She...was a little surprised when he spoke up, clearly addressing her. After all, conversation wasn't really necessary, even if their proximity made it almost so. Then again, perhaps he was as uncertain as she was by her seating (it wasn't likely to be his decision, given he referred to her as 'girl') and thought she knew?

Whether perfunctory or curious, her response was the same, glancing over in his direction and responding in a polite voice. "Sir." Whether it was appropriate to call him 'sir' by whatever his rank was before his retirement or not, he had markings about him to indicate it was an appropriate method to refer to him by anyway.