Ford opened his mouth to respond, but couldn't come up with the right words. If he'd said I won't that would be tantamount to admitting that he was already with someone, wouldn't it? But if he instead tried to come up with some response that implied he wasn't seeing anyone and never planned to again, he was sure it would ring hollow and that would be just as bad. Noble could tell when he was lying. The conversation didn't feel finished yet, certainly didn't feel resolved — but Noble had stood up as though he was going to leave, and Ford wasn't going to stop him. It wasn't as though he wanted to be talking about this, any more than his brother probably did.

Noble didn't understand and Ford's attempts at explanations had not changed that. Hopefully he understood enough that he wouldn't hate Ford after this — or at least, that someday he would not hate Ford.

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