Over

In James Salter's story "Platinum," the narration deftly passes from one affair-world to another, a few times, as if a faint echo of La Ronde, and it's heartbreaking but in an almost cool, detached, world-weary way. This kind of thing just keeps happening. Some people tend to get the upper hand more often than others. On the one hand, these rich and sophisticated characters (barely sketched out) seem accustomed to having their dreams come true, at least for a while. At the same time, we see that one of them hurts that much more for the dissolution of the dream.

"Her stunning naked back. The most sacred hours, he realized, of his life." That past tense, he realized, is what hurts!