However, as Adam well knew, it was much easier to solve a problem when it wasn’t his own. Now that he was experiencing all the emotions of a scorned lover himself, he was as clueless and helpless as any of his vengeance- seeking patients.

“Dana!” he screamed. “Day- na!”

He started up the stairs, then remembered that she was probably still at Costco. He looked at the note again, wondering if it could be some kind of prank; maybe the kids in the neighborhood playing another joke on him. It just didn’t make sense that Dana would actually be having an affair with that young bodybuilder. He wasn’t her type at all, and why would he be interested in her?

But he didn’t see why a neighborhood kid would make up a story about Tony, and, come to think of it, Dana had been exhibiting the telltale signs of an adulterer. She’d been staying out late a lot with flimsy excuses, she’d been on that big fitness kick, losing about ten pounds over the past year, and she’d been taking better care of her appearance as well, going for those photo facials and laser hair removal treatments. Adam also knew that people often chose lovers who were the exact opposite of their spouses, and Tony was as about as opposite from him as you could get.

Now Adam’s rage was starting to hit hard, and he thought, That goddamn son of a bitch. Not only had that big goon been screwing his wife, he’d been screwing with his whole life, sending that threatening note, trying to scare him and his family. He was rubbing it in, not even trying to hide it.

Adam was so upset, so out of control, that as he headed toward the New York Sports Club it didn’t even occur to him that going to confront a guy who was probably twice his size, with at least twice his muscle mass, probably wasn’t such a great idea. Like his scorned patients, he was so caught up in his rage, so hellbent on getting some kind of revenge, that all logic had been pushed aside.

He arrived at the gym, looking hardly menacing, still wearing his off- white, Izod- style golf shirt, with his scorecard and pencil sticking out of the front breast pocket. He went right to the weight room, where he saw a couple of other trainers but no Tony. Where the hell was that stupid son of a bitch? And let’s face it, the guy was a moron. Was that Dana’s way of acting out, sleeping with a retard?

“Where’s Tony?” Adam asked one of the trainers, a blond guy. “Dunno, check out the locker room,” the trainer said.

Adam burst into the locker room, pushing the swinging door very hard into a kid, a teenager. As he went to the locker area, he heard from behind him, “What’s your problem, stupid ass?” Adam went past the rows of lockers, looking for Tony. He imagined himself forcing Tony back against a locker and bashing his face in, pummeling the moron. It didn’t even occur to Adam that he had zero chance of accomplishing any of this.

Adam didn’t see Tony near the lockers, so he went into the bathroom. One of the stalls was occupied, and Adam banged on it and screamed something.

“Hey!” whoever was in there shouted. It definitely wasn’t Tony.

Adam checked the sauna and steam room but didn’t see Tony there either. He was on his way out of the locker room when he heard a guy singing off- key; it sounded like some corny pop song, something about how there was no air. It was coming from the showers, and Adam marched over there and saw Tony in the stall. First Adam looked right into Tony’s eyes, registering his shocked yet knowing expression, and then he looked lower, at his oversized arms and chest, and then at his penis. He did this purposely- to humiliate Tony, the way a rape victim craves humiliating his or her attacker. He thought that staring at the cock of the man who’d been sleeping with his wife would give him satisfaction, empower him. If Tony had had a small penis, a pencil dick, maybe it would have boosted Adam’s fragile ego, but unfortunately, even nonerect, Tony’s penis was much longer and much thicker than Adam’s and looking at the cock only made Adam feel even more inadequate and intensified his feelings of self- loathing.

“Hey,” Tony said as Adam went after him, trying to punch him in the face, but he stumbled, maybe on the ledge leading into the shower, and fell hard onto his knees. If someone had walked in at that moment it would have looked like Adam was performing oral sex on Tony.

Adam was trying to get up as Tony said, “The fuck’re you doin’?”

Holding onto the soap dispenser, Adam was able to lift himself partway up. He was very close to Tony, practically squished against his wet, soapy body. Using his free hand, Adam tried again to punch Tony in the face, the way he’d fantasized doing it, but he was barely able to get any force into the punch, and he hit Tony weakly on the chin.

Tony pushed Adam back hard against the wall and said, “Hey, take it easy, bro, okay, just take it easy.”

Then Adam spat at Tony’s forehead. Tony shoved Adam and said, “Hey, you fuckin’ crazy?” and Adam spit again, hitting him in the left eye. This time Tony lost it completely and grabbed Adam and practically flung him out of the shower stall and Adam fell onto his side. Adam got up and went after Tony again, but Tony, outside the stall now, simply grabbed him and unloaded with a solid right to the face. Adam heard the loud crunch in his left cheek, and then the excruciating pain hit. But Adam was undeterred, and later he’d wonder if on some level he actually wanted to get hurt, if the desire to feel pain, to be punished, was his true motivation. Nevertheless, caught up in the moment, Adam was helpless, and he continued coming after Tony, who kept pushing him away and knocking him down onto the wet floor, like he was some minor annoyance.

When Adam returned from the gym, beaten up and bloodied, he confronted Dana in the kitchen, trying to get her to admit what she’d done, and when she wouldn’t, he revealed his affair with Sharon. At that moment, he enjoyed seeing Dana’s shock set in, watching her whole world fall apart. He felt like the playing field had been leveled- they were both in pain now, both suffering- and it was also a great relief to suddenly be unburdened of the secret he’d been keeping. Finally it was all out in the open; there was nothing left to hide.

Only after Dana ran out of the house- probably heading for Sharon’s- did he realize the incredibly stupid, thoughtless, and hurtful thing he’d done.

He’d counseled many patients about the dangers of revealing a revenge affair to a spouse. He’d told them it might make them feel good initially, but in the end it would only compile the hurt for everyone involved. He’d even suggested that if his patients had the desire to get even they should leave, go away for a few hours to settle down, not act impulsively. But now, like before, he’d done everything he always told his patients not to do. He’d made a bad situation worse, not only further damaging his own marriage but potentially ruining Sharon’s as well.

Marissa, who was still in the kitchen with Adam, said, “Is it really true about you and Sharon? Were you really having an affair with her?”

It was time to finally start acting like a rational adult again, to get in control of this situation. Enough with the acting out and the childish, inappropriate rage. He had to own his feelings, take responsibility for his actions.

“It wasn’t an actual affair,” he said. “It was just a one- night stand… a oneday stand.”

Marissa looked at him in disbelief, and Adam realized how badly he’d hurt her, too. It would’ve been hard enough for her to reconcile her mother’s cheating, but now she’d found out that both her parents were adulterers. What kind of examples had they set for her?

“You are such a fucking hypocrite,” she said. “Telling me how to live my life, giving me all these rules, when your own life is so messed up. And how could you do that to Mom? With Sharon, of all people? My best friend’s mother? What the hell is wrong with you?”