Krem listened, closed his eyes and tried to imagine someone who was half of Adaline and half of someone else, some young woman somewhere back where she'd come from. He wondered how old she was. He wondered how old Adaline had been when she'd had her.

"I'm sorry she's not here with you," he said softly. "Though, from how I understand it, you might still be with her? It's a small consolation, I suppose." And very little consolation, to people like him.

He did not have so quiet and personal a truth, but he'd promised her one for her own. He held his wine glass. "I'm seeing other people. It's not a lack of faith. I just...I care too much. It's why me and my ex broke up. He thought he would be alright with it, and then he wasn't."