For years Irina had heard that her husband was the best boss in the world. At least that was what Damir said when he returned from company celebrations. He was not strict, allowed jokes, and knew his employees' children's names. That autumn he brought her to a group dinner for the first time. She sat beside Vanja, an accountant who carefully moved the wineglass aside so it would not interfere with her meal.

Damir noticed the empty space beside her plate. He brought a bottle and said there would be no hiding tonight. Vanja thanked him and requested water. He filled the glass, convinced that her refusals belonged to the same cheerful conversation as his jokes. People around them laughed loudly enough that Irina initially missed how quiet Vanja's voice had become.

"Come on, we're not at work," Damir kept saying. Irina looked at his colleagues. Across the table, a man twisted a napkin between his fingers. A young trainee held her glass up without drinking. Nobody looked as though they had forgotten who approved their holidays. Vanja repeated for the third time that she did not want any. She gave no explanation.

Irina took the water pitcher and filled her own glass. Then she passed another to Vanja. Damir laughed and asked whether the two women were forming a secret group. Irina said the woman wanted water and he had heard her. Her voice was not loud, but the table fell silent. Damir set the bottle down hard enough to rattle the cutlery.

Later he suggested a group song. Two people stood to fetch their coats, excusing themselves because of an early morning. The others soon followed. Irina stayed to pay for a taxi while her husband straightened chairs nobody had asked him to straighten. In the car he asked why she had embarrassed him. She admitted that this evening was the first time she had felt ashamed of him.

He did not ask what was wrong with Vanja, and Irina did not know either. She needed no reason. That particularly angered him. He wanted a specific circumstance that would turn his insistence into an unfortunate misunderstanding. Instead, he had an entirely ordinary refusal he had chosen not to accept. At home he went into another room, leaving his formal shirt over the back of a chair.

On Monday Vanja sent Irina a short message of thanks. Irina replied that she had enjoyed sitting beside her. Damir did not see the message. He came home early that day and said the office had been unusually quiet. Irina put down her book. For the first time she did not rush to fill his silence with a sentence that would help him feel popular again.