"He's averting his eyes when I discuss our marriage, Chloe."
"That doesn't mean much, sis."
"My husband is hiding something."
"C'mon, Sarah, give Paul a break. You've been married six years, and he cherishes you."
"Can you talk to him for me?"
"Me? Talk to your husband about you? Are you mad?"
"Chloe, you've known him for ages, and you guys play squash every Wednesday."
"Why would he tell me anything, especially knowing I'm your sister? You haven't thought this through."
"Actually, who better to confide something he wants me to know but can't say himself?"
"What's worrying you?"
"Divorce. I think my husband wants to leave me."
I left the coffee shop with my head spinning. I was friendly with Paul, but only because we played squash together, had coffee afterwards and went to most of the same weddings and funerals.
I played badly that Wednesday night, and Paul thrashed me. We were usually about even so it didn't surprise me when he mentioned my poor performance over coffee.
"Something's distracted you, Chloe."
"Nah, I'm fine. You had better luck tonight."
He simmered, knowing I was lying, and we sat silently in a near empty coffee shop, each hiding behind our mugs.
"It's Sarah, if you must know."
"My Sarah?"
"Yeah, she thinks you're hiding something from her?"
"Hiding what?"
"You haven't denied it."
We settled back into a stony silence and I realised something was very wrong. I felt afraid because my younger sister is precious to me and the possible destruction of her marriage felt terrifying.
"Are you leaving Sarah?"
His chin dropped and complexion turned ashen. First he grimaced, then laughed maniacally, and to the point of crying, planting his face in both hands. When he came back up for air, his contorted expression and the tears rolling down his face were pitiful.
I shunted my chair closer to him, wrapping an arm around his neck, pulling him close.
"Is it divorce that's got you upset and you're too frightened to tell Sarah?"
His expression flashed instantly to defiance.
"No, never. I'd never leave Sarah. She's my life."
"Okay Paul, I'm confused. What's going on?"
He sat back, partly relieved, but with a haunted expression that was more confusing than frightening to me.
"I can't say."
"Can't, or won't?"
He placed his palms together to his lips and blew hard, as if releasing steam. His contorted expression conveyed the heart wrenching nature of a problem that was very real to him.
"As long as you don't want to divorce my sister or sleep with me, then I can help you with anything else."
"Of course I don't want to sleep with you."
"There's no need to be so emphatic."
We both chuckled, lightening our mood. He sipped more coffee, and I was glad we'd ordered grande, but even when he dipped his head into the massive porcelain mug, I didn't let go of his eyes.
If there was a chance to help them, I would take it.
"It is a sexual matter though but not related to you. We're friends."
"Oh, right. I know someone that can get viagra if that's the issue."
"It's not that either, Chloe."
"Fucking spit it out then, Paul. I can't stand the melodramatics."
He looked tortured, but I felt Paul had reached a point where he needed to tell me, or anyone, because the problem was tearing him apart.
"I want Sarah to sleep with another man."
I felt like my eyes popped out of their sockets on stalks and my heart bounced around its protective rib cage playing dodgeball. I leaned across the table to whisper, praying I'd misheard.
"Did I hear you right?"
"What did you hear."
"You want my sister, your wife, to sleep with another man, that's not you?"
"Please don't treat me like a freak, Chloe. It's a common relationship dynamic these days."
I sat back, stared at him, then realised I was being a prude.
"Cuckoldry?"
"Yes."
"Why not ask her straight out."
"How?"
"By being honest."
"Do you think she'll do it?"
"I have no clue, Paul. We discuss girl stuff and she's often praised your bedroom gymnastics without offering details, but never to this extent."
"I can't ask her."
"Why not?"
"In case she treats me like a freak."
"You know Sarah is better than that."
"Will you come with me as moral support while I tell her?"
"It's weird, Paul. Maybe if Sarah wasn't my sister, I'd feel differently."
"You're my friend as well, so you'll have the interests of both parties at heart. Her's more than mine, obviously."
I mulled it over, realising he was right. If there was one person in the world that would never tell a soul about this situation, it was me.
"Okay, let's go."
"What now, today?"
"Would you rather we both keep your secret when she's already asked me to find out what's going on?"
"I guess that's not the best idea."
I followed him in my car, parked and held his hand up the driveway to my sister's home. She looked horrified seeing us together, knowing a revelation had occurred.
"Fuck! It's divorce, isn't it?"
Paul shook his head vigorously, shuddered and burst into tears, sobbing like a child that lost its mother.
"Its nothing like that, sis."
Chloe hugged her husband close, stroking his head while offering a confused expression to me, mouthing what the fuck is going on?
"He wants you to cuckold him."