CHAPTER 5

Nathan

THE MORNING HAS BEEN SUPER BUSY. THERE’S NEVER A LACK OF BUSINESS in this line of work in a big metro area. First thing, I was greeted with a car that was barely recognizable. We needed to total it, no question, and one of the estimators was already completing the paperwork when I got to the office.

“Don’t think anyone walked away from that,” he said as I stopped by, sipping lukewarm coffee.

“Yeah. I saw.” I grimaced. Just paperwork, then off to the junkyard with that vehicle.

The rest of the morning passed pretty smoothly, and I was able to relax a bit in my office. I tried to fix it up when I went from assistant manager to the top job. My old boss retired right before I met Eve, and I was promoted to his corner office. He’d had pictures of his family all over the walls and framed awards for professional accomplishments. Potted plants on the floor by the window and all kinds of knick-knacks on the desk.

I haven’t bothered with much. A picture of Rosewyn in a pink sweater set, slobber on her little fist, sits on the corner of my desk. I hung my college diploma on the wall, BS in business management. That and my interest in cars got me this job, but you don’t need a college degree to do it. My old boss had a high school education and worked his way up. But times were a little lean when I graduated, and jobs weren’t exactly falling into my lap. I had experience in the car business. My dad owned a body shop for years and I worked for him as a teenager, so here I am, but I like my job well enough.

It’s lunchtime and I check my phone. There’s a knock on my open door.

“Hey, Nathan. We’re headed over to the barbeque place. You want to come?” Greg is one of our techs, tall, skinny, and a whiz with automobile electronics.

I clear my throat. “Not today. I need to run some errands.”

“Okay. See you later.” He moves off down the hall. I grab my jacket and head out.

She’s waiting for me at our usual place, and I feel guilty, yet excited, and I weigh one against the other. It’s just I’ve been so alone these past few months, and I don’t know that Eve really cares what I do anymore. She’s so wrapped up in her work, does it really matter? I still care about her, but what am I supposed to do?

End it and go to couples therapy or something. That’s what I should do.

Nicole is stretched out on the bed at our usual hotel. I turn and shut the door, throw the deadbolt. She smiles as I approach, loosening my tie and kicking off my shoes.

When I met Nicole a few weeks ago, Eve and I hadn’t had sex more than a couple of times since the baby was born. Every time I got close to her, I felt her pull away, shut down. And she didn’t even know she was doing it. I don’t think. It was as if she was closed off in her own world. She’d remember herself and kiss me, nuzzle my neck, but then start a conversation about work or something she’d seen on the news. It was like she’d be with me just so far then pull away. I had no clue what was going on with her. I kept waiting for her to talk to me. I’m not great about initiating intimate conversations, and neither is she, so where does that leave us?

I was at my wit’s end. It was six o’clock on a Friday and I decided to do something to try to get us back on track, so I made reservations at Eve’s favorite restaurant. I called the sitter and got the okay for her to keep Rosewyn until later. I figured I’d surprise Eve, but when I called her at work, she was in a rush. She was about to fire one of her nurses and it wasn’t going to be pretty, so she hurried me off the phone and said she’d be late. So, my plan fizzled before it had even gotten started.

Then Greg popped into my office and said he and a couple of the guys were going over to Lucia’s, a Mexican restaurant/bar across the street, the one where Eve and I had that first drink together. Did I want to go? Already had the sitter lined up, so absolutely.

She was sitting at the bar with a friend when I ordered a craft brew. She said her name was Nicole and she worked in Woburn for some big computer company. We chatted. She was blond, like Eve, with big blue eyes and a petite slender build. She was wearing a sweater that slid off one shoulder exposing creamy skin, something Eve would never wear, totally arousing. Her friend had to run, so I invited her to join me and the guys, and she readily accepted.

It felt good and natural to be out with friends, drinking, laughing, just relaxing. After a couple of hours, the guys left one by one until it was just Nicole and me. I learned that she was divorced. Had a college degree although I can’t remember what she said her major was, maybe she didn’t say. She was a local, friendly as hell, and the attention felt good. Then she suggested we go to a hotel nearby. She was temporarily staying with her grandmother, and I couldn’t bring her to my place, obviously. So, that’s how it started.

“Hey, there,” she says, sliding the sheet down her naked body. “I couldn’t wait to see you. Once a week just isn’t enough.” She smiles as I climb in next to her.

“We’ll see what we can do.” I smooth back her long hair that shimmers as it slips through my fingers. Take her mouth with mine.

It’s been nearly a month that we’ve been meeting at lunchtime. After that night at Lucia’s, she called me at the office and asked me out to dinner. And I leveled with her. I’m married. I expected a shit storm, but she actually didn’t seem surprised or too concerned. I didn’t intend for it to go any further, but she was game for meeting once a week for lunch and/or lunchtime sex. And I gave in.

Now I’m a little worried. I don’t want to get mixed up with a fatal attraction, but so far, I haven’t seen any red flags.

“It’s fine,” she whispers in my ear, her warm breath tickling my cheek. “This works.”

She’d told me she wasn’t looking for anything serious. She was still getting over her divorce. That’s why she was living with her grandmother. Her ex had wanted the house, and she was content for him to buy her out. She was trying to figure out her life right now and seeing me was a nice distraction in this transition period.

So, I enjoy the sex and the attention. She texts me a few times a week just to say something nice, keep my spirits up since she obviously knows that my wife and I are having problems. I’d told her a little bit about Eve, that she was totally absorbed in her career and that we’d drifted apart. Nicole was understanding and said that we could be there for each other, like a little crutch to get us through a mutual rough patch.