“Tina was a girl scout,” Bette spoke up.

“Who’s Tina?” Kyle asked politely. This is another one of those great things about Kyle; he knew full well who Tina was (as I had told him), but he also knew that I would love to hear just what Bette planned on referring to Tina as. Most people probably wouldn’t take Kyle for the subtle type, but he has his moments of usefulness.

“She’s-she’s this-I’m seeing her.” She paused. “I found it interesting; I wasn’t a girl scout.”

“That’s good,” I said dryly. “You probably would’ve taken over the entire troop.”

“Are you saying I’m bossy?”

“No,” I said cheerfully. “I was implying it.”

“You always struck me as having been enormously extracurricular in high school,” Spencer said to Bette. “I mean, you’re so… hard-working, intelligent…”

“Care to kiss her ***** a little more, Spence?” I asked.

Bette said, “I was sort of preoccupied with school, so anything that didn’t immediately lend itself to academia was-”

Marina returned, setting down Spencer’s coffee. “Here you go.” She said something in Italian that made Bette chuckle.

“Let’s speak English at this table, okay?” I grumbled irritably.

Marina gave me an indulgent smile, but Bette rolled her eyes. As Marina left, she said, “Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed today or-”

“I just like to know what’s going on, so-”

“Guys,” Kyle said. “Civility. Please.” He checked his watch. “I should probably get going soon, anyway.”

“Doesn’t anyone want to be a non-working slacker like me?” I asked pitifully.

Kyle grinned. “You make your own hours, Al. If I have a ten o’clock, I can’t just be like, ‘Ooh, sorry. I was having an espresso, you know how it is’.”

“Maybe you could bring them coffee,” Spencer suggested non-helpfully.

“I love hairdressing, it’s what I want to do,” Kyle went on firmly, “but sometimes I wonder if I totally screwed myself by not going to college or some *****.”

“Oh, please,” I said dismissively, “do you know how many people I work with who actually have a degree in journalism? I probably wasted my time getting a degree, anyway, because it’s pretty obvious that you learn more by doing. At least, that’s my opinion, anyway.”