[ She is supposed to be a genius, but it's still something of a relief that she puts that puzzle together by herself. He nods, tucking his hands into his pockets as another degree of tension leaves him. ]

Yeah. That's [ smart; what I did ] reasonable.

People know I went to prison. I've been telling them it had to do with me stealing a car, which is technically sort of true. I haven't been saying which prison, but...yeah.

You can pitch it as a redemption story. People like those.

[ The lack of judgment he's received for his milder revelations has been encouraging, even if he can't count on it. It's still going to be bad. It just might not be catastrophic.

But how far would that extend to Riley, with everything she's done? He hooks a flake of dry skin on his lip with a tooth and worries it loose. ]

And if it comes down to it, it wasn't all you, right? There's your passenger, and there's Jack. It's not a pass, but it's...mitigating.