“The pasta, I mean. Was it as hot as my husband, well, my ex-husband always says it was?” She asked, giving her full focus as if his answer mattered a lot to her.

Bernard had no idea what the woman intended to accomplish by insisting on the answer to that, especially when she rolled her tongue around the word hot,” but he knew that he was getting uncomfortable with the way Marissa’s face got more and more blank by the moment. So he simply gave her the truth. Hurt sensibilities be damned.

“Oh, I have no idea how it tasted. My gateman gave it a glowing review, though. Remember I...