“I meant in Israel,” he continued, his voice trembling. He said he was keeping his visit a secret, and asked her not to tell anyone she had seen him.

“Who would I tell?” she asked, trying to understand.

“I don’t know, just don’t,” he replied and leaned into her. “I’m going to ask you a weird question, okay?”

“Try me.”

“Let’s say,” he began slowly, weighing his words, “someone approaches you. He offers you a one-way ticket, and promises a life unlike anything you have known before. Would you go for it?”

“Someone with a jacket and a top hat?”

He smiled.

“What’s the catch?”

“That you don’t know where you’re going,” he said, his expression turning sober. “And you can’t tell the people you love that you’re leaving.”

“I don’t think so,” she said hesitantly.

“Got it,” he said, and without any warning raised his hand and signaled to the waiter for the bill. “I have to go.”

“What?”

“I have to go.”

“Would you explain what’s going on here?” she asked, shocked that he’d asked her out for lunch just to ditch her halfway through.

“I’ll tell everyone I saw you,” she said, insisting on getting an answer.

“No, you won’t,” he determined, attempting a friendly tone.

“Watch me,” she replied, and glanced at her phone on the table. The idea had just popped into her head. “I’ll share us on Facebook,” she announced.

She would look back at that moment for years to come; offer herself long, reasoned explanations about why she had insisted on not letting him go. In her heart of hearts she’d know that the real answer was simple—she was lonely and didn’t want to say goodbye to the person who had accidentally knocked on the door to her life.

“Remind me of your last name again? Tsabari?” she asked as if she didn’t already know.

He snuck a glance at her phone. “You mean check-in, not share,” he corrected her, scratching his beard nervously. “You used to be nicer,” he noted.

She knew he was right.

“When are you going back to Germany?” she asked, and when he didn’t answer, started typing in his name to let him know she meant business. “When are you going back?”

“Never,” he replied with sharp, uncontrollable resolve. She looked up from her screen and considered him, realizing he had divulged more than he had intended.

The waiter appeared with the bill, cleared their plates, and they both withdrew into themselves. Michael removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes until they turned red.

She thought she had taken it too far.

4.