"It's alright." Her skin was tingling where he had touched her, as if to remind her how much she had once cherished being near to him. It wasn't the bedroom intimacy that she missed but the quiet evenings reading in their respective arm chairs. Jo missed the easy way they'd sometimes hold hands.

Nothing was easy anymore.

Any relief she felt was taken away by his following query. It should've been enough that he had all but promised to be a reliable father to their daughter. Just as she should've been comforted by the fact he came at all. Except, those two happy facts were immediately outweighed by any thoughts of them having a future together. Jo didn't want to believe they could, had spent hours convincing herself that little would ever come from time spent with him again. A friendship, maybe, though a civil acquaintanceship was all she had settled upon to hope for.

Still, his question made it seem like he had a different set of hopes. Like he could forgive and learn to trust her again. Like they stood a chance. Jo allowed what felt like minutes to pass without answering, her eyes wider and her conflicting thoughts obvious in her slightly furrowed brows. It was hope like this that would destroy her when nothing came of them. It was the ignored dream of marriage and a family that would crush any thoughts of a functional parenting relationship. Jo had driven so much of their initial meetings, she had controlled how fast they fell in love. This time she simply couldn't be the one responsible.

Frowning, Jo sadly replied, "I don't believe it's for me to decide anymore."

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