Yeah. Darcy can always read him just as well as he reads them, is the thing, and that joke was just dangling an obvious plea in front of them. Of course they knew what question they were answering. He didn't want to just ask, because announcing an engagement is not the place to whine about how much you're worried about losing your kid. God forbid, if he's the cause of any doubt or worry, just take him out back. Look, he just... Darcy feels more and more like they're going to strike out on their own, and Phil can't get in the way of that. Even if he's not sure he could bear the distance. A few precious years and a lifetime of loneliness. You break your own heart on purpose.

But they don't want to go, either.

It's a feeling like the way one's stomach can go cold while the rest of you is warm. Guilt for having brought it up, chilly and bitter, but mostly just relief. The breeze that follows him unstiffens, like a breath let go.

Quietly, "Me neither. Uh--good to hear you're staying in the neighborhood, ehn?"

Shoves some more stew into his mouth.