Your responsibility, [ she says, patient as ever. ] You're only responsibility, from the very beginning— [ Penn leans forward a little, covers Nellie's hand with his own, his chin craning just far enough to try and catch her gaze. ] —was to care about him. And you did.

[ You do, he thinks might be more accurate, but he won't put those words in her mouth and her heart, not when it sits too close to an open wound.

In a way, they're not so different — Penn and Nellie's kid. They're both wishful boys who grew up to be lonely men, and they both kill memories in the hopes of purging their own — one out of empathy, the other out of bitterness. (He doesn't want to destroy Nellie, but Penn will if she asks.) ]