Afterward, Catherine thought about this day. A lot. Majid had lunch with her. He’d been acting different since their hike on the bisse. More intense. Breaking unspoken boundaries. Talking about taking a trip together. Maybe going to Lebanon. His sister, he told her, was a student at a university there, making an escape from home the same way he had. This was all new to Catherine. She hadn’t known that Majid had a sister. Why was he suddenly talking about his family? And asking about her family? Her family was private. She didn’t talk about her family. Lebanon, he said, was beautiful, and much of it was safe despite what one heard. There was an inn he could take her to, in the mountains, overlooking the Mediterranean. Not far from the famous cedars of Lebanon, with fresh fish brought up every day from the sea. Hot days, cool nights. In the winter there was snow. Majid’s talk of romantic inns had the unintended consequence of making her think of Rafe. The absurd visit he had made to her at the pool, with the ridiculous excuse that he needed a how-to about short sales. What if she had invited him into the locker room with her? It was usually empty at that hour. And let him peel her bathing suit down, over her breasts, over her belly, over everything. And then him throwing her back onto a bench. And she looked up, and there was still Majid talking about the cedars of Lebanon over his poached fish, and the sister she’d never heard of before. Amina. He was sure that she and Amina would like each other. Who? What? Why?

She ordered another glass of wine.

And then, back at the office, there was Barnstable again, and the damn incomplete DAX straddle again. It was crashingly clear that she wouldn’t be able to put off the reckoning much longer. End of quarter reconciliation was bearing down like a beast. Would they have her arrested? Doubtful. She hadn’t gone out on this limb for personal profit. She had done it to profit the bank, so the bank would reward her, so she could take care of her family. But nobody was going to profit, because the trade was a total loss. So no jail, almost certainly, but she’d be fired, and hardly sent off with a glowing recommendation. And what then? She had no idea.