“Um, I worked, sir.”
“I know you worked. I mean, did have a chance to get out?”
“Get out? I have no idea what you’re referring to, sir. If you need me to work more hours—”
“No, Gavin, you’ve got me wrong.” Aw, hell. He really hated this. “I’m trying to make small talk here.”
There was a pause. “Oh. Well, I did manage to squeeze out the time to go see a movie. But it in no way interfered with my duties.”
“Oh yeah? Did you take a date?”
“A date?” He chuckled nervously. “I suppose, yes, you could call it a date.”
“Someone you met recently?”
Another pause. This one was longer than the one before.
“I went with my wife, sir.”
Wife? Gavin had a wife? “When did you get married?”
“Um, that would be two years ago, sir. Lisa and I have known each other since our undergraduate days.”
“I had no idea. Why have you never mentioned this before?”
“I didn’t think it mattered.”
“It doesn’t.”
“Frankly, sir, I didn’t mention that I was married because I didn’t want you to think that I wouldn’t be available twenty-four seven. You seemed to emphasize that quite strongly in the interview.”
Twenty-four seven? Had he really said that? Yes, he had.
“Congratulations. What does Lisa do?”
“She’s an attorney. Public defender. She graduated from Loyola, top of her class,” he added proudly.
A public defender for the city of Miami? Good God. “So she works a lot of hours, huh?”
“Oh yes, we’re like two ships that pass in the night. But we both love what we’re doing,” he added quickly. “Plus, we have a lot of student loans to pay off.”
“I can imagine.”
“Sir, may I ask you a question?”
“Shoot.”
“Are we…bonding, here?”
“I guess so.”
“In that case, may I tell you how much I enjoyed talking to Jenna the other day? She sounds quite lovely.”
“She is.”
“Is it serious?” he added tentatively. “Not that it’s any of my business. Please, sir, just pretend I never—”
“It’s about as serious as it gets.”