[He shakes his head.]
...No.
[It took him a while to make his peace with that. He watched it happen and he couldn't do anything about it; that made it feel like his fault.]
Other options:
Spam
[He shakes his head.]
...No.
[It took him a while to make his peace with that. He watched it happen and he couldn't do anything about it; that made it feel like his fault.]