Temptation

            Tim was being especially fidgety this morning. He was scratching his forearm so hard Lindsey feared he was going to cut himself.

            “Last week you said you were anxious about your board meeting. How did it go?” she asked.

            He rolled his eyes and said, “You know, same old same old. World’s falling apart, but our graphs are good. We went to HQ after.”

            HQ was his and his business partners’ go-to celebration spot.

            “Who’s we?” she asked.

            “You know, my partners and me.”

            “Okay. How was that?”

            Tim rocked back and forth in his chair before saying, “There was this one. Couldn’t have been a day over twenty-five.”

            “What made this one stand out?” Lindsey asked.

            “Everything. Her smile. Her brains. Her body. She let me know why she was there too.”

            “Were you tempting?” Lindsey asked.

            “Yeah. I was tempting. I can’t believe I controlled myself.”

            “As far as I know, you’ve always controlled yourself. You continue to resist extramarital sex,” Lindsey said.

            Tim chuckled and said, “What sucks is someone in my marriage is resisting, and it’s not me.”

            “Is that something you want to talk about?”

            “I even invited Claire to come out with us this time. No other wives were going, but I still wanted her to come celebrate.”

            “Why didn’t she come?” Lindsey asked.

            Tim threw his arms in the air. “Who knows. She said she was tired and needed rest. Like she doesn’t get enough or something.”

            “Has Claire not been sleeping much lately?” Lindsey asked.

            “I don’t know. I don’t keep track. It just seems like she’s tired all the time, but this girl is all I’ve thought about since that night. I was happy Claire was asleep when I got home.”

            “Why’s that?”

            “Because I could do it myself,” he said and gestured what he meant.

            “I’m sensing you feel guilty,” Lindsey said.

            “I just can’t stop thinking about her.”

            “Have you thought about your solution we discussed a few weeks ago?” she asked.

            “Not socializing with my partners as much?”

            Lindsey nodded.

            “Yeah, but it’s not possible.”

            “Why not?”

            Tim shrugged. “Tempting is just something I’m going to have to deal with.”

            “You already came up with a way to,” Lindsey reminded him.

            “Just not one that’s realistic,” he said.

            Lindsey’s Apple Watch buzzed. “That’s all the time we have Tim. Will you be here next week?”

            He nodded and thanked her, then left without another word.

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