When Shirley was detailed to work with him through the early summer of 1953, at the end of the emotionally taxing year of her liaison with Howard, she was ready to fall in love again. Tex, as he would later disclose to her, had had affairs before, approaching them as something extraneous to his family life: “I’ve been unfaithful to my wife but I don’t make a practice of it and I don’t carry a load of guilt: it’s just as though I danced with someone.” This could not have been more different from Shirley’s approach to the affair, laden not just with her own sexual innocence but with an intensity and a vulnerability more in keeping with an even younger woman. She knew nothing about contraception, and Tex took responsibility for this. Their affair progressed through snatched hours here and there, at her apartment or his if the family was away, maintaining lighthearted and friendly relations at the office as a cover. The rushed nature of these encounters took their toll on Shirley. She was insecure, demanding of reassurance, and again her behaviour and insecurity provoked irritation and frustration in herself as well as her lover.