On the third day of the seminar, Ivona changed her breakfast time. She told herself she wanted to avoid the crowd, although the hotel was almost empty at seven thirty. She knew when Luka would arrive, the visiting lecturer who had made her laugh the previous evening with a remark about their endless working groups.
She had been married for eleven years. Her marriage was not unhappy in a way that could be easily explained. Boris was kind, often distracted, and inclined to end a conversation before it became uncomfortable. Lately, Ivona had been saying she was tired. She did not add what she was tired of, because that would require her to look more closely herself.
Luka listened. He remembered the title of a book she had mentioned and asked what she thought of a lecture, even when she disagreed. On a walk by the lake, he said he liked her. Ivona replied that she was married. He nodded and let the conversation stop. He did not press her. That left her without a convenient enemy against whom she could defend her innocence.
That evening, she called Boris and suggested he join her for the weekend. He could not. He had an earlier commitment. Ivona became angrier than the situation warranted. She wanted him to come and decide for her by being there, but had not told him why it mattered.
She met Luka in the hallway. He suggested a glass of wine on the terrace, without pressure in his voice. She said she would get her jacket. In her room, she opened the wardrobe and chose the one that made her shoulders look better. Then her own expression in the mirror embarrassed her. None of this was simply happening to her. She was rising earlier, choosing her seat at the table, extending their walks.
She returned to the terrace and said she would not stay. Luka accepted her answer. There was no great scene, only two untouched glasses. Back in her room, Ivona called Boris again. This time, she did not ask him to come. She said she was attracted to another man and frightened by how long the two of them had been postponing a real conversation.
When she returned home, there was no quick forgiveness for something that had not even become a physical affair. Boris was hurt, and she could not wear leaving the terrace like a medal. They began talking with a counselor's help. On the first evening after a session, they sat in the car outside their building. Ivona did not say she was tired. She told him what had made her tired.