“I’ve already told you,” Zack complained. “I still can’t believe you made Lee drive you here only to send him packing.”

“What else could we do? You won’t tell him what you do for a living, and your story doesn’t make sense if he doesn’t know.”

“I could have made something up.”

“Yeah, and then you’d be lying.”

“As opposed to lying by omission?”

“Zack.” Alexa’s tone brooked no further argument.

Zack rubbed his eyes. It was getting late. He needed to get this over with.

“Okay,” he relented, “so, I ran into John—”

“The first John,” Kira amended.

“Yeah, the first John, who I initially thought was the John—”

“John the Whale?” Alexa asked.

“Yes, but please don’t call him that. Anyway, then First John introduced me to his friends—”

“One of which was the John.”

“Do you want to tell the story?” Zack groused.

Kira and Alexa fell mercifully silent.

“Thank you.” Zack took a swig of his beer. “Anyway, long story short, I left to look for you guys, one of John’s friends came running after me to return something I dropped, we talked for a minute, and then he basically told me he was the John.”

“And then you ran,” Alexa said.

“And then I ran,” Zack confirmed. “Like a frightened child.”

“I’m guessing he recognized your voice?” Kira asked. “He wasn’t stalking you or anything?”

“Yeah, there’s no question. He looked just as shocked to see me as I was him.”

Alexa pulled her cigarettes out of her bag. “May I?”

Zack mulled it over. “Normally I’d say no—smoking indoors is nasty—but after tonight? Fuck it. Go right on ahead. Want a bottle to ash in?”

“Please.”

Kira wrinkled her nose. “You should really quit, you know. Smoking is ba—”

“Don’t do it, Kira,” Alexa admonished. “Don’t be that holier-than-thou jerk who tells the smokers that it’s bad for them, okay? We know it is.”

“Okay, okay, sorry.” Kira sulked. “I was just saying.”

“Ladies, I hate to interrupt, but can we focus, please?”

They murmured apologies. Zack handed Alexa a beer bottle and then grabbed a cigarette of his own. Alexa nestled the bottle into the couch cushions between them so they could both reach it.

“I have a question,” Kira said casually, “though I’m sure I already know the answer. Is John hot?” Alexa elbowed her, and Kira shrugged. “What? Don’t act like you weren’t curious too.”

Zack lit his cigarette. He stared at it for a long minute before he answered, “He is devastatingly handsome.”

“No way!” Alexa said. “Really? That can’t be true. I mean, he’s a client. Are you sure you don’t just think that because—”