Ben could understand why she was hesitant, but he wasn't sure leaving things entirely open-ended was a good idea, either. Every conversation like this that they had was another opportunity for someone to make a terrible decision. Ben was working very hard to think through his words before he spoke this time, so that he didn't end up somewhere he hadn't intended to be. Obviously the night that he'd been drunk, things had gotten out of hand. He'd been unhappy for a long time going into that conversation, but after things became emotional they'd ended up in bed together. If they had one of these sorts of conversations every few months or even every few weeks, what if they ended the same way?

Still, if he was going to agree to give things another chance, he couldn't reasonably turn down a request to have more earnest conversations. Ben wavered.

"If we do end up deciding on something else, it would be better for Nora if we got it all sorted when she was too young to understand," he pointed out.

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