“He knows where to cut, and he does it instinctively. He doesn’t mean it, but that doesn’t make it hurt less.” He rests his head against Raylan’s shoulder, staring into space and remembering what Malcolm had said to him when they tangled after Neal snubbed Will at the gazebo. What he’d said in the counseling office after. He still feels those wounds whenever he sees Malcolm smile at Will, which doesn’t make it easier to take.

“He doesn’t get how deep it goes because he forgives so quickly himself.” A pause, and Neal closes his eyes for a moment. “Which I guess is a criticism.”

He opens his eyes in time to see Raylan’s wolf approximation and smiles, though much like Raylan’s expression earlier, it doesn’t make him look happy. “He came to talk to me the night after he did it. He’d asked me for advice before he made the decision. I was against it. But he chose them anyway, I guess. I did say at the time that I wasn’t going to be objective.”