Tom nodded his agreement. "Yeah, I reckon that's right," he told her. Yelena put it all into words, why he felt that way. Being emotionally attached to somebody else, that would be a lot. "I've got to stop thinking about Hal," he realized. "Maybe that's why I'm lonely here," he decided. He hadn't met anyone but maybe while he had Hal in his mind, he wouldn't have room for those feelings about anybody else.
"I reckon it is but it isn't," Tom said. "Saving it for love is important but when I'm thinking about somebody else, it's love I'm thinking about." It wasn't that sex didn't hold interest to him, but he could control himself just fine.
He nodded a little in agreement. "I haven't been around too many people I had to keep it from, but those were all my family and my friends. Trying to meet somebody, court somebody and all, that'd be hard if they didn't know." He hesitated a moment and flashed a little smile, gave a soft apology for talking bad about himself. "Sorry, Yelena."