"I've met him," Ben responded. He was trying to keep a casual facade about this, but the truth was that he had plenty of suspicions about this meeting Melody was only telling him about after the fact (she had said met with, which implied it had been planned and not a chance run-in, but he knew she hadn't brought it up before). He also didn't entirely appreciate the insinuation that he was forming character opinions about people based on gossip. Did she think that he couldn't possibly have had occasion to talk to this bloke before, because he didn't come from the same high society life she did? (Not that Mr. Binns was particularly well-situated himself, whatever airs he might put on; he tried too hard, was the thing, and everyone both below and above him knew it). "He seemed like a prick, that's all."

Why was she telling him about this? Hopefully not because she'd invited him to dinner, or anything like that — they'd had their share of dinner parties, and Ben didn't feel like having to put on a happy face for someone who was, in essence, still a stranger. Though, in the grand scheme of things, dinner was perhaps one of the most innocent options. He was still leery about what sort of meeting could have occurred between two married people with a significant age gap (and what sort of meeting she would feel the need to bring up at the dinner table, but only a day later).

"What did you talk about?" he asked, surveying her over the rim of his water glass as he took a drink.