He'd spooked him somehow, without even meaning to, and while there's regret that now mingles with the concern he's still feeling, Darlington tries to exude a little more calm than anything else. It may not work, may not lead Caleb back to a more even place, but it's what he can do for the moment. "Yeah," he says, and they pass the cutaway without pausing. "We'll keep going."

It takes a minute or two to think of a question that's anodyne enough, something that has little chance of reinvoking whatever had triggered Caleb's panic in the first place. "What else do you like to do?" he asks. "Other than football or running, that is."