Charles sat in a restaurant, waiting for his divorced wife, Helen. They had both agreed to meet because of their son and nothing more.

He took a peek at his wristwatch and saw it was almost noon.

“This is one of the reasons why I get so mad at her. Why didn’t she just choose noon for the meeting if she would keep me waiting till this time?”

He picked up his cup of coffee and took a sip. He looked out of the restaurant through the transparent ...