At lunchtime on her first day back at school after the summer break, Jan felt strange and more than a little lonely as she walked into the cafeteria alone. For four years she and Ilya had eaten lunch together, and now he was no longer there. On impulse, she decided to leave the college campus and join her husband for lunch at the engineering firm where he worked.

Before moving to Ireland with her new husband, Marcia had sold her Toyota Corolla to Jan and Ilya. Jan walked out to the parking lot and got in her car and drove the fifteen minute trip to the engineering firm. A car was parked on either side of Ilya's car, so she had to park further back in the parking lot.

Realizing that she had no idea where the cafeteria was, Jan entered the firm through the front entrance. "I'm Ilya Risovich's wife," she told the blonde receptionist. "I came to have lunch with him."

"He and the others just left for Joe's Diner, like they usually do." The receptionist looked taken aback.

"Joe's Diner? Where's that?"

The receptionist gave her directions. It took her another ten minutes to get there, and when she arrived, she saw her husband sitting in a booth with a strange woman. Another man and woman sat across from them, and the four were just now being served.

As badly as Jan wanted to make her presence known to her husband, she found that she just couldn't. Her mouth seemed to be paralyzed, her feet glued to the floor. Her heart racing, she flew from the diner and ate lunch at the fast food restaurant a couple of doors down from it. She ended up being twenty minutes late for her afternoon class.

When Ilya returned home from work that day, he kissed his wife and daughters hello just as he always did. "You have good first day back at school, yes?" he asked Jan.

"It was all right," she mumbled.

That evening, she did homework while Ilya watched television and played with Chelsea. She lay awake in bed for a long time that night, wondering who the young woman who'd been sitting in the booth beside Ilya was. She'd been an attractive brunette, with pale skin and brown eyes. Jan wished that there were some way of finding out about her without admitting to Ilya that she'd gone to the diner that day.

On Jan's next school lunch break, she wasted no time at all in dashing right back to Joe's diner. This time, she happened to enter right before Ilya and his three companions, and turned to see the shocked expression on her husband's face.

"Jan! Why are you here?" he asked.

"I wanted to surprise you." Suddenly she was less sure than ever that this was actually a good idea.

"This is my wife, Jan." She noticed that Ilya didn't look happy at all as he introduced her to the others. "Jan, this is Brad, Lori, and Lisa." Lisa was the pretty brunette who'd been sitting beside Ilya in the booth before. All three of the others smiled politely and said hello.

"Well, I suppose we'll have to get a table instead of a booth this time," said Brad. He didn't sound very happy, either.

At the table, Jan and Lisa sat on either side of Ilya. The other two sat across from them. Right away, the discussion turned to complicated engineering concepts that were way over Jan's head. As badly as she wanted to join in the conversation, she found that she simply wasn't able to. Never before in her life had she felt so out of place.

Ilya acted completely normal that evening, although several times, he looked at her as if he wanted to say something to her but wasn't quite sure how to say it.

After the uncomfortable experience at the diner, Jan seriously considered eating in the school cafeteria instead at her next lunch break, but finding the prospect of eating alone simply too much to face, she returned to the diner instead and was almost relieved when Ilya and his work mates never showed up. She ordered her meal, ate it, and left, feeling very alone. That evening, she dreaded Ilya's arrival from work. Was he angry at her? Was that why he hadn't come to the diner for lunch that day? Or had some unexpected emergency come up?

She felt a mixture of relief and dread when he finally arrived home. As he kissed her hello, she noticed that he didn't seem angry. Yet, she simply couldn't avoid the issue.

"I missed you at lunch today," she remarked, willing her voice to stay as nonchalant as possible.

"Yes." He looked distinctly uncomfortable. "We decide to go to new place today. I did not get time to tell you."

"Oh." She struggled to decide whether or not she should ask where the new place was and if the change was a permanent arrangement, but Ilya changed the subject right away.

Later that night, he brought the subject up himself. "Jan? There is something I want to say, but I do not know how to say it."

Fear struck her heart. Was he about to tell her that he no longer loved her, that he wanted a divorce?

"Jan, please believe that I still love you just as much as ever. There is no change."

Relief washed over her.

"But, Jan, please understand. Some thing do change. My friends at work, they always eat lunch alone, just me and them. They do not feel comfortable to have other person there. They...we...are engineers. We talk about work over lunch. Other person do not understand. They are outsider. I am very sorry, Jan."

"So that's all I am to you now? Just an outsider? Some kind of stupid ignoramus not good enough to eat lunch with a hot shot engineer?"

Tears of rage flowed down her cheeks. Ilya tried to put his arms around her, but she pushed him away.