"Aye," he says, sounding a little dazed. It's not meant as a boast. He takes a breath. "Susan," he says, still unsure at how informal, how familiar it sounds. He worries for a moment, against even his own judgment, that he's over stepping.

Another breath. "I would like--" He glances away for a moment, then back. "I would like for us to have dinner. Tonight, or any other night. So that we may speak, and understand one another."

He stops himself before he says and determine how to proceed, because it sounds too formal, even to him, and he's suddenly sharply self-conscious.