Hannah stood up. "Thank you for your honesty," she said. "But I'm not looking for a fling. And I wouldn't come between you and your husband, even if I was. I've...I've gotta go now." True to form, she bounded off into the woods.
Sam watched her go. Damn, he thought, I offered sex to her, didn't I? God, I didn't even realize I was doing it. He'd had to be more careful. He didn't have any intention of cheating on his husband; he'd just been too caught up in a hormone rush to realize what was going on. If nothing else, he'd be more understanding towards his husband when he caught him looking at a passing beauty. Testosterone was pretty good at messing with one's thought processes, apparently.
Tears nearly blinded Hannah as she ran through the woods. Stupid stupid stupid stupid STUPID, she told herself. The first potential mate comes along and you let yourself get all pumped up without even bothering to double-check that he's single! But every other married person she'd met in the park had their spouse with them; why didn't Sam?
Maybe...maybe they didn't get along well, and if she just waited...and he had basically offered a thirty-day fling to her, who was to say that he wouldn't...NO! No. She wasn't a skank, and she certainly wasn't going to act like one. Sam probably hadn't intended to propose a vacation fling, and there were any number of other explanations for why his husband wasn't here. He was Off Limits, that much was clear. Hannah burst out onto the outcropping where Laurie was still sitting. She slumped down onto Laurie's shoulder and began bawling out the whole story.
Laurie sighed as Hannah recounted the events of the evening. "It's okay," she said. "You did the right thing, and you'll find someone eventually. And when you do, consider how much more he'll think of you when he learns that you turned down an easy month-long affair to avoid harming someone else's relationship."
"That's just it!" Hannah sobbed. "I'm never going to find someone! All the stags who choose this form are sleazeballs! I have to wait for a nice buck to step out of the randomizer!"
"And eventually one will," Laurie reassured her. All you need to do is make sure that he's single before you get your hopes up. Just because you don't see someone arm-in-arm with a member of the opposite sex doesn't mean they're unattached. Look at me."
Hannah's sobs settled down a bit. "I didn't know you were married," she said.
Laurie nodded. "You don't see me with my husband because my husband is now my wife. You know Jasmine?"
Hannah nodded. "That younger vixen who used to be Jason? She's your husband?" Laurie nodded.
"I guess that would explain why she hangs around so much. Does that mean you're...?"
Laurie laughed. "Lesbians? No. We were both heterosexual before, so we're heterosexual now. We're not attracted to each other, not physically. But on the bright side, it's giving us a great chance to see what we love about each other asidde from our bodies. '"
For the first time since the incident with Sam, Hannah laughed. "Yeah, I suppose so." The two friends talked long into the night.