Temptation

George grinned adding, "And obviously, a lot more practice."

The men grabbed their beers, the wives topped up their wine, and they all trooped to the back porch. Del and Abby trailed slightly behind, and Del whispered, "Oh great, they are starting off in a sour mood because of their lousy golf game before we even spring the really bad news that their wives have been cheating on them."

The two couples settled around a table on the porch. Abby was wearing skin tight jeans and as she sat down, the cell phone in her pocket jabbed her uncomfortably. She took it out and placed the phone on the table in front of her.

The wives had put chips and dip on the table earlier, and the two big men dug in happily. The wives had no appetite, and took heavy slugs of their wine.

Del took a deep breath, exhaled, and muttered to Abby, "Here we go."

Del's voice was quiet but steady. "George, Jim, Abby and I have something to confess to you."

The men looked up in surprise. As Del began her spiel, Abby's phone vibrated annoyingly on the table. Abby, mumbled, "Sorry, thought I had it off." She glanced at the screen as she reached to cut the phone off.

Del delayed a second, thrown off stride, and then continued, "Well, as I was saying a second ago, Abby and I ..."

Abby interjected excitedly, "Want you guys to teach us to play golf. Then maybe we can all four play together. That would be fun!"

Everyone looked at Abby in surprise. Del looked at her friend like she had lost her pea-picking mind.

Jim greeted the announcement with a puzzled look and said, "I thought you two always said you had no interest in golf?"

Abby slid her phone surreptitiously to where Del could see the screen as she replied brightly, "I know, but it's good exercise out in the fresh air."

Del chimed in happily, "Oh yes, good exercise. And a sport we can all play together."

The guys looked at each other in confusion, shrugged, and replied in unison "Sure."

Jim went on, "I'll call the pro tomorrow and set up lessons for you two. Then we'll take you to the range to practice a couple times a week. Heaven knows after today's game, we obviously need the practice too. We'll have you out on the links playing like pros in a few months."

Abby's phone bore a text from Anna that read: "Your husbands don't know. Trish and Nancy's husbands are big guys, and they visited Robert. That satyr was cutting quite a swath through us ladies here in town."

EPILOGUE

Two years later Abby and Del finished first and second in the ladies' division of the country club fall golf tournament. They still went often to aerobics but had no extracurricular meetings with instructors after class. They had dodged the bullet. They did not waste their second chance.