As I took my seat, Jason poured us each a glass of wine, and we raised them in a silent toast. The words we might have said hung unspoken between us. This was a moment we both needed, a reprieve from the pressures and complexities that defined our lives.

Dinner was served in courses, each dish more exquisite than the last, brought to us by waiters who seemed to appear and vanish like ghosts. We laughed, reminiscing over past escapades, and shared stories, and for the first time in a long ...