"No," Mathias says when he hears her call herself an awful person. After Mexico, he's seen what an awful person truly is, how far some people can go, how far they can be pushed. (And it isn't fair at all for him to think of Jeff this way, not when he's not even here to defend himself and not when, at the heart of it, Mathias was just as cruel.) What Sookie is doing is far from awful. It's human and he is disappointed, but she isn't being awful.

Honesty can hurt, but he appreciates it far more than being let down easy. More than lies told to keep him from hurting too much.

"It doesn't make you a bad person," he says slowly and he knows he sounds a little distant, but he's still trying to work out his own feelings about what's happening. All that he can think of, though, is how much he misses Veronica. Finally, he lifts his head and meets Sookie's gaze, giving her a small, faint smile. "It is not awful." Loving someone never really is, he thinks, and if Sookie can be happy with her ex, then that's all he can really hope for.