Cassi laughed. "Yeah, this is my first time doing Casual Friday. But the only clean scrubs I had left aren't my favorite. So, I decided--jeans it is!" She also had put on some light makeup, and her slightly splotchy skin now looked smooth and flawless. Plus, she had done something with her eyeliner that made her blue eyes really stand out, in a piercingly attractive way. Ironic that the first time I'd seen her in makeup was on Casual Friday, but I wasn't complaining. Hey Cassi, I just realized I've known you for about a year now, and I still don't know much about you. I mean, I know about your church and family, but I mean you personally. Do you have any hobbies?" Cassi looked at me thoughtfully, putting her fork down from the salad she'd been eating. "Oh man. I have more hobbies than I have time for these days." She smiled wistfully as she turned her full attention to me. It was like she had just been waiting for someone to ask her that question.

I'll think about it," Cassi said, but I couldn't tell if she meant it or not. Still, I knew there was only so much I could do. The rest would be up to her. But would I be able to do anything about it? The biggest problem was the fact that Cassi was happily married. I'd slept with married women before, but they had all been unhappy with their husbands. You never knew what someone's marriage was really like behind closed doors, and it was technically possible that Cassi and Joseph were having problems... but I doubted it. I laughed. "Stephen King? The guy who wrote all those horror stories about killer clowns and killer dogs? You're pulling my leg, aren't you?" Don't worry. I won't give you more than you can handle," I said with a devilish smile. "But let's get started. I figured we'd work on lower-body today if that sounds good? Let's go ahead with the warmup. Get into a lunge position for me," I said, as I slipped into trainer-mode.Last week’s release of Todd Haynes’ film May Decembercoincides with the publication of a rare magazine interview with Brigitte Macron. The film is based on the true story of a woman who began a relationship with her husband when she was 34 and he 12. Emmanuel Macron was 15 when he was seduced by his drama teacher Brigitte, 40. In both, we are invited to consider one of society’s enduring taboos: a relationship between an older woman and an adolescent boy.

verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ As I mentioned, Cassi didn't usually work at my clinic. She filled in once every month or two on average, when another physical therapist needed time off. This is how I'd gone a year knowing Cassi without ever seeing her in anything other than loose scrubs. But one Friday, she had a shift to cover, and instead of her usual scrubs, she came in wearing jeans and a T-shirt.

The Macrons are unusual because they are still together, and apparently blissfully content. Is that because Brigitte allowed Emmanuel to spread his wings, and waited a decade before marrying him? Despite their protestations, we will never really know what happened there. Perhaps it is all clean and above board, but the fact remains that she was his teacher and he was her adolescent pupil. Good looks are extremely helpful in getting women, for the confidence boost if nothing else, but they're not enough on their own. At least, not for my numbers. You also need to be able to connect with women; show interest in their interests; anticipate their turn-ons and turn-offs, understand what they want from sex, and so on. Experience and willingness to be turned down is also critical. I've had at least as many failures as successes, but I've learned how to deal with rejection. Listen, I know you're making fun of me now, Ian, but I know what I'm talking about. You know The Shawshank Redemption? Stephen King did that. Stand By Me? Stephen King. The Green Mile? You guessed it. Mr. King himself." It's totally your call, no hard feelings either way. But think what you could do with the extra time in the afternoon. Don't worry about deciding now, but I'll be here all week if you want to give it a shot. Class starts at 6am and lasts 45 to 60 minutes, including warmups and cooldowns. We'll be done with enough time to shower and get ready for the day."

We talked through the rest of our lunch. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed our conversation. It was a far cry from the usual meaningless small talk I'd grown to expect from Cassi. Like I'd begun to suspect, it turned out there was a real person inside Cassi after all. I had to admit, I was becoming interested in her. I mean, I dunno. I'd hate to leave home early and leave Joseph alone to get the kids ready for school. Plus, I'm used to working out at night."To be honest, I was wearing very revealing clothes and torn tights. So I can't blame him. I could see out of the corner of my eye that something in his pants had grown bigger, and I always looked there, missing the whole movie. Suddenly, in the middle of the movie, it hit me: "Why don't I just give him what he wants? It would be so sexy. So I asked him. At first he was a little hesitant, but then he liked the idea. I hope you don't have anything too hard planned. I'm not used to morning workouts, remember?" Cassi said, setting down her bag. But enough about me. Let me introduce you to the woman who would become my favorite partner: Cassi. The workday itself was nothing special. Cassi and I worked together some more and ate lunch together again. I hadn't planned on saying anything to her about missing the morning workout, but frustration and curiosity got the better of me.

Last warning--the main characters are not paragons of virtue. This story is not designed to illustrate any kind of ideal, but rather capture a more realistic view of two coworkers who become closer than they should. The characters aren't meant to be likeable, but they are critical to the story, flaws and all. Seeing Cassi transform like this was an epiphany for me. If Cassi had been hiding herself physically like this, maybe there was more to her personality too than #faithandfamily. I decided to find out.

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She looked around conspiratorially and leaned in towards me. In a low voice, she said, "Don't laugh, but I actually really like Stephen King." The fact that Cassi and I worked together--at least occasionally--also complicated things. As a rule, I tried to stay away from sleeping with coworkers, at least in jobs I liked. Several years ago, I'd had a bad experience after a fling with a coworker turned sour. I had to quit that job ultimately, and I swore to myself that I'd be much more careful in the future. Can't wait to get into it!" I said enthusiastically, but it wasn't the book I was looking forward to. Let's see. I run quite a bit, and I like hiking too. Disc golf is a lot of fun, but I don't get to do that much anymore. I bake--I've been making our own bread for years now. I like to read..." Cassi was a coworker of mine at the outpatient physical therapy clinic I work at. Well, technically, she's kind of my boss because she's a physical therapist, and I'm just a PTA (aka an assistant). But she usually worked at one of our sister locations, so when she did cover a shift at ours, she didn't pull rank on me.