Doctor John Smith spent a majority of his life alone—from boarding school to university, he travelled alone, he lived alone, he talked mainly to himself nearly all the time. And then there were moment like this, where he was so, incredibly, anything but alone, and that feeling amplified the loneliness of every other moment of his life.
And like he did, whenever the cosmos pointed out how alone he was, John let his embrace fall away from Jean, covering his actions with a gentle smile.
"Well then, you go find an open spot with no tree cover and I'll fetch sleeping bags."