The Optimist and Pessimist
Characters: Brady and Jason Setting: Workshop, mid/late morning
With nothing better to do with his time, Jason decided he’d go try to find Reggie. Okay, so it wasn’t so much that there was nothing better to do as it was a simple desire to go find him, but… He was still trying to get past that little voice in his head telling him that this – not necessarily the Reggie part, but simply getting involved with anyone in this sort of capacity – was a bad idea. So even though he wanted to find the other man, wanted to spend the time with him, that was the excuse he made to himself to shut that little voice up.
Like the day before, Jason figured there were really two places to start looking: Reggie’s room and the workshop. Mostly because he had a little excess energy to work off, he decided to start with the workshop since it was further away.
Once at the workshop though, it only took him a second to realize that Reggie wasn’t there. However, there was a familiar face. “Hey Brady,” he greeted the other man.
After assuring Mazie that he’d keep her in the loop about the self defense classes, Brady made himself something quick to eat, and then decided that he needed to go do something. The gym didn’t hold much appeal to him when he noticed that it was already occupied, and so he took himself and his mug of coffee back over to the other block. It couldn’t hurt to bang around in the workshop again. It wouldn’t be the workout he was craving, but it would work.
If nothing else it would be a way to keep his hands busy. Idle hands were the Devil’s playthings, after all.
He’d been there for a little while already, and though he was leaving the car alone, he was still messing with other things, not really building anything in particular, but keeping his hands busy. He glanced over when Jason greeted him though, giving him a nod. “Hey man. How’s it going?” he asked. It had been a while since he’d caught up with Jason, and now was as good a time as any, right?
Even though Brady wasn’t who he had been looking for, Jason didn’t mind having run into the other man. If nothing else, it would give him something to do. And he sort of liked Brady, even though their first meeting had been… awkward.
“Good. Slowly though. It’s weird having this much free time.” Which was really the biggest adjustment. At the prison in Florida, pretty much every part of the day had been regulated and scheduled for them, with very little free time. “I don’t really know what to do with myself. I never spent as much time at the gym on the outside as I do now. What about you? How are things going for you?”
Brady let out a short, amused laugh at that. “Yeah it is,” he agreed with a nod. He kind of hated having so much free time. Prison had been hard enough, but at least they’d had specific schedules they’d had to follow. Here, with this pseudo freedom, he just felt lost. “Yeah, me either. And things are... going, I guess. There’s a lot of fucked up shit going on around here, but between you and me? I’m damned tired of thinking about it, much less talking about it. That’s why I came here; tryin’ to find something to work on, get my mind off things,” he admitted.
Jason was fairly sure that a lot was a bit of an understatement, but he definitely agreed with the sentiment. It seemed like talking about the problems here was all most people wanted to do. And he got that; there were a lot of problems that needed to be addressed. But God, it was enough to drive a person nuts if you thought about it too long. He definitely understood wanting to do something to take your mind off of it all, even if it was just for a little while.
Still, he smiled. “Well, at least that sounds better than I had energy to burn, I was bored, and didn’t feel like going to the gym, so I was wandering.” Which actually was a situation Jason had found himself in several times since he had gotten here.
Brady snorted out a laugh at that. “Yeah, but can’t say that didn’t play into it too. You can only work out so much, right? Probably gonna go for a swim later just to change things up some.” He set what he’d been holding down and turned to lean against the workbench. “Hopin’ it’s gonna be you, me, and Jae for the law enforcement, and I saw your post yesterday, and I gotta say, I’m curious. You mind if I ask what you’re in for?” he asked, tone curious but not pushy.
Honestly, Jason was glad to hear that he and Brady were on the same wavelength with the law enforcement thing. “I’ll admit, you and Jae are definitely at the top of my list for law enforcement,” he responded. He still didn’t know if he really wanted the job or not, but paired with the two of them? Yeah, he’d be willing. He trusted himself more than people he hadn’t met, and he trusted that they wouldn’t let his temper be a problem.
Jason shrugged. “Not at all.” He hadn’t been lying when he had said he didn’t mind people asking. Granted, he didn’t like to talk about it – but then again, most people didn’t seem to like to talk about that sort of stuff – but he didn’t have any problems answering when people asked him. “Involuntary manslaughter and a couple counts of aggravated battery,” he answered, voice even out of habit. Normally, he’d leave it at that, but this wasn’t like in Florida, in normal prison where he was trying to intimidate someone into leaving him alone (which was where he had gotten in the habit of saying that as emotionlessly as possible). He actually kind of wanted to explain, because yeah, in this case, he actually did care what Brady was going to think about that. But… He didn’t really know if Brady was interested in the story, or if he was, if he would care about his story, rather than the official one. So he left it there for the moment, waiting to hear Brady’s reaction before going into any details.
Brady couldn’t say he was surprised that Jae and Jason both seemed to be with him on who they wanted the law enforcement team to be made up of. Hopefully the rest of the community would agree and they would get the team they wanted. He didn’t comment on it, though, just giving Jason a brief, crooked grin.
The even tone didn’t bother Brady; he was far too used to dealing with fellow inmates who didn’t want to show any weaknesses. His brows raised, though, a little surprised at the similarities in their basic convictions. “Well fuck. What happened?” he asked, still sounding just curious. He was in no position to judge Jason for his conviction considering his own.
While he wasn’t sure just how obvious it was to Brady, Jason was grateful for the question. “You want the official story or mine?” He asked with a quiet, unamused laugh. Rather than wait for a response though, he continued. “Official story is, I have a hell of a temper. And I took it out on this young couple. Beat the shit out of them. The girl was pregnant, lost her baby because of the whole thing and here I am.” It was a shortened version, but it would do. “My story? I have a hell of a temper. And I don’t like bullies. And… I never touched her.” While he had kept his tone flat throughout his quick rundown of the official story, the one the press had spread and the one the jury had believed, his voice softened slightly then. “Her boyfriend did. Which is why I beat the shit out of him, and why I don’t regret that I did. But… I messed up. I probably went way beyond justifiable with him and worse… I did it when I should have helped her. And she lost her baby.” If there was anything he did regret about that night, it was how his actions had affected Tiffany. And yeah, he still remembered her name from the trial. How could he forget? She and her baby were the reason he didn’t generally protest his innocence because, yeah, in his mind, he hadn’t attacked her, but… That still left a single count of aggravated battery and the involuntary manslaughter that he wasn’t really sure he could in good conscience protest.
Although he’d had every intention of telling Jason he wanted the truth, whichever version that was, Brady stayed quiet when the other guy didn’t wait for a response and just went into his explanation. The short, official version was some pretty fucked up shit, but he knew very well just how skewed the official story could get, so he just waited while Jason launched into the longer version. As the guy spoke, Brady crossed his arms and looked at him. Studied him, was more like, trying to find any signs that he was being dishonest. In the end, though? He had to admit that he was inclined to believe Jason. It was different than his own situation because he had actually hurt Brenna on more than one occasion, but he’d never meant to, never wanted to hurt her. “Well fuck. Can’t say I’d have done much different.” Though after he said so, he considered it a bit more. “Well, I’d probably have knocked his ass out then called for an ambulance, but I got two kids and fuck, I’d have gone to hell and back to protect Brenna when she was pregnant, and I guess that extends to other pregnant women?” he posed with a small shrugs. Being a father gave him a different perspective, different priorities.
“I know. And if there’s anything I regret, it’s that I didn’t do that. Even when the police got there, I already knew I had messed up. And fuck, I was trained as a first responder, I could have helped her. But… Like I said, I have a temper. And when it happened? I lost it.” Jason sighed, running a hand through his hair. This was… This was just about the first time he talked to anyone other than his lawyer about this. The guilt still hurt as much as it had then too, which was why he didn’t like to talk about it. In Florida, he had been afraid of admitting how guilty he felt about the whole thing, afraid that he would be showing weakness, afraid that the other people there would realize that he wasn’t like them. Hell, before he had been arrested, the worst he had had on his record was a single speeding ticket.
“Which is why,” he admitted, “that I said I wasn’t sure if I should be given a job doing the whole Law Enforcement thing. I know I have a temper, and I know it’s gotten the better of me before. And I don’t want anyone else suffering because my temper messes with my priorities.”
“Seriously man?” Brady began with a shake of his head. “You’re talking to someone who’s real well acquainted with having something inside of you that you can’t always control.” He got it, really, and he didn’t exactly fault Jason for it. Sure, Jason had made a pretty huge mistake, but the fact that the mistake was going overboard in kicking the guy’s ass after seeing him beat his pregnant girl spoke volumes to how not fucked up Jason was in Brady’s book. “Yeah maybe, but considering the consequences you’re dealing with cause of it, do you really think you’ll let something like that happen again?” he asked seriously.
Jason took a moment to think about that. It wasn’t a question he had considered quite in that context before. Realistically, he had gotten better at controlling his temper. Prison had necessitated that. It was still volatile – breaking an inmate’s arm the day before he had ended up here was proof enough of that (even though the guy had deserved it) – but… It was still different. A quick flare up, maybe but… Not like when he had been arrested. Not anything that completely overruled his good judgment. He knew that it didn’t mean it couldn’t happen again, but… Given how much he had been working on controlling it? It was unlikely.
“Probably not,” he answered slowly, still working on straightening it all out in his head. “I mean, losing my temper again, yeah, that will probably happen. Given the nature of this place, I think that would be hard to avoid. But… I really have no intention of letting it override everything else again. Especially not when it could get someone else hurt.” More than anything, Jason did not want another person like Tiffany suffering for his mistakes.
Brady was quiet while Jason thought, not seeing any point in trying to rush the process. He knew what it was like to not really be able to sort out your own mind on a dime. When he finally did answer, he nodded. “Well, there ya go. Long as you’re not gonna let shit go to that extreme again, I don’t see any problem. Fuck, we’re all here cause we made some kind of mistake, and we should all be tryin’ to work it out so we don’t make those same mistakes again. And I sure as hell would rather you on my back than a fucker who’s made it clear he’s not a team player at all,” he said, referring to Aaron, though he doubted Jason would know that unless he’d met the guy.
Brady had a point there. Even though he didn’t say it, Jason was grateful for what Brady had said. Having an outside perspective on the situation was… something he hadn’t had before, and he appreciated it.
Jason only knew about the other man from his post on the computers about the jobs. Yeah, he had sort of understood where he was coming from with part of what he had said – like the not really being sure he trusted someone else to do the job instead of him – but at the same time… He had seemed sort of abrasive. More so even than Brady had been when they had first met. But he had to admit, now he was curious. “Have you met the guy?” Actually, now that he thought about it, he was pretty sure that, other than Jae, Brady and himself, there had been two other names for the position. But the only one person, Aaron, if he remembered correctly, had commented on the computers, so that was who he was assuming Brady was talking about.
“Aaron?” Brady asked for clarification, then went on without actually waiting for it. “Yeah, I met him. Guy’s abrasive as fuck. He’s been in five years, I think he said, so he’s got that whole ‘lone wolf, buffed up to keep people off my back’ thing going.” Which he thought was also in part because of his conviction, but he still hadn’t decided whether or not he believed the guy was guilty, so other than telling Jae, he didn’t really plan to spread it around. “But long story short, he doesn’t seem like a team player, and whoever gets the law enforcement spots need to be able to work together.” Which he thought he, Jae, and Jason would be able to do.
Jason could understand part of that. Hell, he had done his best to intimidate people into leaving him alone in Florida. But this was different. That… That had not been natural for him, which was why it had been so easy to let go of that here. Still though, he had to agree with Brady on that one. “Yeah. A place like this? I’m pretty sure going lone wolf in that position will just cause more problems than it solves. Not to mention put whoever is put with him at risk.” And he didn’t really like that idea. He liked Jae and Brady. No matter his other thoughts on the position, Jason would much rather he be there to watch their backs than someone who was more likely to just get them into trouble.
“Yep, exactly,” Brady agreed with a nod. “Anyway, fuck. Wanted to get my mind off the bullshit of this place,” he reminded him with a very small grin. “Tell me somethin’ from before. Ever married or anything?” he asked curiously.
If there was one thing he didn’t mind, it was changing the topic to something else, especially to something not having to do with prison. “Nah,” he said, grinning slightly. “Never found the right person, and I wasn’t going to rush it or anything. Figured it would happen if it was supposed to.” Right now, it was kind of hard to feel too upset about the fact that, here, marriage was not really an option, especially with the new development with Reggie. He wasn’t going to say that, though. While he had never really been hesitant about it before, he did know that prison was not necessarily the best place to admit to swinging both ways. He didn’t really think Brady would have a problem with it, but… Habits and all.
Well, now Jason figured it was his turn to ask a question. He couldn’t ask the same one, because he knew from reading some of the things Brady had written that he had been, and that he had had kids, and he was willing to bet that if he wanted to keep things on a lighter note, that was probably a topic better not asked about. So he took a second to consider before asking, “So, you said you grew up in the middle of Bumfuck, Nowhere. What did you do for fun? Please tell me you went cow tipping.” That wasn’t something he had realized people actually did, until he had been incarcerated in Florida with a rather large number of country boys and rednecks.
Nodding, Brady could understand that. He’d been lucky to find Brenna when he had, even if he’d ended up screwing it up. “Gotchya. Yeah, no need to rush it,” he agreed. Better not to have a spouse having to deal with a tarnished reputation and the judgment sure to come their way because of it, too. When Jason in turn asked him a question of his own, he snorted out a short laugh. “Nah man, never said I grew up in Bumfuck. Actually grew up in Memphis. Just lived in hell for a while. A few times, actually. The middle east and all that shit,” he clarified. “And nope, never gone cow tipping,” he added with another short laugh.
“Memphis?” So if Brady had grown up in Memphis, then where had he gotten that idea from? Jason tried to remember their first conversation. “Okay, so not grew up, but you did live in… Kansas or something like that, right?” He just wanted to make sure that he hadn’t completely gotten that part wrong. He was pretty sure that it had been Brady. “If you grew up in Memphis, than you’ve been to Graceland, right?”
“I’ll try not to judge you too much for that,” Jason laughed. Really, he didn’t personally see the appeal, but it was just so weird of an idea to him that people actually did that that he had to ask, his curiosity getting the better of him. “If nothing else, I’m sure the cows thank you.”
Despite his earlier intention to not ask about anything too serious, Jason couldn’t really just ignore the bit about hell and the Middle East. Because he knew Brady had been military, and you didn’t just ignore things like that. Curious, but unsure of how much Brady would want to talk about it, he asked, “Where abouts were you stationed?”
“Yep, Memphis,” Brady confirmed with a nod. He was quiet while Jason tried to work through where he’d gotten the idea, and then he laughed at the question, nodding. “Yep, was stationed there last, and when I got out Brenna and I decided to put down roots rather than moving the kids again.” Not that Michael would have understood the concept of moving, and it might have just been an adventure for Madelyn, but he and Brenna hadn’t wanted to deal with moving again. “Nah, never actually went to Graceland. It was one of those things that was right there and I just never did, y’know?” That and he’d never had the money for it.
Brady snorted a laugh at the cows bit, shaking his head, leaving it at that.
The more serious question didn’t bother him. In many ways, talking about his deployments was easier than talking about his family, though not always. “Few different places in Iraq and Afghanistan. Seen a lot of desert, and I’m not sorry that I won’t have to see it again,” he answered, trying to pair it with a grin that just didn’t quite make it.
Well, at least he hadn’t been completely off the mark with that one. That would have been embarrassing. Jason had figured he’d had to ask about Graceland. It was just about the first thing he thought of when it came to Memphis, but that was because his mom had loved Elvis. The thought made him smile slightly, because it was hard to have any other reaction to memories of his mom, the tiny little Korean woman that she was, dancing through the house and singing “You Ain’t Nothing But a Hound Dog.” It had been quite a sight. “I think everyone has those places. I mean, I spent my whole life in Columbus, but I know there is a lot there that I’ve never seen.” And well, Graceland was sort of geared towards one particular audience.
Even though he could tell that the grin wasn’t quite real, Jason chose not to comment on it. They all had those moments, and he wasn’t going to call Brady out on it. “What made you decide to join the military?” he asked, curious. People joined for all sorts of reasons, and he couldn’t tell which one he thought most likely for Brady. Simple desire to serve maybe?
Hearing where Jason was from, Brady couldn’t help but snort out a laugh. “Columbus? What the hell’s there to see in Ohio?” he asked jokingly. Though really, what was there to see in Ohio? He had no idea. “But yeah, kinda like it’s something that’s a big deal to everyone else, but ‘cause it’s right there, it’s no big deal. And then one day you realize you lived next to something that’s a big deal and never bothered to experience it. I’m not too disappointed ‘bout missin’ out on Graceland, though.” It just hadn’t held a huge draw for him.
His expression fell at the question, and he sighed, shaking his head. “Necessity. My dad was dead, may he rot in hell, my mom was pretty useless, and I had to find a way to support my sister. Got my GED, wasn’t really cut out for college, so military was the only real choice. It was a paycheck, a roof over my head - most of the time, and food in my stomach. Made sure to send money back home to Shannon, and once she graduated, I moved her out with me and made sure she got into college. Things worked out pretty good for her, really.” And he did hope that things were still going good for her.
Jason grinned at Brady’s question about Ohio. “Farms. Lots and lots of farms. But in all fairness, Columbus is actually a pretty big city. You’ll definitely never get bored, and you can find almost anything there. But… There’s not really anything famous around there. Not like Graceland. Just a really bad NHL team. And well, the zoo, if you’re into that, because I remember before I was arrested there were all these TV commercials about how it had been voted the best zoo in America by Travel Magazine or something. But… Nothing to make people go Wow, I want to go there! or anything.” It had been a fair question, because really… There wasn’t much in Ohio that drew people in. Well, he supposed there was the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. And both Cincinnati and Cleveland had their NFL teams. But other than that? Ohio was a whole lot of farmland.
Brady’s response to his question about why he had enlisted made Jason wonder if maybe he shouldn’t have asked. But Brady had answered, even though he could have chosen not to, so he figured it wasn’t too bad. Still, he wasn’t quite sure what to say about that. “College isn’t really for everyone. Hell, I got an academic scholarship and still dropped out before my junior year. Couldn’t stand being stuck in classrooms anymore. But at least joining the military worked out for you.” Of course, it occurred to him that, given the fact that Brady was here, it hadn’t quite worked out but… “Well, other than this whole thing. But you helped support your sister and that’s more than most people can say about themselves.”
The long, rambling answer amused Brady, and he nodded at it. “So, not much,” he summed it up with a small smirk. He didn’t really have more to say on the subject, though, so he moved on, not that the other topic was a happy one. “Yeah, I’m really not an academic, but whatever. I made do, worked construction after I got out. There’s shit out there for people who don’t do well with their noses stuck in books.” He didn’t sound bitter or resigned, more just aware of his own abilities and strengths.
“What sort of construction?” Jason asked. Given the last couple of questions he had asked, he had figured it best not to ask anymore about the military or anything like that. Plus, if he didn’t ask, then there would be that awkward silence, because he really didn’t know what else to say. And well, he was curious. Construction might be considered a blue-collar job, but it was sure as hell important. “Did you work on houses or bigger stuff?” Were those the only two opinions? He wasn’t really sure, but he supposed that didn’t really matter anyway.
Brady had been about to answer the question, but then it was followed by a more specific one, and he nodded. “Yeah, both actually. Hard, physical work, but it felt good to do it. Kept me busy and shit.” He wanted to get to know Jason better, though, so he decided to try to get the guy talking more about himself. “You were a paramedic, though, right? What made you decide to get into that?”
Nodding in response to Brady’s answer, Jason could certainly understand that. “Actually, I was a firefighter. We just acted as paramedics whenever we weren’t on fire runs,” Jason answered. In reality, they actually did more acting as paramedics than dealing with fires, simply because comparatively, fire calls were a whole lot less common than ones requiring paramedics. “And as for why? Probably partly because of a lack of sense of self-preservation, or at least that’s what my mom always said. But, it was exciting; I was never bored, which was what I needed. I got to help people, so that was a plus. And, I guess I’m kind of a pyro, so there is that too.” Really, he didn’t know for sure what it was that had made him consider being a firefighter, but he had tried it, first as a volunteer, and had loved it. Fortunately, the Berlin Township Fire Department had had both full time and volunteer firefighters and he had been able to get on full time.
“Ahh,” Brady said at the correction. He wasn’t sure where he’d got the paramedic thing from, but he wasn’t worried about it. He chuckled at the self-preservation comment, understanding that concept very well. His own mother had never had much to say on the topic, but there was no use crying over it. “Exciting’s always good, and fuck, who doesn’t like playing with fire from time to time?” he asked jokingly. He’d never really reached pyro status, but he understood the draw. Fire was unlike anything else in the world, it’s destructive, untamed power. “That’s good ya found somethin’ you really liked. You think ya might go back to it if ya ever get out of here?” he asked curiously.
“Playing with fire is always fun. When you know what you’re doing and in a controlled environment,” Jason pointed out. Because just playing with fire… Well, that was frequent source of their calls. “I swear, you’ve never seen a group of adults so excited about training as when the chief announced that we had a training day. Set the course on fire and have fun, basically.” Okay, so not quite, but sometimes that was what it felt like, even when they were actually doing work. Of course, it also depended on your opinion of the thing; he was pretty sure most people would not use the word fun to describe it. “Or controlled burns. Everyone wanted to be there when we got called to do controlled burns.”
That last question was a no-brainer. “Definitely. I mean, part of it is simply because I would have no clue what else to do if I wasn’t being a firefighter. But, really, I don’t think I’d want to do anything else.” Which sort of made him wonder… “What about you? You think you’ll go back into construction?”
“Ha, yeah, I know what you mean. There was some training my guys always got excited for, too,” Brady admitted. Sure, it was a different profession, but the concept translated, right? What must it be like to be so confident in what you wanted to do after prison? Brady still didn’t really think he was ever going to get out, much less what job he would want if he did get out. The whole concept of starting over, of living a life without Brenna and the kids was just unfathomable for him. “Don’t know, man. Never really thought about it,” he admitted with a shrug. “I ever get out? I’ll probably just get whatever job I can. Doubt the economy’s picked up since I’ve been in.”
“Well, let’s hope the fact that someone can afford to do something like this, and try this new approach to rehabilitating criminals means that the economy hasn’t gotten any worse.” Because for all that Jason knew what he wanted to do when he got out, that was just one of several factors that would influence whether or not it actually happened.
As for whether or not they would get out… Well, Brady’s comment about if he was getting out was just depressing. “I am choosing to believe them when they said about getting out early. Not really because I think the people in charge are really worth believing, but more because if not… I’m fucked,” Jason said. “If I have to serve my whole sentence I’ll be…” It took a quick second to do the math. “I’ll be sixty-five. Fire departments don’t hire people that old. Hell, most places don’t if they can get away with it. I’d be lucky if I could get anything.”
Brady was just too much of a pessimist to really think that things were better out there, but he didn’t see any point in trying to poke holes in Jason’s balloon. “Maybe,” he said simply instead, shrugging again. He understood why Jason wanted this deal to be the real thing, even if the scope of his own sentence hadn’t been quite so long. The problem was that Brady had never planned to get out of prison, he’d planned to die in it, but that just wasn’t something he was prepared to share with the other guy. “Yeah man, well I hope for your sake this place is legit, then. It’d suck to have to try to start over in your sixties.”
“Not just for me. For all of our sakes,” Jason corrected, watching Brady closely. Jason was, and had always been, an optimist at heart. Granted, that had been tempered slightly by his incarceration, but only enough for occasional bouts of realism. Still, optimism was his default and as hard as it was to be remain that way in regards to this place, he was willing to do so, especially where others weren’t. Hell, he was pretty sure that Brady didn’t deserve to die in here anymore than he did, so hell, he could hold on to the hope that maybe the people in charge weren’t lying about that, for the sake of most everyone he had met here so far.
Jesus fucking Christ, how in the hell had he managed to befriend so many fucking optimists? Brady just didn’t fit in with these people, and he was baffled at how he’d managed to get so many people rooting for him to succeed. If they only knew, right? “Yeah, but I only had four more years on my sentence,” he admitted with a shrug. It was a way to deflect from his true thoughts on whether or not he’d get out of prison, by implying that the having to start over so old thing didn’t really apply to him.
Shrugging slightly, Jason pointed out, “Doesn’t really matter though. Getting out early is still better than being stuck in here the whole time, right?” Brady might not have as long a sentence as he did, but he was pretty sure anyone in their right mind would prefer getting out early to serving their full sentence.
Pushing himself off the workbench he’d been leaning on, Jason glanced up at the clock on the wall. “I think I’m going to get something to eat. You wanna come or do you want to finish up what you were doing?” Either way was fine with him, but he figured he’d ask in case Brady was interested.
Brady shrugged at that, understanding the logic as applied to most people even if he didn’t really apply it to himself. When Jason glanced at the clock, his own eyes followed, and he gave a nod at the question. “I could eat,” he answered, figuring he’d been here long enough. And, well, he could eat almost anytime really. With a nod toward the door, he headed that way, thinking they could keep up the getting to know who each other were beyond how they fit into this program as they figured out food.