She chewed a mouthful of turkey slowly, eyeing his clothing the whole time, any critique of them remaining unknowable. After she swallowed she took a sip of water. "Yes." And she put a forkful of peas with onions into her mouth.
He seemed unfazed by her brevity. "How do you come up with so many different ideas?"
Peas swallowed, she said, "It’s a gift."
It went on like that for maybe four or five questions from Conroy and barely-veiled condescension from Nina until he evidently gave up making any points in that quarter. I already suspected that the attentions he’d paid to Gram and Nina were obligatory, and that he was winding up his pitching arm for Isabella. His attitude so far had been interested and polite but nothing more. Giving up on Nina, he turned to her friend.
And there it was
