The Checkout Counter Kiss

I’ll start by saying I’m married and this isn’t something I’ve ever repeated since that day. It was just a moment of weakness or perhaps, as I consider it more often now, a need to feel alive in the midst of my daily routine. The other person was someone I barely knew, another employee at the store where I work full-time. We were both stressed with our busy shifts and late hours, and one evening, there was just something about us being alone together that felt charged. It wasn’t anything overtly sexual until a moment snuck up on me when we were closing up after dark. There was an intimacy in the shared exhaustion, the quiet moments left to ourselves before heading home. I found myself leaning in without really knowing why, and my coworker, despite being surprised, didn’t pull away. We kissed briefly, our lips barely meeting, it felt like more than a greeting but less than a declaration of love or interest. It was confusing, exhilarating, and ultimately meaningless once we stepped back to reality. We never spoke about it again; the kiss remains an unspoken secret between us, one that hasn’t been repeated.