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others behind his own back, but he pushed the thought aside as quickly as he could. He didn’t care about that now. Nothing mattered except the moment.
    He finished his glass. When he put it back down on the table, his aim was inexplicably off, and it wound up in pieces on the floor, earning him a cheer from the rest of the pub.
    “Okay, boss. Maybe we’d better step outside for some fresh air.” Adele stood and took him by the arm, pulling him up too. But when Eric tried to stand, his head started spinning out of control, and he had to lean on the table to keep from falling over.
    He found it harder and harder to keep track of what was happening around him, while his companion struggled to help him get back on his feet.
    Fresh air, swollen with humidity that promised more rain to come, seemed to help pierce the fog that was muddying his thoughts.
    Adele and the young man from the pub had him sit down on a low stone wall. He watched them chatting right in front of him. Every once in a while she reached out and touched his arm in an intimate manner. “Everything okay, boss?”
    Eric nodded, trying to smile, but he immediately felt a wave of nausea and had to bend over to vomit. The other two grabbed him immediately to give a helping hand, keeping him from toppling over. After he’d liberated his stomach of what was left of his dinner, the nausea passed, along with most of his sense of disorientation.
    “Are you sure you don’t need any help?” asked the young man. Now that he could see him more clearly, Eric realized he must have been around thirty years old.
    Adele handed Eric a tissue. She kept her other hand on his shoulder in a comforting gesture. “Thanks, but I think I can take care of him myself from here on out.”
    “Okay.” The young man gave her a good-bye hug. “See you soon then.”
    “Count on it.”
    He winked at her and then headed back into the pub. Adele waved to him, then sat down on the wall alongside Eric.
    Eric knew full well that under normal circumstances, he would have been incredibly embarrassed by what had just happened, but right now he couldn’t feel it. Despite everything, he felt filled with a warm glow of well-being.
    “Are you feeling better? I mean, seriously.” She threw him an inquisitive look, the same he’d seen her use countless times before when she was concentrating on her work.
    “Yes, seriously.” The words came out of his mouth clearly, a sign that perhaps his brain and his vocal cords had reestablished their connection. “You guys seemed really close. He your boyfriend?” There we go. The connection worked, but data transmission was still a little sketchy.
    Adele turned in the direction her friend had headed. He could barely make out the expression of affection mixed with melancholy cross her face. “He’s my ex.”
    “Oh . . .” Fortunately Eric’s brain didn’t come up with anything inconvenient to say. “Were you guys really close?” Ah, there it was.
    “We’re divorced.”
    Those last words stunned him for a moment. They had something else in common. Up until now, it was the only thing he’d found.
    “So young and already divorced . . .” He said this with a very sincere tone of sadness. He knew full well the repercussions something like that could have on a person’s life. Eric reminisced for a moment about the way this woman had behaved ever since she’d arrived in their department, and he found himself understanding her a little better. Her standoffishness and the way she interacted with her colleagues might all have far simpler motives than the thousands of unpleasant suppositions that had crossed his mind.
    “I’m old enough to have a failed marriage behind me, yes,” she said, turning back to Eric. She seemed almost annoyed that he’d said she was too young, but her eyes told another story. The tale of a woman who was poking fun at her elderly boss.
    “But you guys stayed on good terms,” said Eric. “I wish I’d been able