All at once the magnitude of what he’d done came crashing down on him. “Oh God,” he said, and turned away from her. “God, I’m sorry.” He reached for his underwear. He didn’t want her to see him, and angled away from her while he pulled them on. “I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry,” she said.

He pulled his trousers on, lifting his hips to pull them up to his waist, holding the buckle so it wouldn’t make a sound. He felt too weak, too embarrassed to stand.

She was glaring at him, waiting for him to go on. “What are you sorry about?”

“I wasn’t thinking,” he said, buttoning himself up. “I’m sorry. This was a mistake.”

She continued to glare at him for a long moment, until she looked away and seemed to come to some sort of conclusion. “Right,” she said. She got to her feet.

“Alma,” he said—but he didn’t know what he wanted to say. He felt consumed by fire. “I wasn’t thinking,” he said again.

“I know.” She turned her back to him and shimmied into her underwear.

“Alma, I’m sorry.”

“If you say you’re sorry again, I’m going to scream.” She turned back around to face him, smoothing her dress. “I’m serious. Tell me you’re sorry one more time. I’ll scream. I’ll say you forced me.”

“No!” He stood up, his belt buckle ringing. “Please. You can’t. You can’t tell anyone.”

She laughed. “Look at you. You’re terrified.”

“It was a mistake, that’s all. I didn’t mean to do it.”

“Get the fuck away from me.”

She strode past him. He grabbed her arm, and she swung around and slapped him in the face. The shock blinded him. His ear rang. She made it to the door and was unlocking it when he cried, “Alma—please. Please don’t go. Please.” She paused, her hand on the doorknob, and he held his palms up to her. “I don’t know what I’m saying. Please. I feel crazy. I don’t know what I’m doing.”

She seemed to soften somewhat. Her eyes glistened in the light. He thought she might be on the verge of crying, but when she spoke, her voice was calm and clear. “Look, I’m not going to say anything. You can relax. It’s nothing—nothing to report here. This was just…” She waved her hand at him. “It’ll go down the memory hole.” She opened the door, said, “See you later,” without looking at him, and went out, closing the door behind her.