Vic accepted the glass as if it were a life preserver and hopped up off the settee. Her hands trembled as she tried to pour the gin, but she turned her back to Sophia in the hopes she wouldn’t see. Then again, Sophia seemed to see everything. Vic could have stripped naked and stood in front of a wall of mirrors and felt less exposed than she felt sitting next to Sophia moments ago.

She couldn’t remember the last time another person had stared into her eyes so intently. Much like the touching Sophia had used liberally earlier in the day, her prolonged eye contact carried an informality Vic was unaccustomed to. She never consciously worked to build or enforce those barriers, but people in her employ rarely dared to look too closely. At times the disconnect left her lonely, but she’d never stopped to think about how the opposite approach could have a similar effect. Having Sophia see her in her weakness, her openness, her shortcomings made Vic feel smaller and more vulnerable than she had in ages.

“Don’t skimp on the liquid courage now,” Sophia called playfully from behind her. “How will I ever get you to tell me those dark secrets you keep alluding to if you’re not sufficiently plied with gin?”

She laughed in spite of the fact that Sophia had laid her cards on the table and revealed the real reason for her visit. “I told you, I’ve been drinking this stuff for nearly two decades. Trust me when I say you didn’t steal nearly enough gin to make me tell you about Robert tonight.”

“Robert?”

She didn’t even have to turn around to know Sophia’s eyebrows were raised and her mouth was curled up in one of those tight-lipped smiles.

“Who’s Robert?”

She braced herself with both hands on the glass top of the bar cart and hung her head as shame washed over her.

“You can’t keep dropping these little teases and then leaving me hanging,” Sophia prodded.

She was probably right. It was unfair, and yet Vic hadn’t meant to let his name slip out. His name hadn’t slipped out in years, not unintentionally. Nothing about Robert would ever be unintentional again, or easy. And yet, it just had been. She’d mentioned him as casually to Sophia as she might allude to a school friend.