I felt like I was experiencing another deja vu with this man. The cramped interior of the car and the silence that no one is going to break, afraid to break such a fragile illusion of peace between us. And the most important thing now is to get distracted, not to let him, not to allow myself to react to him like that, to his smell that enveloped the car interior, to his warm palm, which he put on my hand, despite my silent protest when I tried to pull it out of grasping prehensile fingers, and in response they only squeezed my own more tightly.

She closed her eyes,...