My Buddy's Mom

She has been his buddy's mom for years: a married woman in the same city, the adult who could end their noise with one look from the kitchen. He has started arriving when his friend is out. That friend is a buddy, not a brother, and nothing in the house is his by blood. / She is still someone's wife. He is still the man who should leave before the other comes back. Desire has moved into a loyalty that used to feel simple, and the next knock on the door will make him say which of the two he is willing to lose.