Maybe Alex is expecting condemnation. Maybe a part of him is even hoping for it. But Mike doesn't oblige. Instead he listens, then slowly pushes off his stool to reach over the bar for a glass of his own.

"There are worse things," he says lowly, glass clicking as he bottle tips and taps the rim of his glass. "It's an answer. Maybe not the right one, but at least they aren't wondering what happened. Asking themselves why, or trying to figure out what they should have done."