Ernie sighed deeply, trying to ease the tension in his shoulders that just wouldn't quite go away no matter what he did. "And did it ever backfire." He wasn't sure if she would or wouldn't have wanted him to feel bad over this, but he just did, and couldn't quite shake that feeling.
He considered what Justin had suggested and asked, and felt a knot somewhere in the back of his throat, somewhere. "Well, it isn't as if that just goes away because of an argument." Or many of those. And in the end the argument was about her well-being above anything else. He at the very least still felt a deep sense of obligation towards her. That counted, right?