The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills don't have a history of the smoothest boat rides — there've been bad boat trips dating all the way back to 2015, with the roughest happening in 2017 in Hong Kong — and while this Lake Tahoe sail may seem benign, if you listen closely to what Erika Girardi says about her then-husband Tom Girardi, as a lawyer, the excursion gets a little more interesting.

Let me set the scene. Like, literally.

EXT. TOUR BOAT, LAKE TAHOE. DAY

GARCELLE BEAUVAIS and ERIKA JAYNE GIRARDI are standing along the chrome taffrail. GARCELLE is casual as she makes small talk, looking around at the scenery. ERIKA is clutching her small coffee cup. In the FOREGROUND, DORIT KEMSLEY and KATHY HILTON take selfies.

GARCELLE: You talk to Tom?

ERIKA: We spoke this morning.

GARCELLE: Good. He's good?

ERIKA: We spoke this morning. He's good. He's at the firm.

GARCELLE: Oh, he is!

ERIKA: Honey, that's a work horse.

GARCELLE: Yeah. Listen, it probably keeps everything going. You know what I mean?

ERIKA: He's dedicated his life to being a lawyer, that is first and foremost in his life.

GARCELLE: That's how people used to do!

ERIKA: And you know what, god bless him for that, because that's what, that's what he... he... who he is.

END SCENE.

Now, I didn't sleep through only half of a film studies class 20 years ago to not takeaway some key things from this very brief, but very meaty, exchange. And they are:

• Garcelle seems easy to talk to. She's great at some small talk and will make anyone feel comfortable. Under the right circumstances and the right alcohol, I bet most people would feel very safe opening up to her.
• But not Erika. Erika, in her white winter hat and white jacket and white sweatshirt and whit sunglasses and with her white coffee cup lid, is keeping whatever she does or doesn't know about Tom's alleged wrongdoing close to the vest. If that vest were literal, it would be white.
• If you had told Garcelle back when they were filming this scene in late October, 2020, that someone would have gone to the trouble to transcribe this seemingly, at the time, extremely innocuous conversation between she and Erika, no way she would have believed you.
• Erika might have, though. Erika might have understood why. She seems reserved and calculated in her responses. But ... she kind of always does, so. Which just speaks to her commitment!
• Regarding Erika's stumble at the end – is she nervous talking about what Tom * is *? Or is she just over-caffeinated? Or is it just a stutter that no one should think twice about?

Erika, white winter hats off to your steadiness on this boat. It can't be easy.