One evening, Melissa and I were using elliptical machines facing the cable section. Cole walked in front of us, removed his shirt, and started doing chest crossovers even though there was absolutely no reason he needed to train shirtless twenty feet from the main cardio area.
I looked at Melissa with what I assumed was an obvious expression.
Can you believe this guy?
She didn’t see me.
She was looking at him.
Not casually.
Looking.
Then she ran her tongue across her lower lip.
Cole glanced toward her.
And smiled.
That small exchange lasted maybe two seconds.
It stayed in my head the entire drive home.
I finally said, “Your friend was really putting on a show tonight.”
Melissa looked confused.
“Who?”
“Cole.”
“Oh.”
“You didn't notice?”
“Not really.”
I laughed.
“You were staring directly at him.”
She looked out the passenger window.
“I was probably thinking about something.”
That answer felt wrong.
But I let it go.
I trusted my wife.
And when you trust somebody, your mind often works harder to explain away the first warning sign than it does to examine it.
Chapter 3: The Hands on Her Waist
Over the next several weeks, Melissa and Cole started talking more.
Nothing dramatic.
A joke while she filled her water bottle.
A quick conversation near the squat racks.
He would recommend an exercise, and she would laugh at something he said. Sometimes I would walk over and the conversation would end naturally enough that accusing either of them of anything would have made me look insecure.
That was exactly what I was afraid of looking like.
So I watched.
Then one afternoon, Melissa was doing squats on a Smith machine when Cole walked over.
He stood behind her and started correcting her position.
That alone would not have bothered me.
Then he placed both hands on her waist.
Not briefly.
Not like an accidental coaching adjustment.
His hands stayed there while she completed another repetition.
Melissa did not move away.
I walked over.
“I’ve got her.”
My tone was not friendly.
Cole smiled.
“No problem, buddy.”
He called every man buddy.
That somehow made me hate the word.
He walked away.
Melissa finished the set, put the bar back, and looked at me.
“Oh my God, Nathan.”
“What?”
“You really had to do that?”
“He had both hands around your waist.”
“He was helping me.”
“He could have explained it without grabbing you.”
Melissa rolled her eyes.
“You’re embarrassing me.”
That conversation became an argument the moment we got home.
I told her Cole was flirting with her.
She said she knew he probably was.
That surprised me.
“Then why do you encourage it?”
“I don’t encourage anything.”
“You let him touch you.”
“I didn't want to make it weird.”
“He made it weird.”
“No, Nathan. You made it weird.”
She called me jealous.
Immature.
Insecure.
I asked whether she liked the attention.
She became even angrier.
Eventually she said the one thing that calmed me down.
“I would never cheat on you.”
I believed her.
That was my second mistake.
Chapter 4: Changing Gyms
We agreed to leave that gym.