"I don't know." He'd turned when she'd approached him, still sitting on the step and looking up at her now, as open as he knows how to be, open and honest, and frankly feeling more than a little wretched about this new turn of events. It's his own fault for not being honest with her from the beginning, but he's been a selfish man before, and he knows it had been selfishness driving him to keep quiet about the whole truth.
"I don't know how I expected it to work," he continues, quiet and calm, still reaching out for every nuance of feeling he can get from her. She's angry, maybe angrier than he's seen her before, and he knows what Alice had meant now by sharp. "There wasn't time to go into the finer details. I didn't think about whether or not this mystery woman can fall in love, I didn't expect anything to work, I don't even know if she saw you as still human."
He stops, watches her unblinkingly for a moment. "Resources are not a problem, now we're here, and my family's thirst is something they've been managing well with for a very long time," and he sounds more terse now, the way he sounds when he's looking to solve a problem. "I brought you here because when I asked, you said yes, and beyond that, you felt hopeful at the idea. Alice has that effect on people," with a little smile that disappears again almost immediately, now isn't the time. "I don't expect a damn thing. I asked you to come and left it to you and you came, and if you want to go now, now that you have this whole truth...all right then. I'll accept that. Of course I will." He pauses, because it hurts to think about. "...in addition, you make it sound as if I don't want to be close to you. That Alice wouldn't want it. And maybe there's no distinction for you between can't and don't want to, but you're alone in that."
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"I don't know how I expected it to work," he continues, quiet and calm, still reaching out for every nuance of feeling he can get from her. She's angry, maybe angrier than he's seen her before, and he knows what Alice had meant now by sharp. "There wasn't time to go into the finer details. I didn't think about whether or not this mystery woman can fall in love, I didn't expect anything to work, I don't even know if she saw you as still human."
He stops, watches her unblinkingly for a moment. "Resources are not a problem, now we're here, and my family's thirst is something they've been managing well with for a very long time," and he sounds more terse now, the way he sounds when he's looking to solve a problem. "I brought you here because when I asked, you said yes, and beyond that, you felt hopeful at the idea. Alice has that effect on people," with a little smile that disappears again almost immediately, now isn't the time. "I don't expect a damn thing. I asked you to come and left it to you and you came, and if you want to go now, now that you have this whole truth...all right then. I'll accept that. Of course I will." He pauses, because it hurts to think about. "...in addition, you make it sound as if I don't want to be close to you. That Alice wouldn't want it. And maybe there's no distinction for you between can't and don't want to, but you're alone in that."