“How are you doing?” I say.
“Honestly, I’m scared,” he says.
“Scared?” I say. “I promise I don’t bite.”
“Not without permission anyway.”
I laugh.
“I just don’t know how to process any of it,” he says. “I’m in love with a married woman.”
“Oh, you’re in love with me?” I say. It’s the first time he’s said it aloud.
He nods. “I’m basically a monster.”
I laugh. “A monster? How so?”
“I’m in love with someone else’s wife. Fooling around with a married woman.”
I stare at him, confused. “We’ve been making out for weeks. You’re only just coming to this realization?”
“It was different when it was just physical,” he says.
I roll my eyes.
“When I thought it was only just physical, I could tell myself it was just about getting off. A bit of fun. Wanting a person’s body is one thing…” he says.
“But wanting the whole them is another?” I say.
He nods. “It’s a heavier want. That’s the only way I can explain it.”
“It does make me wonder about one thing,” I say.
“Yeah?”
“What did you think was going to happen? Hanging out like we’ve been. Talking for hours. Hooking up. How can you be surprised we fell in love?”
He shrugs. “I guess I just didn’t think it was possible, to fall in love with someone else’s wife.”
“Man, you never watched Lifetime Movies, did you?”
He laughs. “Well, it’s not something you think good people are capable of.”
“Good people?” I say. “What are you trying to say about me?” He knows I’ve been polyamorous for years.
“That’s not what I meant,” he says. “Maybe I should have just said me.”
“It’s okay, ” I say.
There’s No Force Field Around Married People That Makes Them Unlovable #
“It’s weird in hindsight, to be honest. Like I expected there to be a force field around married people that would somehow make them unlovable. A kind of bubble you’d have to actively chip through to get there,” he says. “But it turns out it’s just as easy to fall in love with them.”
“Well, maybe there still is. Maybe all that cavorting was chipping through that bubble,” I say.
“Nah,” he says. “The truth is that I’ve been in love with you this whole time. Even from a distance. I just didn’t realize it yet. It just got obvious to the point where I can’t deny it anymore.”
“So what do we do now?” I say.
He hesitates, before replying, “I’ll have to get back to you on that.”
*
My new book is out!