[Concord won't drop his hand from Ali's shoulder, not for any reason beyond not thinking about it, distractedly considering the circumstances,]

That is different than what happened to thwart my attempts. I spilled glass, then a bottle had leaked out before I got to the man, plus a few other odd incidents.

[Poor Steve really just has a field of misfortune around him that Concord's naive, if good hearted nature cannot comprehend]