Veronica tends to keep to herself. Jake totally understands, and he's usually happy enough to let her, but after the discussion at the Inn where she let it slip that she had killed someone — honestly, they've all killed someone, it seems, and Jake is a broken enough person not to think any differently of her because of it — she's seemed even more withdrawn and moody. He's worried about her, but she's not actually his sister or his child, so he's not sure how much fussing she'll tolerate.

Still, it doesn't hurt to at least try.

He finds her on the front porch, writing carefully on a sheaf of paper that he hadn't seen around before. Maybe she got a gift of her own.

"Hey kiddo," he says, lowering himself down to the porch beside her, close enough to be companionable, but angled so he can't read what she's writing in case it's private. "You okay?"