Dear Prudence,
I’m a happily married man with a young child. Last autumn, an old female friend from college emailed me to reconnect (she’s not on social media). We never dated or flirted, and most of our interactions were tied to our coursework. We then texted for a bit and made vague plans for her to see my band when we were on tour in her part of the country. I told my wife about the correspondence in passing at the time. My band’s tour never materialized, so we didn’t end up seeing each other.
This old friend emailed me again for my address, and I obliged, thinking she got engaged or something. My wife always gets the mail, but the friend’s postcard, addressed to me and family and written in flowery glitter pen, was delivered to our downstairs neighbor by mistake, and I picked it up off the landing while my wife was away for the weekend. On the card, my old friend wrote that she can’t wait to reach out to visit when she’s in the Midwest this summer. The glitter pen looks weird. Can I throw it away and pretend like I never got it? It’s in a hoodie pocket now in the back of my closet, and I’m afraid not initially showing it to my wife makes it look like I’m guilty.
—Glitter Postcard