Gentlemen, believe it or not, your wife gets hit on by other men

There is nothing as delicious as hot nyama choma served straight from the grill onto your plate.

If you take the same choma, wrap it in foil and carry it home, by the time you prepare the ugali, spinach and kachumbari, though still tasty, the meat will have lost some zing. For this reason, I prefer to eat my choma at the source.

One fine evening, a month ago, I joyfully accompanied hubby to get the nyama choma, which he had pre-ordered.

I liked that the waiters at this restaurant kept offering us free pieces of the meat as we waited for our order to be packed. This must be what customer excellence is all about. As we sat there, waiting, hubby realised that he had forgotten his phone in the car, and went back for it.

I sat pretty, happily eating the succulent meat the thoughtful waiters had given us. A minute-or-so after hubby left, a man approached my table.

“Hello, may I join you please?”

GAME ON

Before I could organise my thoughts, the man turned to a waiter who was nearby and said, “Please take the lady’s order for a drink.”

He then turned to me; “I hope you don’t mind, may I sit with you?” He waited for my response as he held the chair. The waiter hovered, waiting for me to order my drink, or maybe curious to learn a tip about the science of seduction.

Did I mention that being happily married, even to a tall dark handsome man, is not a vaccination against the attention of other men, jokers or not? Married or not, heck, even when hugely pregnant, a girl will step out of her house and she is game.

And yes, we do notice stuff as well. The nice clean scent, the muscles under the shirt. It is what a woman does with this attention that counts.

“Thank you sir, but I won’t have a drink,” I said, and smiled at the waiter, who looked disappointed as he walked away.

“I hope I’m not intruding…” said my suitor, now looking unsure, as he stood behind the chair.

“Well, I do have a date, and he will not appreciate another man in the picture…” I said.

“Oh, sorry to hear that….can I…call you sometime?” he asked.

“That would not do either. I’m married. To my date. And here he comes,” I said, gesturing towards hubby who was walking towards us.

 “Oh sorry for intruding,” said my admirer, and giving a brief nod to hubby, he walked away.

“You almost lost your wife to a smooth operator,” I told hubby, who dismissed the man as a joker that would beg to return me once he got acquainted with my (supposed) temper.

I do not think our husbands realise that we still get hit on by other man, subtly or directly, every day.

SPOILT FOR CHOICE

Men of all walks of life have a peculiar confidence when it comes to a woman. That beggar on the street will as readily offer to buy a girl coffee from the coins she just dropped into his tin.

That tycoon will offer to whisk her off to Dubai immediately. She is spoilt for choice. It is her to decide how to handle that attention.

Should she go out with that married man? Should she have an affair with her boss? Most women are single for many reasons, but lack of suitors is not one of them.

“Do you notice beautiful women?” Dumb question. My toddler son notices beautiful women and stares.

“No, never,” responds my husband, straight faced.

“Good,” I say. He does not ask whether I notice other men. That peculiar confidence once again.

“Unless one is looking, and I am not looking...” he feebly added.