Disclaimer: This is a story in which a fictional character cheats on his wife. If you find this sort of thing offensive, I recommend not reading any further. You have been warned, so please don't send me feedback or post comments telling me how wrong it is for men to cheat. This is fiction.
*****
I think the best word to describe my reaction to seeing Nikki sitting at the bar would be "dumbfounded." I only knew her name because she'd been my server at lunch the previous week at another establishment. I'd been completely mesmerized by her and had made sure to confirm her name when I'd looked at the check. There may have been a little bit of a moment between us during that lunch though I'm sure it was just wishful thinking on my part. After all, I'd been married for more than twenty years and she was probably about half my age. I'm pretty sure it was her eyes, which were big and beautiful, though her lips were big and luscious, too, and her body, though slim, had certainly drawn my attention each time she'd passed or stopped at our table. When I got back to the office and still couldn't stop thinking about her, I entered her first name and the restaurant name into a popular search engine and genuinely found myself surprised. It wasn't the first thing listed, but there was a blog that it turned out she'd written, though the restaurant was listed in the body of the blog, not as her employer. It was really just random chance, more or less, that I was able to find out more about her, and see her amazing eyes in her profile photo, as a result.
I probably spent too much time that afternoon, I guess you would say, cyberstalking her. She had a fairly large digital footprint, though some of the "toes" were pretty neglected. I did manage to find out her last name and on most sites she went by the same username. I wasn't looking for her address or whether she was in a relationship; I was mainly interested in photos of her because I didn't get to that restaurant very often and, if I suddenly started hanging out there more often, that would be traditional stalking. I figured with a few photos to remind me how beautiful she was I'd be good and that would be as far as it would go. The universe, however, had different plans, ones that went beyond feeding me a too easy search result on that popular search engine.
I was with a group of current and former coworkers at World of Beer and we'd only been there long enough to order when she caught my attention. I don't think she'd noticed me and wasn't sure she'd recognize me if she did so, while trying to remain engaged with my companions, I was contemplating what to do, if anything. She was sitting alone, drinking slowly and checking her phone, so I figured she was waiting for someone. As more time went by and more of my own beer was consumed, I decided that, maybe I'd at least say "hi" and chat with her if she remembered me while she waited for her friend or whoever to join her. I actually had to screw up my courage first to do it, then finally just got moving.
"Be right back," I told my companions as I stood and grabbed my beer. She'd mostly had her back to me but had glanced toward the door often enough that I was absolutely certain that it was her. I walked around to the direction she was facing and her reaction was nothing like I was expecting.
"Holy shit!" she exclaimed, her eyes going even wider behind her glasses than they already were.
"I hope that's because you recognize me," I replied, "and not because you are expecting a blind date and are incredibly disappointed."
"Oh my God, no," she laughed, "Of course I recognize you. Friday lunch, salmon burger, Ska Euphoria."
"Wow, impressive!" I replied, "Its Nikki, right?"
"Yes and I am not surprised that you remember," she said, shaking my hand as I introduced myself. I wasn't sure what she meant by that so I asked.
"What makes you say that?" I asked.
"Well, just the way that you spoke, I knew that you didn't see me just as a means to getting your lunch," she explained, "You thanked me, you looked at me when you were talking to me, in the eyes, not in the boobs, and the last time you were in, you remembered me from when I worked at River North."
"I didn't even think you remembered me remembering you," I replied, feeling pleasantly surprised.
"Well I didn't remember you from River North," she said, "but it meant a lot that you recognized me."
We chatted for a few more minutes and she never looked at her phone or toward the door even once, which made me feel pretty good, but I figured my companions were probably getting curious about who I was talking to for so long.
"Well, you're obviously expecting someone and I should probably get back to my friends," I finally said, reluctantly.
"Actually I've been stood up," she said with a frown, "I was just going to finish my beer and take off."
"Why don't you come hang out with us?" I suggested, "The two people I had lunch with are both there and just about all of us are also beer snobs."
"What makes you think I'm a beer snob?" she asked with a twinkle in her eye. I knew because of my cyber-sleuthing mostly, but I certainly couldn't reveal that.
"You're at World of Beer, obviously not drinking a Coors Light," I said, indicating the dark liquid in the tulip glass, "You work at FreshCraft and formerly worked at River North. I stand by my assumption."
"Well you're absolutely right," she replied, "and as long as your friends won't mind, I'd be happy to join you."
Grabbing her things, she followed me back to our table where I introduced her but didn't have to remind Maegan or Jeffrey where she worked. She remembered both of them, as well, and talk quickly turned to what everyone was drinking. She fit right in with us and, the more time I spent around her, the more smitten I was becoming. It turned out that, despite the difference in our ages, we actually had quite a bit in common. Had I not been married, I wouldn't have hesitated for a moment to ask her out on a date, but I didn't keep the fact that I was married a secret. If nothing else, I expected that I would have a new friend with many common interests. I didn't expect that things would go anywhere beyond that.
When it got to the point where I needed to take off, she seemed to be comfortable enough that I expected she would stick around with the others who still remained.
"All right, I've got to go catch a train," I said, after returning from the rest room and grabbing my jacket.
"I'll walk with you," Nikki said, "I'm heading that way, too."
I was pleasantly surprised by the opportunity to spend more time with her and no one appeared to think it was suspicious or unsavory. We said good-bye and headed out the door, chatting as we made our way toward the closest light rail stop. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately as things turned out, I just missed the train I needed to catch. This meant another 15 minutes before the next one would come but it also meant another 15 minutes spent with Nikki. I decided I'd just walk up to the next stop up the line since I had the time to kill and Nikki continued to accompany me. About halfway there, she said something that made me think once again that the universe was working in some mysterious way as far as the two of us were concerned.
"This is my apartment building right here," she said, offhandedly.
"Are you kidding?" I asked, then pointed across the street, "That's where I work."
"Do you ever feel like there are forces at work beyond your control?" she asked.