That's complicated.

Rick's a friend from work, or he was, anyway. You both waited tables at Fish and Sips, a local seafood restaurant that went out of business in the early days of the COVID pandemic, a good ten years after you'd last stepped foot in it. A lot changed in those years, both in the world and in your life, but you never lost touch with Rick. You've only actually seen him in person once since you quit that job to give birth to your second child, but you still talk. Obviously, you still text. If you had to guess how often, you'd say about once a month. You still consider him a friend. He's not a friend from work anymore, because you don't work anymore. You haven't since you quit Sips because you've been too busy making babies, or maybe you stayed busy making babies so that you wouldn't have to go back to work. Whatever the case, now Rick's just a friend, but there's something else you should mention. The thing about Rick is... well, maybe it would be more accurate to call it a thing about you.

The thing about you is that you made a pass at him. It didn't happen when you worked together, but shortly after that last time you saw him in person. Rick's quite a bit older than you, and in the five years prior, he'd gone gray. At first, you didn't recognize him, but oh, did you notice him! What can you say? You've always been into older men, and he looked every bit the silver fox. You chatted for a bit, then hugged each other good-bye. Only then, in his embrace, did you notice that you were trembling with desire.

Afterward, you wondered if he'd noticed it, too. You wondered about a lot of things. What would have happened if you'd kissed him? Would he have kissed you back? Would he have dared to allow his hands to explore other parts of your body, right there in public? He had such big hands. You wondered what else was big on him. You wondered what he'd be like in bed. You wondered about a lot of things. He was all you could think about that night.

You even texted Janie the selfie you'd snapped with him. Yeah, you know that sounds like it was a bad idea, after everything that's been said about Janie, but you needed to talk to someone, and the years you'd spent as a stay-at-home mom had left you with no other confidantes. You certainly couldn't have told your husband, Josh, so you told Janie.

"He's cute," she'd replied, and that's when you decided to text Rick a picture, too, only it wouldn't be that picture.