A close-knit friend group is experiencing upheaval after one member confessed to sleeping with the husband of another friend during a weekend getaway.
The situation came to light when the friend who participated in the sexual encounter recounted the events to the letter writer. According to the letter writer, the wife of the married couple initiated the encounter, requesting that her friend sleep with her husband because she herself did not want to fulfill certain sexual favors.
The letter writer expressed shock and discomfort with the situation, stating that the revelation has made it difficult to interact with the couple. "These people are like family to me and, when we all went out to dinner the other night, I felt so awkward that I could barely look the husband in the eye," she wrote.
In response, advice columnist Jane Green acknowledged the awkwardness of the situation but emphasized that the sexual act was consensual. Green shared a personal anecdote about a similar situation she experienced, where a friend revealed a one-night sexual dalliance between her husband and Green's best friend. Green advised the letter writer that while she may judge the actions or see the friends in a different light, there was "nothing intrinsically wrong with what they did."
Green suggested that the letter writer has several options: she can decide if she can live with the knowledge and move past it, she can tell the friends that she knows, which may help ease her discomfort, or she can decide that the friendship can no longer continue. Green noted that as time passes, it may become easier for things to return to a sense of normalcy.