An air duct? What was she going on about air ducts for. It didn't make even a single bit of... Oh. Oh of course. "Venting. It's like...complaining just for the sake of complaining. I was pretty famous for it as you probably remember. And you know what? Sometimes its the only thing that works. Sometimes just complaining about everything, about life, about things that bother you, maybe not the personal stuff but just stuff, sometimes it helps." And it did, sometimes screaming at the world was the best way to get over whatever was wrong with you in the first place.
It wasn't all Freddie ranting for the sake of it. Occasionally it had purpose.
He still mostly couldn't believe she'd taken the commie idiot back. Of course there were probably those that said the same about him and Florence, or Florence and him, none of them were entirely blameless in what had happened back then. Except maybe Svetlana. He hadn't felt proud of using her family video to get to Anatoly even at the time, of course the fact it had so bothered the lying hypocrite commie did please him, so he'd gotten over it. Also Global's money had helped. But overall, it was probably quite cruel of him to have pushed it so far.
"How are the girls? I know it can't have been easy." he asked trying to make conversation while seeing if she was okay. He wasn't sure how well it would work, but it was worth a try, wasn't it?