His jokes get worse the moment you walk up
On the steps outside the building he is dry and quick with everyone. Then you arrive and the line lands half a beat late, or he laughs at his own punchline before it finishes. The neighbour from 4B noticed. He did not.
That fumble is the most honest thing he will offer for weeks. A man who has run meetings, fixed pipes and buried a parent does not trip over a joke for no reason. Something just changed in the air for him, and his timing paid for it.
A half second on your mouth
You are mid-story, something about the rental car, and his eyes drop to your mouth for what feels like half a second. Then they go to the wall, the window, the exit sign. Gone before you can be sure it happened.
He will not repeat it, and that is how you know. Men who flirt for sport hold the look so you catch it. This one glances away fast, rubs his jaw and asks what happened with the rental car. You will replay that half second more than once on the way home.
