Free No One Needs to Know by Kevin O'Brien Page B

manipulative—and, well, let’s just say I’m better off keeping my distance.”
    He asked her out. Laurie told him she was flattered, but she didn’t think her husband would like her going on a date with another guy. Tad never asked her out again. But he often stayed until closing, claiming he wanted to make sure that no one bothered her and that she got to her car okay. It felt nice to have someone concerned about her.
    Those nights he stayed until closing, they sometimes stood and talked in the parking lot for fifteen or twenty minutes. Though she was dead on her feet, it was always the best part of Laurie’s day. She told him things she wouldn’t dream of telling anyone else—about how miserable she was. She admitted to him that sometimes she felt as if Brian didn’t understand her, and maybe she would have been better off not marrying him—or at least waiting until he’d finished up his tour of duty.
    The nights Tad didn’t show up at the restaurant always seemed so empty. But those occasions also gave her a little reality jolt. Though her marriage wasn’t perfect, her husband was a pretty wonderful guy, who put his life in danger every day for his country. And here she was, getting a crush on a lonely, screwed-up janitor. She had to keep things with Tad in check.
    When Brian said he might be home for Thanksgiving or Christmas, it helped her put things even more into perspective, and strengthened her resolve. Plus at long last, she had something to look forward to.
    But then, in early November, Brian texted her that a holiday furlough wasn’t going to happen. Laurie was crushed.
    On a cold, bleak night two weeks before Thanksgiving, she closed up the diner and discovered her car wouldn’t start. Tad was there—once again. He drove her home in his old VW Bug. But when he pulled in front of the duplex, Laurie gazed out the car window at that dark, empty first-floor unit, and she started to cry.
    Tad put his arm around her and kissed her. Though she knew it was wrong and stupid and reckless, she kissed him back.
    They made love in the guest room. A part of her just wanted to be crushed to death beneath him. They were clumsy and awkward together, especially when he hunted through his wallet for a condom he’d tucked in there months ago. He was shy about putting it on in front of her. Laurie hadn’t been with anyone else since meeting Brian, and try as she did, she couldn’t quite get comfortable with this other body. When Tad was finished and still on top of her, he started to weep. This time, he was the one crying. He seemed so grateful, so moved. All Laurie could do was hold him.
    As the days passed, when Tad wasn’t at the restaurant at closing, he was usually waiting for her outside when she got home. They had sex only two more times after that first night. Laurie simply couldn’t relax with him—and in a way, she didn’t want to. There was just too much at stake. She made it clear to Tad that all evidence to the contrary she still loved her husband and didn’t want to give him up. Yet as guilt-stricken as she was over her infidelity, she didn’t want to give up Tad either. He made her feel needed.
    Tad was good at keeping things clandestine. No one at the diner seemed to have a clue. He acknowledged that this thing between the two of them was just temporary. He told her that Brian seemed like a terrific guy, and he didn’t want to hurt their marriage. When the time came, he’d go quietly. But would she mind if he dedicated his novel to her?
    Both of them had nowhere to go for Thanksgiving, and the diner was closed for the holiday. So Laurie promised to have him over for an elaborate dinner—turkey, stuffing, all the trimmings. She used to do the same thing for her mom. Tad said he hadn’t had a home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner since his own mother had died six years before.
    That Tuesday afternoon before Thanksgiving, Laurie worked only one shift—in the kitchen. When she got the order for the