Greetings fellow Steemians! Here is my 43rd 5 minute freewrite. The prompts for this weekend freewrite were:

"She loved both her husbands, but not as much as she loved candy."

"There was a feeling about the place, but it wasn't what you'd expect."

"The stamp on the envelope"

Many thanks to @mariannewest for hosting this daily freewrite!
https://steemit.com/freewrite/@mariannewest/weekend-freewrite-4-21-2018-part-1-the-first-sentence
https://steemit.com/freewrite/@mariannewest/weekend-freewrite-4-21-2018-prompt-2-the-interference
https://steemit.com/freewrite/@mariannewest/the-weekend-freewrite-4-21-2018-part-3-the-dramatic-twist

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https://pixabay.com/en/fantasy-biomechanically-2659483/

The Meat Market

She loved both her husbands, but not as much as she loved candy.

For some reason, she'd never had a sweet tooth as a kid, not a real one anyway. Oh, she'd eat ice cream or chew bubble gum, but it was kinda like "Meh. Ok". Sugar had never been something she'd coveted, never a thrill, never a prize or a reward, never something to pilfer from the cookie jar when her mom wasn't looking, or to shoplift from the corner store.

But now... now Taylor kept an assortment of candies in her desk drawer at work, and in the nightstand next to her bed. She'd wake up in the middle of the night, prop herself up on pillows, turn on her reading light, open up a mystery novel, and chew her way through caramels, dark chocolate with chili peppers, truffles, Toranis...

She was bored. Her husbands were decent, interesting men, and keeping the fact of her polyandry a secret had spiced both the romances up. For a while... Now it felt like a game that she'd played too many times, all of its permutations explored to the point of exhaustion.

What was she to do? Get another one? She couldn't possibly manage three husbands, three separate lives... And anyway, that was sure to play itself out exactly as two husbands had. She could agonize about it all she wanted, but in her heart of hearts she knew it was time to take them back to The Meat Market.

The Meat Market. There was a feeling about the place, but it wasn't what you'd expect... She'd shopped here before, obviously, that's where she'd got them both in the first place. You'd think it would have a shady, black market kind of vibe, with an emphasis on discretion and anonymity, but no. There was a huge sign above the display windows, brightly lit both day and night, the wares prominently displayed, reading books, watching Netflix on their tablets or phones, sometimes pacing back and forth restlessly. Always handsome (in window number one) or pretty (in window number two). The establishment itself was immaculately clean, tastefully appointed, well-lit, and impeccably cheerful.

Most people bought one at a time, but she wasn't most people. She liked to push the envelope. And she had the money, so why not? Two apartments in two different parts of town, two lives, two very different models. She'd purchased them separately, almost exactly one month apart, and kept them isolated from each other, not for their sakes, but for her own.

Today she had both of them with her, one standing on either side. The lady at the returns counter looked them up and down, then turned to her with genuine confusion in her eyes. "What's wrong with them?"

"I'm bored."

"Huh. They look pretty exciting to me. Especially that one."

She smiled at Jeff. He raised an eyebrow at her, tilting his head slightly in that inviting, but also challenging way he had. It was sexy. Or at least it had been, the first few hundred times.

"No no, they're great. You guys know that right?" she asked, turning to one, and then the other, "You're both incredible." Jeff looked at her and nodded. "So I've been told" he murmured. Dylan gave her a quick side hug and a peck on the cheek.

"See? Awesome. It's just... I'm ready for a change."

The salesgirl looked at her screen again, hit a few keys, shrugged. "Your contract doesn't expire for two more years."

"It's ok, I'll pay the fee."

The girl shook her head. "It seems like a waste, but of course it's up to you. The customer is always right." She flashed a grin, and got back to her screen and keyboard. A few minutes later, Taylor was walking out of the store, all by herself, unencumbered by husbands of any kind. It felt wonderful.

The stamp on the envelope that arrived in the mail several weeks later said "Happy Valentine's Day" in curvy script, with miniature pink hearts and tiny red roses. She tossed it on her nightstand, and didn't think about it again until bed time, when instead of picking up her current novel, she tore open the envelope and began rifling through the pages of the enclosed catalogue as if to remind herself how boring it all was. Several of the photos caught her eye. Hmmm.... there were some cute ones in this edition. Super cute. Two at once had been easy. Nobody had caught on, not even her real life ex-boyfriend who still stalked her on social media. She'd wanted to be caught, exposed for the deviant that she was, but no one had seemed to notice or care. But three... that might be a little tougher! And if they all lived together in the same apartment...

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