"It isn't," she said. "They're your family. You still have them. You can call them. If something happened to you, Rude would break a few of the laws of time and space to get here."

The water was interesting to watch, as it crashed along the edge of the sand.

"So why have you been avoiding me?"

Not physically. They saw each other plenty. And when they did, he was ... not there at all.