conspirators rather than sparring partners.