"An Affair" is a three-part series where I attempt my hand at short story writing. Thanks for reading! 

He is alone. On the top floor of his two story home, he stands like a lone tree occupying a vast and empty field on this stretch of the Oklahoma plains. For the better part of a decade, he has roamed this world this way. Potential partners have come and gone. Some of them deserved more than a one night stand. Some deserved a second phone call or at least another chance but when one is searching for themselves in this world there is no time for such niceties. 

Then on a regular day, one which no one would think anything of, she fell into his world. Across the bar, a place he had been countless times before, there she sat. Once their eyes locked, everything was set in motion. Their connection, the moments they would share over the next three months, and their affair were all laid down before them. Of course, everything began with small talk. 

As they talked, the ghosts of their past were released. They were no longer high school students in a small town. They were adults committed to jobs, families, friends, and decisions they couldn't possibly comprehend. All that was known and all that was left unsaid boiled down to one simple idea; they needed each other. She needed freedom. He needed someone to hold for more than a night. 

For the next three months, they did exactly that. Their time together was ecstasy. It was foreign and forgiven. It was lost in conversation and endless nights. It was free of judgment and violence. It was passionate and caring. It was everything they needed it to be. It was with the right person at the right time. 

Yet, from the beginning, there was an end in sight. Soon his tour abroad would be over and he would return to claim his rightful family. She would have choices to make. She could choose her marriage or the man standing before her. 

Just like that, her choice was made. She left like all the others. She chose the comfortable. She chose the abuse and neglect. She chose something other than the man who provided an escape from all that pain. Removing a tear from his eye, he understood. Affairs are tricky moments in time. It is best not to get attached. 

Be good to each other, 

-Nathan