"Don't you think we're both a little old for the fairground?" I said to my wife with an inward groan. I had just finished a long and arduous day at the office and was not really in the mood for this sort of childish entertainment.
"Oh, come on, Phil," Alice replied, "It'll be fun. Danny wants to go as well, we can pick him up on the way!"
Another inward groan. Danny was a friend of Alice's from work. How good a friend, I wasn't sure, but it seemed that these days we could hardly go anywhere without him tagging along. I had no evidence that there was anything going on between them, but I certainly had my suspicions.
As usual, Alice got her own way, and within an hour we were in the car and heading for Danny's house, on-route to the fairground. The evening was warm and balmy and Alice had dressed very nicely - maybe a little too nicely for the fairground - in a tight fitting leather mini skirt, a designer t-shirt and strappy shoes. I wondered who's benefit this was all for.
As usual, Danny was the life and soul, cracking jokes and making comments about Alice's attire as soon as he got into the car. It wasn't that I disliked the man, I was just a little cautious and concerned regarding his intentions towards my wife. Not that I could really blame him. At thirty six, Alice was ten years my junior and with her long, flowing blonde hair and athletic figure, she tended to turn a few heads wherever she went.
As we wandered around the fairground, I felt like I was the one tagging along rather than Danny. The two of then were laughing and sharing private jokes and after a while I lost interest in trying to join in their conversations and fell a couple of paces behind them. Alice and Danny stopped at a particularly horrifying ride. I looked up at the twisting and turning carriages as they spun around a central pivot at a frightening speed high up in the night sky. My stomach churned just looking at it!
"Ohhh." squealed Alice in an excited voice. "We gotta go on this one!"
I was horrified, but Danny seemed more than happy to oblige my wife as, without a second thought for me, he grabbed her hand, threw some money at an oily looking attendant and led her up to the ride.
The machinery ground and whirred into life and I could hear Alice's whoops of excitement as the carriages twisted and dipped. Every time they passed me on the ground, I could see Danny tightly gripping her with one arm around her shoulder. I could not see his other hand, but it looked like it was in her lap! When the ride eventually came to a halt, my wife and Danny both exited with smiles. I don't think I had ever seen Alice look more flushed or excited, and I wondered if the ride was the only reason for her animated behaviour.
For another forty minutes we traipsed around the fairground site, looking at side shows and Danny and Alice sampling several more adventurous rides. Every time they came off one of the rides, Alice looked more excited and seem to become more and more distant towards me. I was beginning to become frustrated and a little angry by her behaviour. She was blatantly flirting with Danny right in front of me, and whenever he thought I wasn't watching, he had his hands all over her. It was either make a big scene, or just disappear into the background. I chose the latter option.
"Look, you two," I said, "I'm a bit bored with all this. I'll wait for you in the car, okay?"