He regrets his choice of words as soon as she repeats them because it's not as if he'd been trying to imply that she's got an entirely naive outlook of the world, he knows she doesn't. She's been through more than anyone should have to go through in a lifetime, so many of them in this town have because Siren Cove seems to have become a gathering place for the people who are far too familiar with pain; but that's the thing, they're not the only ones. He and Raleigh aren't the only people who are damaged in some way, and it's not a competition, they're all just doing their best to go on the best they can.
"It's okay," he says, and he says it because it seems to him that maybe she just needs someone to tell her that. Maybe she just needs someone to reassure her that she isn't doing it wrong or that there isn't something wrong with her simply because she doesn't think dating is for her. "It's okay to do that, it really is. I couldn't have done it because I... really didn't have friends to go out with to begin with and that was okay, too. For me, that was okay. We all just carry on, don't we? There's little else we can do."
He frowns when she asks about the living situation and to be completely honest, he hasn't given it much thought. "I'm getting married, not boarding up the house so Joel and I can never leave it again," he tells her, a soft smile playing at the corners of his lips. "Though the thought has admittedly crossed my mind."
The joke is poorly placed because he can see that Raleigh's fully serious about this, it's something of concern to her, and he doesn't want to downplay that at all; he'd just assumed they'd all go as they have been. He shrugs before heaving himself onto the counter beside her, kicking his legs out in front of him and staring at his Chucks. "I don't know, Raleigh, it's really up to you. I can promise you that Joel and I had no plans to ask you to leave, none whatsoever. It's not as if having a husband is suddenly going to make me hate your presence in our home." And it is their home. It's Spencer's house, soon to be half Joel's, too, but it's home to all three of them. He's felt that way for what feels like such a long time now, even though the reality of it is that it's only been a couple months.
"I didn't say you could live with me until you got better, by the way," he says, arching an eyebrow at her. He remembers exactly how the conversation had gone, how skeptical she'd seemed at the time, and he knows what he'd told her. "I said you can stay as long as you'd like. 'If you want to stay until tomorrow, the end of the week, the end of the year, you can.' I meant it, I really did. If you decide you want to leave, if you want to live somewhere else one day, that's fine. But you're always going to be welcome there. Please, please don't forget that."
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"It's okay," he says, and he says it because it seems to him that maybe she just needs someone to tell her that. Maybe she just needs someone to reassure her that she isn't doing it wrong or that there isn't something wrong with her simply because she doesn't think dating is for her. "It's okay to do that, it really is. I couldn't have done it because I... really didn't have friends to go out with to begin with and that was okay, too. For me, that was okay. We all just carry on, don't we? There's little else we can do."
He frowns when she asks about the living situation and to be completely honest, he hasn't given it much thought. "I'm getting married, not boarding up the house so Joel and I can never leave it again," he tells her, a soft smile playing at the corners of his lips. "Though the thought has admittedly crossed my mind."
The joke is poorly placed because he can see that Raleigh's fully serious about this, it's something of concern to her, and he doesn't want to downplay that at all; he'd just assumed they'd all go as they have been. He shrugs before heaving himself onto the counter beside her, kicking his legs out in front of him and staring at his Chucks. "I don't know, Raleigh, it's really up to you. I can promise you that Joel and I had no plans to ask you to leave, none whatsoever. It's not as if having a husband is suddenly going to make me hate your presence in our home." And it is their home. It's Spencer's house, soon to be half Joel's, too, but it's home to all three of them. He's felt that way for what feels like such a long time now, even though the reality of it is that it's only been a couple months.
"I didn't say you could live with me until you got better, by the way," he says, arching an eyebrow at her. He remembers exactly how the conversation had gone, how skeptical she'd seemed at the time, and he knows what he'd told her. "I said you can stay as long as you'd like. 'If you want to stay until tomorrow, the end of the week, the end of the year, you can.' I meant it, I really did. If you decide you want to leave, if you want to live somewhere else one day, that's fine. But you're always going to be welcome there. Please, please don't forget that."