The Younger Man by Sarah Tucker

the more powerful it gets. We both know that already. But perhaps I’ve nipped it in the bud early enough. Perhaps Joe and I have both nipped it in the bud. He smiles and goes and closes the door and I’m left alone with an incoming call from Benson buzzing on my phone, and another one from Fran.
    I deal with Benson quickly. He wants to fight for custody which I tell him will be expensive and emotionally draining and if there is any way he and Mrs Benson can come to some sort of agreement out of court, this is best for them and the children. Brian would kill me for saying this as I’m throwing away tens of thousands of pounds in fees, but I don’t want to make money this way. When it’s to do with splitting money, that’s one thing, children—completely another. He goes away muttering something about an unfit mother.
    I speak to Fran who’s in the travel agent with Daniel.
    ‘Hazel, I just wanted to confirm you were okay with doing one of the readings. We want you to read the oneabout what love is. Do you think you can do that without gagging?’
    ‘Of course I can. Don’t be silly.’
    ‘Good. Anyway, how are you? Dealt with the Joe situation?’
    ‘Think so. I’m okay.’ I tell Fran what I’ve just said to Joe. She listens and tells me I was right to back off. That if he wants to leave Fiona, he should do it of his own volition but that I must not, must not under any circumstances try to seduce him because it would compromise my work position as well as the relationship I have with him in the future.
    ‘Hazel, men overlap in relationships, and so do a lot of women. You are single and available and grounded. Or relatively grounded. He isn’t single and doesn’t sound grounded. You have a full enough life anyway. Perhaps when Sarah goes to college, stuff may change but you don’t need this. I’ve been out with guys who are either just leaving their girlfriends or wives and you get all their crap. Trust me, you don’t want or need their guilt and angst. It’s draining and boring and you won’t get any thanks for it, from them, or from your friends who you will in turn have to load off onto. True, depending on how much you like him, how much you’ve allowed him to get under your skin already, you’re going to want something more because you can’t have it, and until he is free you can’t have him. You have to deal with that. That is your issue, not his. But you know firsthand what it’s like to lose someone you love, so remember that. If their relationship is not good, then Joe will have to deal with it, deal with his own guilt of thinking about another woman all the time—but that is his issue—don’t make it yours. He will also want you more because he can’t have you, but he will respect you for being decent, which you are being. So don’t sleep with him, okay.’
    I say, ‘okay,’ and say that I’m happy to read at the service and Fran tells me she loves me and is proud of me and that there will be a lot of talent at the reception, which I don’t believe but it makes me feel better in a superficial sort of way.
    I don’t leave my office all morning, deal with piles of paperwork that makes my office look slightly less untidy. By lunch-time, I’ve almost forgotten everything to do with Joe.
    And then, I don’t know why, but think it’s looking at the clock and seeing it’s one already and that’s when they are meant to be having lunch and then thinking of Fiona and I think of this morning and looking into her eyes. Her sad beautiful brown-green eyes. She knows. At that moment, I know Fiona knows or suspects that Joe likes me. That he likes me enough so that she has to be passing and has to make herself known to me. So that I can see her and feel guilty or threatened or sympathy or all three and that she can claim her territory and her man. But it doesn’t work that way. I know as I’ve been there and I’ve had many clients through my door who’ve been there. True, I can walk