Here's a quickie just for fun. No sex, no violence, no car chase, no gun fight, a little mischief. (I set out to do it in 750 words but couldn't. I have newfound respect for those who can.)
***
"I've invited a friend over for dinner tonight," Ellen, my wife of 19 years, told me at breakfast. "I met him at the gym, and I'll be spending a lot of time with him, so I want you to meet him. I don't want any secrets between us."
"Will you be working out together?" I asked, innocently
"Well, in a manner of speaking. I expect it will be very physical."
"It almost sounds like you are suggesting you want to have sex with this fellow. Really?"
"Well, yes," she said. "I have discovered that no matter how much I love you, and no matter how good you are to me, and you are very good, I simply need more than one man in my life. I have been your loving faithful wife for 18 years, but lately I've been feeling an emptiness. Then I met Brian, and he filled me up. I have found that he is my other soulmate."
I ignored the obvious double entendre. "Wow, I didn't know one could have more than one soul mate. Does that mean I'm not?"
"No, silly. You were my first and will always be my main soul mate. I just need more. I'm trying to be upfront about this, and I hope you will be polite to him. After all, it is for your sake that I've invited him. I hope you will find him to be as wonderful as I do, and that you can be friends, so I won't have to sneak around"
I couldn't think of an appropriate response to that. I really tried, but I just couldn't. As far as I knew, she had never had any affairs before. I quietly got up and headed out to work. She looked so self-satisfied, like she had discovered the key to perfect happiness.
I wasn't sure if I would make dinner at home or not. I didn't get much work done that day, but I did finally sort things out in my mind about how to mess with her plans.
I arrived home at the usual time to find wonderful smells of a special dinner coming from the kitchen. Ellen heard me come in and called down from our bedroom, "Dinner is almost ready. I'm getting dressed. Brian should be here any minute. Please make him a drink and make him feel welcome."
"You bet," I called up to her.
Just then Brian walked in the door. I was surprised he didn't knock or ring the doorbell - he just walked in as if it was his house. "Hi Bill, I'm Brian," he said, smugly reaching out to shake my hand. "Thank you for sharing Ellen with me."
I ignored his hand, and looked him up and down. He was young, fit and reasonably good looking, but nothing extraordinary. "Ellen will be right down. She asked me to offer you a drink."
"Scotch, neat, would be good. I was glad to find you also enjoy a good single malt."