10-minute writers: A witness to a kiss...

A few of you have pinged me about needing a little 10-minute writing inspiration. I love you! Writers after my own heart.

For today, set your timer for 10 minutes and write about a scene or even that made you uncomfortable -- in a good or bad way. Edit as you go, make it what you want. But you only have 10 minutes. And make the headline jump. I'm sure my headline today made a few folks wonder who I'm referring to (Edit: I originally called this story "Is he having an affair?" but revised it to not freak people out.)

Drop a comment below with a link back to your story. I'll post a round-up next week.

***

Three knocks on the glass startled us as my hairdresser was in the midst of cutting my hair. He looked up, walked over to the door and unlocked it. There were no hushed words. The woman quickly moved in to embrace him.

"I saw you in the window and that the place was empty so I had to say hello."

"Oh, wow, how sweet," was all he could muster as he looked around the shop.

My hairdresser, short, stocky and bald, had turned the styling chair toward the door because it was the easiest way for him to cut my hair, he said. I think it was because he didn't like anyone watching him trim their locks. Either way, it set me up such that I was witnessing the entire exchange.

She took his face in her hands and kissed him on the lips. It was intimate. It was wrong. His wife, who co-owns the salon, had just left 10 minutes prior.

He turned to look at me, slightly embarrassed, and said, "Well, I have a client here so I need to finish up. But it's so good to see you." His face, still in her hands. She kissed him again, smiled and whispered, "Okay, I'll see you. Soon."

She walked out of the salon, waving at him through the floor-length windows. He locked the door and walked to the station where I sat. I looked at the floor. While usually able to muster even a joke in uncomfortable situations, I couldn't say a single word.

"She's an old friend," he started. "She's not well and has been very sick." He went on and on. In a way that instantly said, "I'm uncomfortable with what you saw. I'm going to make up every excuse I can."

Did I really just catch him with his lover?

I nodded my head and added an "Oh, wow. Umhmm." But all I could think of was his wife. The woman who not more than 10 minutes earlier, had kissed him goodbye an told him to be safe on his walk home. Even if this woman had been an old friend who wasn't well, a married man doesn't let another woman kiss him that intimately.

I wished I had never witnessed it. And I've never set foot in the salon again.

Yesterday morning I was driving my son to school and the person behind me honked the horn to tell me to move on. I looked back and it was him. The short, stumpy, bald hairdresser who kissed and embraced another woman while his wife was at home after a long day at work.

I drove extra slow. Asshole.