Ford's stomach dropped. It sounded like Cash knew exactly what was going on, at least from Ford's perspective, and from the expression on his face Ford could guess that Cash didn't think this was a good idea. And sure, Ford knew it wasn't a good idea. Part of him had known that from the start, or at least from the moment he'd found out Macnair was engaged to be married, but he still didn't like confronting the knowledge. With the way Cash was looking at him, though, it wasn't as though he could avoid it. Merlin, why did things have to be like this? Why couldn't this conversation have just ended pleasantly but vaguely, the way things had when Ford had first told Cash about it in August? Because now that Cash knew (or at least, now that Ford thought that Cash knew), he had to confront the idea that Cash's perspective on this might actually be more accurate than Ford's was. He might know Macnair better — he had certainly known him longer — and if he thought this was a bad idea, it almost certainly was.

Ford looked at the floor in the corner of the room (Cash's gaze felt oppressive, though he knew Cash wouldn't have intended it to) and bit the edge of his thumb nail. "I didn't mean to keep it up after the wedding," he said glumly. "It just sort of — happened that way."

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