"Yeah, the company's not half bad," he agreed with a grin. The comment could have been taken to mean either his company or hers — in the first sense it was clearly intended as a joke, in spirit with much of their earlier conversation; in the second sense it was quite a genuine sentiment. He still hadn't figured out what it was about Jo Smith that made her so easy to talk to, but there was certainly something. He hadn't walked anyone in England through his tattoos; Pablo knew their significance, but that was different, since he'd been there when Alfred had earned each of them. He also didn't tend to end up alone, flirting and exchanging dirty jokes, with women — particularly not women he'd just met, which was still the case for her even if it felt as though they'd known each other much longer.

Alfred was walking through some of their earlier conversation in his mind, as if that would reveal the answer, and a thought occurred to him. "Hey, a minute ago, you said 'men and women.' When you said I was different. What did you mean by that?" he asked, without even the slightest supposition in mind about how she might answer.