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<\/a>The chocolate layer cake on the dining room table is for wife’s afternoon bridge club. I’m not allowed to touch it -but maybe just a finger run lightly along a distant frosting edge. No one will notice.<\/p><\/div>\n
As he left the air terminal, the pilot saw the last available cab and jumped into the backseat just ahead of the female flight attendant who had been racing for the same taxi. He shrugged as the driver pulled away into the heavy rain. <\/em><\/p>\n Okay, okay. I\u2019ll have them meet by accident in the hotel lobby, but in the meantime, this writing is tough and I\u2019m thinking a little sugar break would make sense. I walk into the kitchen and head for the snack drawer\u2014brownies, individually wrapped, 90 calories each. I take two, then think I better grab a third, just in case.<\/p>\n Dan, the pilot, accidentally runs into Sarah, the flight attendant, in the hotel lobby. He apologizes for hogging the taxi and offers to buy her a glass of wine to make up for being so rude. She accepts. <\/em><\/p>\n The post-breakfast brownies are long gone which is very irritating. I glance at my watch. It\u2019s seven o\u2019clock in the morning. One of the challenges of working alone at home is not overeating. But I learned long ago that maturity and self-restraint easily solve that problem.<\/p>\n The two are seated in the cocktail lounge. Across the table Dan catches the scent of Sarah\u2019s perfume. He summons the waiter and after an extensive consultation, orders an elegant and complex Cabernet Sauvignon for Sarah and himself. Dan explains that science has proven that red wine and chocolate are good for the heart.<\/em><\/p>\n I suddenly remember there\u2019s a chocolate layer cake on the dining room table. It\u2019s for my wife\u2019s afternoon bridge club. I\u2019m not allowed to touch it which is just plain wrong because I want to do something good for my heart. I resist. Sort of. I leave my desk and once in the dining room, lightly run my finger along a distant frosting edge. No one will notice.<\/p>\n Sarah and Dan discover that they have much in common. They both enjoy long walks on the beach, theater, fine art, quiet time in front of a fireplace and . . . The Grateful Dead.<\/em><\/p>\n The Grateful Dead? The Grateful Dead? Yes! Perfect! There\u2019s a pint of Ben and Jerry\u2019s Cherry Garcia ice cream\u2014named after the musical groups lead singer, Jerry Garcia\u2014that I\u2019ve been saving for a rainy day. I look out the window\u2014a couple of clouds. Close enough. Goodbye, Ben. Goodbye, Jerry. Ten minutes later, I toss the empty container into the garbage. I look to make sure there\u2019s not another pint hidden behind the frozen peas. No luck. I run my finger along another side of the cake. I double-check to make sure Forensics couldn\u2019t dust for fingerprints and track me down.<\/p>\n On the way back to the office, I change into sweatpants because of the adjustable waistline.<\/p>\n Dan and Sarah order a second glass of wine. Dan can\u2019t help but notice how beautiful Sarah is as she stares at him across the table, her eyes locking onto his.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cYou know I\u2019m married,\u201d she says quietly.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI know. Me too,\u201dDan replies. He opens an after-dinner mint left in his jacket pocket from the night before.<\/em><\/p>\n Yes! Jackpot! I\u2019d almost forgotten some leftover Halloween M&Ms in a bowl in a cabinet next to the sink. I discover at least twenty-five individual bags; six varieties. I take one of each, and because I\u2019m watching calories, a Diet Coke. I open the M&Ms as I head back to the office. I glance in the full-length mirror along the way and realize how John Candy got his name.<\/p>\n Twenty minutes later: plain, peanut, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, pretzel, and mint\u2014Finito!<\/p>\n After tipping the strolling violinist for playing \u201cThe Candy Man,\u201d Dan turns to Sarah and softly asks, \u201cAre you thinking what I\u2019m thinking?\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n Sarah casts her eyes downward. \u201cMaybe. What are you thinking?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Dan swallows and with a quivering voice says, \u201cI\u2019d like to have a piece of chocolate cake.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Sarah blushes. \u201cWhat if you wife finds out?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t resist. Did you see that dessert cart that just went by?\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n \u201cYes, it was amazing, but what will your wife say?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019ll never know. I\u2019ll figure something out.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t, Dan. An eight-inch wedge of a twelve-layer chocolate cake is too much.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n What does she know? She\u2019s not even real. The knife is hovering over the chocolate frosting when the phone rings. It\u2019s my wife. She\u2019s very real. First words out of her mouth: \u201cYou didn\u2019t touch that cake, did you?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m very disappointed that you feel you have to ask that question,\u201d I respond indignantly. \u201cLet\u2019s not forget we\u2019re adults. I never gave that cake a second thought.\u201d<\/p>\n First, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth, yes, but never second.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n