Across a meeting table meeting eyes shockedstrangers ready for an affair they would never have.True love might have followed—boy meets girl; their eyes meet; each other’s ever after.But in this case he was already marriedso he never asked her about herselfand she maintained an equal respectboth pretending nothing unusual happened.Were they avoiding pleasure or pain?Neither was, it turns out, inevitable.But, ever after, each must wonderif it should have been any different.
