"I know," he said, and nodded. It was just a matter of what he wanted to talk to her about. She was the best source for most things, but the idea of talking to Claire about his own romantic problems sounded like utterly humiliating torture.

And now he had no idea what else to say. He absolutely did not want to ask about Leon. The very mental image of the guy's face was kind of making him nauseous, particularly in any kind of +Claire scenarios. Some masochistic part of him wanted to ask if he'd ever had a chance at all, but that answer would do nothing but rip the hurt even wider, so he kept it to himself.

"I'm sorry, Claire," he finally settled on. "For all this."