The Mortons finally left their table and Galen sighed his relief. Lydia rolled her eyes.

"There's one of those in every department, isn't there?" she asked Galen, taking a long draught of her wine. "I thought she'd never stop talking."

"I don't think she ever does," Galen admitted. "But you handled her remarkably well."

Lydia shrugged. "I just told her the truth. I got the impression you didn't want her to know this was a date, so I may have stretched the ...