"Look, sugar plum..."
"Don't call me by that nickname in this kind of situation..."
"Sorry... but look..."
"I'm not trying to make excuses," Alexander said, his voice carrying the rough edge of someone who has faced this situation before and is now approaching it a second time with less certainty about the outcome. "I'm trying to explain what's truly been on my mind, because I believe that if you grasp what I was actually thinking, it will make more sense than the idea that I simply didn't care about the objective."
"I don't think you didn't care about the objective."
"Then what do you think?"
"I think the part of you that cared about the objective was quieter than the part of you that wanted the moment," Elizabeth said. "And I think that's a problem that is specific to me. To us. I think you make better decisions when I'm not the one watching."
A pause from Alexander.
"That's not... something I know how to respond to."
