Re: NYC: Hannah & Hugh
He couldn't remember if she'd ever mentioned children. Although as he thought about it, he could recall them being mentioned in the things he'd read, those things he'd found online as he'd tried to figure out ways to help her. "It's difficult to see myself with children, I've always worked overtime to make certain I didn't have any. They would have been a distraction to my career." Sort of like relationships would have been. But he made a note to send her the typewriter. He'd enjoyed it, for about a week, and then he'd gone back to his Apple Air, and then he'd nearly given up anyway.
"Well, Noah and I talked a bit, and he's married - has a husband Holly, who I don't know as well, but also seems nice. They're both younger than I am a bit, and I sometimes feel a little out of place, but I like him, he's fun and I think it'd be nice to get to know both him and Holly better. Oh, and there's Atticus too. We talked about books and he has a sailboat and we went out on it, and I think it's been ...nice to do something completely different, and I think we enjoy talking. I usually feel as if I come away always thinking things when we talk, and I like that.
"And Theodore moved in to a cottage down a bit. He's a bit older than I am, English, although he's lived in America for a while. And he writes children's books, and they're these fabulous adventure stories and I met him when Heart and I were walking, and…" Hugh hesitated, trying to figure out the right words to describe the way Theodore had more than once seemed to just see him in ways he didn't feel as if anyone had for months. He shrugged. "I think we just enjoy talking, mostly."
He looked over at her, and he smiled, slow, but warm. "Good," he'd never minded her doing what she did, so long as she didn't mind it, and she'd always said that she didn't, but he'd always worried a little about the others that she was with, knowing that most of them weren't nice, and didn't respect her at all. "That... " He shifted uncomfortably and took a breath. It had been something on his mind of recent, and now seemed as good of a time as any.
"Hannah, related to that, I was thinking about us, and how we met, and I feel as if I should apologize if I ever made you feel as if you had to say yes to something I asked. Whether it was moving in, or being together, or even just coming over. I always tried to be clear and thought I was being so, but I'm not certain I ever entirely took into account that how we met set up its own dynamic... " he glanced down at the plate in front of him. "I hope you knew, and I hope you know now, but I really want you to be you. To do the things you want to, and not do the things you don't. Even if that means saying no to me, or anyone, honestly. I want you to be you, to the truest extent that you can be." He knew she was technically company property, that the truest extent might not go far, but as far as it could go, he would try.