Tess lets her eyes go unfocused for a moment, staring off into the distance. How often does she hear something like that? No one questions her emotional state back in Boston –– not even Joel, to an extent. Loss often just prompts people to fall in line to help her get even, but here there's nothing to really get even with.

If she were like this over anyone else and Joel were here instead of Jennifer, he probably wouldn't be saying any of this. He'd just let her stew, and maybe they'd spend some time together in comfortable silence, or maybe she'd eventually snap at him and let it all out. That's Joel, though. He never coddles her.

Tess turns her bottle around in her hands, just to have something to occupy herself while she thinks. This silence is more moody than any sort of comfortable, she thinks.

"I really don't know what there is to say," she replies, eventually. "But stay if you want. I just can't promise I'll be good company."