Special thanks to my editor and Sweet Inspiration blackrandl1958. NoraFares also gave me an insightful Beta read.

Some who follow my comments may be a bit surprised by this one! I arrived home to find Sally sitting in our living room, and she didn’t look happy to see me.

“Hello, Sally,” I said, going over to give her a kiss. She flinched away.

It didn’t appear as if I was going to be having a pleasant evening.

“What’s for dinner?” I said, “I don’t smell anything cooking.”

“I know,” she said. There was an uncomfortable silence.

I wracked my brain, trying to see what offense I might have committed this time, but couldn’t think of a thing.

“Know? I have no idea what you think you know.”

Sally slid a photo across the coffee table.

I could see why Sally was upset; it was hot. Lucy was naked, propped up against a headboard with pillows, one leg out straight, the other bent giving a clear view of her pussy, bare, except for a landing strip.

That was another strike against me; Sally had asked me before if I would like her to shave, but I always said no, that I preferred the natural look.

Lucy was tweaking a nipple with one hand, fingering her pussy with the other, with a look on her face that I had found extremely sexy, but I’m sure that Sally failed to share my opinion.

“You got some ‘splainin’ to do about Lucy,” she said in a terrible Ricky Ricardo accent.

Fuck, I thought, where did she get that picture? Then I realized that she must have found my chat with Lucy. I was in deep shit.

I was sweating, but also felt a sense of relief; I knew that I hadn’t “really” done anything that bad.

“She’s just a friend I chat with sometimes; we’ve never even met.”

“Yes. I’ve read those chats. I never knew that I was frigid, or that I couldn’t give a blow job to save my life. Funny, I don’t remember hearing any complaints.”

Shit, I thought, just how much did she read? I hoped that she hadn’t read...

“And since when do you have to masturbate? When do you find the time, we’re fucking at least four nights a week!”

“Um, um, it turns Lucy on to think that I masturbate to thoughts of her. I just say that for her benefit.”

“So, you lie to your slut, too. Must be a character flaw. Of course, you’d have to have character for it to have a flaw.”

I felt myself sinking lower and lower.

“I also saw where you were trying to get her to let you visit her, even though she lives in California. Just how did you expect that to happen, ‘Harry?’”

Shit, shit, shit! She knows I don’t let anyone call me Harry, it’s always Harold, but Lucy insisted. She wanted something that was just for her.

“I think you should sleep in the guestroom for now. No need to put up with a frigid wife. Give you a chance to practice your masturbation technique.

“Oh, and I’ll take this,” she said, closing up my laptop. “I’m sure “Lucy” will find some other suckers to chat with. Speaking of suckers, I’d better not find out that you’ve sent her any money.”

“No, no, I’d never do that, you know that!”

“Do I? I thought I knew that you would never have an intimate relationship with another woman. I guess I was wrong there, so who knows?”

“It was just chatting. It meant nothing,” I cried.

“You forget, I’ve read ALL of your chats. I think you should go to your room before I do something you’ll regret.”

“D ... Don’t you mean that we’ll both regret?”

“I know what I meant. Just go.”

I hesitated just a moment, then made my way to the guestroom.

I sat on the bed with my head in my hands. What was I going to do? I loved Sally, I really did, and didn’t want to lose her, but what I had, or was that used to have, with Lucy was something special. I truly believed that we were soulmates.

I tried to drop subtle hints about maybe meeting in person, but she was very clear that was never going to happen.

“I’m sorry, Harry,” she said, “I’m very fond of you, and I value our friendship, but we have no future together. Besides, I could never live with myself if I broke up your marriage.”

No matter how many times I tried to convince her, she wouldn’t budge. Part of me was glad. I did love Sally, and I wasn’t really sure what I would have done if Lucy had agreed to see me.

Now, Sally knew about Lucy, and I might be losing her anyway, and not having Lucy, either.

One thing I knew for sure: I needed to talk to Lucy. But how? Sally had my computer, and would surely be monitoring my chats.

The first order of business was getting a new computer, and not leaving the fucking thing where Sally could see it. Then I’d need to get a new ID and reach out to Lucy.

With the seeds of a plan in place, I stripped down and went to bed, trying to figure out a plan to get back into Sally’s good graces.

After my morning shower I went down to the kitchen, and it was obvious that it would be a chilly morning, even though it was the middle of August.

“Sally, I’m sorry, it was just a silly infatuation that got out of hand. I love you, and I’m completely satisfied with our love life,” I lied.

Sally seemed to soften a bit, but I could see that she still had her doubts. I was going to have to tread carefully until I was ready to make my move if I didn’t want to lose what I had.

I was glad that I had had the foresight to set up a secret account with whatever spare cash I could come up with. There wasn’t much in it, but there should be enough for my immediate purposes.

The first order of business after withdrawing some cash was to hit BestBuy and get a new laptop. I suppose I could have used my phone, but I’m terrible typing with my thumbs, and I wasn’t sure about what Sally might be able to track.

I used the free Wi-Fi at Dunkin’ Donuts to set up dummy email and Facebook accounts. The tricky part was getting Lucy to accept my friend request. I would have liked to have used my old ID as a mutual friend, but that would have meant risking Sally noting the activity.