“Uh—I’m single. Just divorced actually. “Only my dogs at home now. My neighbor takes care of them when I’m late.”
“Any children?” Scott asked.
“No. That’s the reason we divorced.”
“It’s harder when you have kids,” Scott said. “Adalin and I…”
Dan’s beeper went off. “I’m sorry. I’m on call. I have to take this.”
Dan walked a few steps away to get his message. He watched Scott as he listened to the operator from his on-call service give details of the emergency. Scott had put his hands in his pockets and was moving the stones on the drive around with the toe of his shoe.
When Dan came back to Scott, he said, “I’m sorry. There’s a horse that’s colicking pretty bad. I need to go, but what were you starting to tell me about your kids?”
“Never mind, not important. You better get to that sick horse. Maybe we can do a raincheck on those burgers.”
“I’d like that,” Dan said, smiling broadly.