In this case, the stars were a convenient backdrop. Just like in the conference room days earlier when they conferred privately as she came to her decision, they were a place to cast a vacant stare. "The patterns that have formed in my life."

He turned more of his body toward her and offered her a weak smile. "I'm sorry. I guess I've spent too much time in my own head the last few days."

He'd never considered himself a person out of touch with his own reality but there were aspects of himself he'd never considered in the wake of Riley and the cooperative.