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“No, we hadn’t planned on it,” Claire responded, crossing her legs at the ankles and bouncing them to get some warmth into her. “Melody said it was a waste of time.”

“I figured as much,” Liam said, still looking at the Eye. “We went once as children, and she was clawing at the walls to get out. She can never stay in the same place for long.”

Claire smiled. “Yeah, she hasn’t changed at all. I guess that’s why she’s the life of the party wherever she goes. And what makes her good at her job.”

“Is she still working as an event coordinator?”

Claire nodded.

“I assume she loves it as much as you love your job?”

Claire glanced to him, finding his gaze on her. He’d remembered her saying that she liked her work?

“I think she does,” she responded.

He nodded, looking out across the water again. This time, his eyes lost their mirth as they took on a faraway look, focusing on something in the distance.

Claire narrowed her eyes. His mood had changed so abruptly, just like in the car to the gardens. Was it talking about jobs that always got him down?

“What about you?” she asked, wanting to test out her own theory. “Do you love your job?”

His jaw twitched, and he took a moment to respond. “I used to.”

Claire wasn’t sure what to say. Clearly, for one reason or another, his work was a taboo subject. Had it always been, or only just recently?

“You’re a producer, you said?” she asked, hoping to pull information from him in a roundabout way.

He nodded.

So much for getting more out of him.

“And what does that entail?” she asked.

He drew a deep breath, still staring in the distance. “I essentially do all the work required to create a production our company has been hired out to do.”

“That sounds exciting.”

He continued in a soft tone, his eyes still captivated by something over the river. “I thought the same when I first started. But now, it’s just …” He ended in a shrug.

“A grind?” she guessed.

“Exactly.”

She grimaced. She had no idea what that would feel like. Her job was exhausting but rewarding. She wouldn’t be able to handle doing something for a living that made her utterly miserable.

“That’s where I work,” Liam said, motioning across the river. “The tall glass building to the left of the Eye.”

Claire followed his gaze to the structure in the distance. “Wow, your view must be incredible.”

“It is. But I spend most of my time traveling or in meetings on the lower floors, so I hardly get to enjoy it.”

She studied him for a minute, trying to understand him. She had a myriad of questions floating through her mind—Why did he work somewhere he was so miserable? Why didn’t he just quit? What was it exactly that he hated?—but before she could ask a single one, he clapped his hands on his thighs.

“Ready to go on?” he asked.

She hesitated, wanting to pry more into his life, but she nodded all the same.

After cleaning up their lunch, Claire tossed her good-for-nothing sandwich in the garbage bin to the side of the platform, then stepped down and spooked off a few pigeons who had wandered toward them during their meal.