I like the suggestions you’ve received so far. Age gaps or a family connection both seem like a good solution to this problem. Alternatively, you could also just say that there’s nothing you can do to keep readers from shipping them together, but that’s on them, not you, and you can just ignore whatever they may or may not read into it.
Lit fanatic. Eclectic reader. Theology nerd. Writing fantasy at https://josiahdegraaf.com
