"You won't," he replied in as dismissive a tone as he could muster. Better to have it seem like an incredibly remote possibility, unworthy of consideration, than to reassure her adamantly about it. Better, in that he didn't have to think about it, or the fact that this was the closest he had come to lying to her since before they were married. This wasn't the Barge, and she could very well lose him.

There was, too, a note of genuine dismissal about it. 'If I lost you' seemed like something only he would consider about her. She was young and would move on. His mind helpfully supplied the rest: 'If I lost you, I would be extremely unhappy for a socially acceptable amount of time, and then find someone new.'

"Tell me what you wish to do."