20

They ate together without talking until the silence began to feel brittle. Watching him in between bites, she again marveled at his composure. Didn’t anything bother him? Unable to stay quiet any longer, she laid her fork aside and blurted, “How do you do it?”

He looked up at her, white plastic fork poised halfway to his mouth. “Do what?”

“Cope with all…this.” She waved a hand around to convey she meant

everything. “Compartmentalize terrible things so they don’t affect you.”

Something flickered in his eyes at the last part and he looked back down at his container of rice and veggies. “Training and experience, mostly. I learned real quick that dwelling on things doesn’t do any good because it won’t change

any of it.”

The decidedly cryptic edge to his tone made her certain there was a story behind the words. A thousand thoughts flooded her mind, none of them good. By comparison he’d gone through much worse than her today and yet he acted as though nothing out of the ordinary had happene