Then what? What could possibly be causing you so much stress that you need to secretly take up smoking to handle it, Al?

[ Birkin glared as he watched the words crystallize as visible breath in front of his face, the only real indicator of the outdoor temperature that reached him. He knew, on a more intellectual level, that he was ill-dressed for the present conditions, but he was too angry to feel it.

There were just so, so many steps before this one. Namely: ]

If something was bothering you, you could've told me instead of going off and finding a new addiction to develop.