Neil smiles, the expression mirthless. It falls away after a beat. "I don't think I'm using him for money or anything," he gives. "There was just a lot of my personal crap he had to wade through in the past year. Now everything between us seems so...out of whack."

Good. Better than it was before, Neil would say. Yet everything remains out of equilibrium, and he needs to do something about that. Wants to do something.