Interrupted

Your phone started to ring— your wife. Fuck. You stepped away from Dillon. What were you thinking? You were getting caught up in all of this. Did you really love her? You had no idea. You needed to sort your feelings out... Get to know her.

No! You couldn't do that! You were married! You loved your wife! You were happy! Just because you and Dillon shared a bit of a moment together doesn't mean you guys were actually in love. She was just a scared girl who needed someone to care for her.

But was that so bad? Why couldn't you be that person? No one had to know.

You stepped away and answered the phone. "Hey, sweetheart," you started, the words heavy in your mouth. Guilt began to creep in.

"Just wanted to see when you would be home. Lauren asked me if the three of us could do dinner together? She's wanting to give us a proper welcome to the neighborhood." Tegan sounded excited; you'd been worried about her making friends here, but it seemed she'd clicked with Lauren.

You looked over at Dillon. Her eyes were cast to the side, avoiding you. You could tell everything was finally catching up to her to. "Let me check with Aubrey and I'll send you a text, okay?"

"Sounds good! Love you!" Tegan chirped on the other side of the phone.

"I love you too." It was an automatic response. You did love her. But you could tell the words hurt Dillon. As you hung up the phone, silence filled the air. Neither of you wanted to talk. Someone needed to say anything.

"Dillon—"

"Just, um, I'll be okay. You sound like you need to go home to your wife. I'm sure I'll be fine. I'll... do some more work or something." She tried her best to smile for you, but you knew it was a fake. But you didn't feel like you had the right to say anything. This mess was partly your fault.

"O-okay." That's all you could say. You weren't sure if there was anything else to say. You awkwardly shuffled by her and left the office, sending Tegan a quick text about heading out.

Your head was a mess on the drive home. You tried to reason through everything: it had just been coincidence that brought you and Dillon together. There was nothing real there; no spark. There couldn't be. Even as you got to the door of your house, you tried to banish the thoughts from your head.

The dinner was enjoyable enough. The three of you had a good time talking and having fun. You even started to relax and focus on the moment. You could just forget about all of that messy drama with Dillon and live in the moment. You did feel a little stuffy in your work clothes, though, so you excused yourself to go change.

You decided to check your phone and saw a text from Dillon.

• "Please. I need you here."

You felt a familiar stirring. It was one you'd managed to surpress most of the evening. A longing, almost. You could easily make up an excuse about work and leave, but did you want to? You definitely didn't need to.