My first instinct was inexplicable and yet very clear: to excuse myself and step away. Go back to the inn where I had already decided I would spend the day. But it was just that—instinct. It lasted a fraction of a second, and then I subdued it. “I was, yes. You?” He nodded, but said, “‘A friend of a friend’ might be a better definition. You must have known him better than I did.”
