Re: in-person: neil & mere
[Neither of them knew. Neither of them had the answers. They could talk themselves in circles, round and round over the same issues, but nothing would be fixed, nothing made better, and they would just end up right back where they started. It was a cycle. And, unfortunately, Neil didn't know any other way to break it. She looked at him, and he wonder what she was thinking. Of happier times, before? Of an imagined future that now seemed uncertain?] If neither of us knows, then... we need to figure it out. [On their own, perhaps, before they could do so together.
He wasn't expecting her to move closer when she untangled her hand from his. But she did, and Neil reacted instinctively, no thought, arms around her shoulders as she clung to him.] I know. [He could hear the fear in her voice, the plea for this to not be the end.] But we can't go on like this, Mere. [They couldn't. He couldn't. He took a deep, deep breath, and let it out slow.] You don't have to leave. I can go.