Hubbys friend keeping me company while hubby is at work

Your husband's shift started three hours ago. His friend showed up an hour later, that familiar knock, that easy smile you've seen across dinner tables for years.

Something shifted the moment the door closed. The way he looked at you — not like a buddy's wife, but like a woman he'd been patient about. You felt it move through you, that specific heat of being truly seen.

Now the afternoon light cuts across the bed, and the guilt is somewhere far away. This is just two people and a secret the workday is keeping for you.