A Park Affair: Part 3 Untangling Messed Up Lives. By R A Wallace. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories. Chapter 6: Second Thoughts Wendy We talked for almost an hour and I found myself laughing at his lame jokes. Though he did a pretty good job at laughing at mine too. After we hung up I felt wonderful. He had laughed at my favorite lawyer joke: How many lawyers does it take to shingle a roof? He had made a few guesses, and when I gave him the punch line: It depends on how thin you slice them. He laughed, then continued to chuckle as we talked. I felt so good knowing I had entertained him. It was the most fun I’d had in a long time. “Well, you look like you’re in a good mood, Clara grinned as I walked out into the living room and sat down. Who was that you were talking to?” “A guy I met at the park a while ago.” “How well do you know him? It sounded as if he has a good sense of humor to make you laugh like that.” The question jolted me and my mind tried to parse the question. How well did I know him? I didn’t know him that well, I mean we… I had him… “Come on, it can’t be that difficult to answer,” Clara chided with a smile. “I’ve seen him one time, he gave me his number, and I accidently dialed it instead of my mother’s.” “And you talked with him for how long?” “I don’t know, a while. He asked me out for coffee and I told him no.” “So, once things are settled with your husband are you going to call him again and see if he’ll take you out?” “Really, I don’t know, I haven’t given it any thought.” Then I realized I hadn’t deleted his contact information as I had planned to do. I didn’t want to second guess myself as I had enjoyed talking with him– I decided to leave him in my contacts. “You know you could ask him out, you’re not that old fashioned are you? I mean you could have him over to hang out.” “I suppose I could once I have my own apartment and my husband is history.” “You know I don’t mind having you here.” “I know, thank you. But, I will have to move on with my life and getting my own apartment seems important in that respect.” Robb After ending my talk with Wendy I took a root beer out of the fridge and sat down with a bag of pretzels. I was surprised when the first call came, then disappointed it had been by mistake. She had been honest about it and… well… it was nice to hear her voice. I was engaged in reading when the second call came and after talking for a while it seemed as if she had taken my advice and sought a divorce. The longer we talked the more relaxed she seemed to be. Making her laugh was delightful as I could see her eyes sparkle while those sweet lips showed a white smile in my mind. The surprise was she had a wonderful sense of humor herself, and I found myself laughing more than I had in a long while. That was when I suggested we have coffee together. When she declined the air went out of the balloon in a whoosh. When she explained the reason I felt better, she was right of course, she was married. The situation was thankfully different than before and I couldn’t help but feel good about it. We kind of ended our talk without really saying goodbye, it was as if she were leaving the door open. I hoped she was and this time my feelings were less than altruistic– I wanted to feel her body naked against mine again. Chapter 7: Caving In Wendy I was at work two days later having lunch with several of my coworkers and found my mind wandering. It was the second time in as many days Robb had come to mind– the sound of his laugh in particular. “Well, that was some smile,” Ruby said, bringing me out of my reveille, “I haven’t seen you smile like that in weeks, it’s nice to see.” The others nodded their agreement. I returned to my desk with a few minutes left before my lunch break was over. I took my phone out and sent a text message to Robb suggesting we meet in the park, then go for coffee if he wasn’t busy. I pressed send, my heart beating a little faster. Sure, I was still married, but that didn’t mean I