"I'm sorry," was all Billy could say at first. His face burned so badly with embarrassment that he hid it as soon as Ronnae gave him the chance.

"I should've just apologized to you for that, but I got caught up in other issues I've been confronted with since I got involved in this war. So I'm sorry that I offended you with my ignorance. It's...next time, just say 'shut up Billy'."

There was a lot more he was starting to realize, but this was no place to dump his issues---and he couldn't yet articulate it anyway.