“It’s certainly a nice evening.” She heard the strain in her voice as she attempted to make polite conversation. When he did not respond to what she had said, she turned her gaze back to him. He had the same pensive expression on his face as he’d had when she’d first spotted him in the cocktail lounge. He seemed a million miles away in thought. Again, she was not sure if she should disturb him or not.

“Uh, Chance...is something wrong? You seem troubled.”

His head snapped up to attention at the sound of his name. He had been so absorbed in his thoughts that he had neglected to hear what she had been saying. He let out a sigh of exasperation as he leaned back in his chair. “Sorry... As I said earlier, it’s been a really lousy day.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” A sudden wave of shy embarrassment swept over her. “I—I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude. It’s obviously none of my business.”

“That’s all right.” A hint of weariness clouded his features for a second. He did not want to talk about Jeff’s arrest. His activities with his “training school,” as he referred to it, were something he kept to himself. But the e-mail he had received from his father was an entirely different matter. He pulled the printout from his pocket and handed it to her. “I’m sure it will be in the newspapers in the morning anyway.”

She unfolded and read the piece of paper. It was a message from Douglas Fowler to his son stating that he had gotten married the day before and had left that morning and would be honeymooning on the French Riviera for the next ten days. She handed it back to him.

The look of confusion on her face told Chance that she did not understand the significance of the message.

“It’s not that dear ol’ Dad has decided to get married again without even bothering to invite his one and only son to the wedding, it’s that this is his sixth trip down the aisle. The fifth Mrs. Douglas Fowler lasted less than a year.”

“You’re kidding!” She could not hide her surprise. “Your father has been married six times?”

A chuckle escaped his throat. It was not a sound of amusement, but one of bittersweet irony. “This one is younger than I am. Care to make any bets on how long she’ll last?”

“Why in the world would anyone want to get married six times?”

“That’s an excellent question. Unfortunately I don’t have even a mediocre answer let alone a good one.” His brow furrowed for a moment, then he flashed an easy smile. “I guess everyone has to have a hobby, and getting married is his.” He tried to sound casual, but somehow it did not quite come out that way. “You see, my family is more akin to life mirroring satire rather than the other way around.”

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