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“ Yes I am. I only offered to take you to dinner and then home,” he said, showing her his left hand with the wedding band he had never removed since Tanya put it on his finger.“ I also had a wonderful day on the courts and shared a lovely evening with an equally lovely young lady. We had a few laughs and some good conversation. I will take you anywhere you want to go,” he said, and waited.“ What if I said, back to your place?”“ Then you put me in an awkward position.” he said.“ How so?”“ I might be forced to show you my very tiny penis,” he said, donning his best poker face. Mandy started to laugh.“ That may be the reaction I get and you don’ t seem to be the type who would want that on her conscience.”“ Are you trying some kind of reverse psychology to make me want to see for myself?”“ You are the one who mentioned going to my place. The intention was obvious.” Mandy was suddenly confused and a little miffed. Her face became warm as her blood pulsed.“ Take me home. Make a right,” she said. Eddie drove without saying a word. They pulled into a set of apartments that had seen better days. He parked in front of the building to which she directed. She unfastened her seat belt, kissed him quickly on the cheek.“ Your wife is a lucky woman. Thank you for dinner. Maybe I’ ll get to play tennis with you again sometime,” she said, getting out of the truck and taking her bag.“ I look forward to such an encounter,” Eddie smiled and drove away.
During the course of their marriage Eddie had never cheated on Tanya. It was not as if he did not have the opportunity. He accepted Rodney’ s theory that a three-way was not cheating, if your wife participated. Tanya said she never wanted to do that again. Sam’ s statement kept coming to mind, but he doubted another Eddie sandwich was within reach. Friday’ s activities left him feeling extremely virile. Turning down this evenings roll between the sheets, gave him the power he imagined Tibetan monks received by denying themselves pleasure.
There was a chink in Eddie’ s armor and her name was Samantha Evans. The pictures flashed in his memory. If he had known Tanya would offer this one time deal, he would have liked to help pick the extra participant. He wondered if he could change her mind. All the angles he tried to visualize produced the same results. Tanya tossing his ass out of the house.
Sitting on the sofa in the apartment, he called Tanya. He had calmed enough to have a civil conversation. She did not answer and he did not leave a message. The phone rang and she saw it was Eddie calling. Tanya was afraid of what she might say if she answered. She left work and picked up dinner as a peace offering. He had tried to comfort her and she practically bit his head off. She drove to the building where she assumed they were working late because he said he was crashing at Rodney’ s place. The Fear Factory was deserted. She knocked on the huge steel doors and listened for the sound of anything.“ Eddie lied!” was all that kept going through her mind while she drove home.
The suit Eddie wore Friday was hanging in the closet. Tanya brought the jacket to her nose, the smell of perfume lingered in the fabric. She knew the fragrance Kate wore, this was different. The pants told a different story. Someone had spent a good deal of time on her husband’ s lap. The only thing that did not add up properly was Eddie’ s performance that evening. Tanya wondered if she knew her husband. Was she going to be one of those talk show wives who discovers her husband is some kind of sex maniac. She never kept track of his hours on the road. Could he have been burying three to five hours a week in the paperwork. He was the one who screamed