“It is. For me this is almost a religion in the sense that I follow the rules most of the time, but now and then I break them. Then I am contrite, but not embarrassed. Do you understand?”
“Yes. Completely, except that I prefer the monogamous element. It works for me. Fooling around is one thing I just don’t need in my relationships. How do you keep all of these people from being jealous?”
“Frankly, Bob, I don’t give a damn. If they can’t handle the situation, there is always an open exit. That’s their problem, not mine.”
Dessert, the soufflés we had ordered earlier, arrived with a bit of showmanship by the manager and head waiter. We watched silently until the servers left. I took a bite of the warm puffy egg and waited until we again had eye contact before I spoke.
“Again, I’m incline
