"Yeah, alright," Ben agreed, nodding. It was a bit of a strange choice of words, she seems solid, but it was an appropriate one. There was a lot of uncertainty in this situation, but the correspondence he'd gotten from Elliott's mother had been consistent. She'd answered his questions, responded to his statements, and offered information when he'd asked for it. She'd kept a level tone, even when he'd initially responded coolly and stiffly. She was solid — so writing her was the right way forward. And he could deal with all the rest of it when he got there — burn that bridge when he came to it (but that wasn't the phrase, was it?)

"Thanks," he said, taking another drink and then replacing the cap on his bottle. "This was helpful."