Jordan Harbinger

So I guess my question for you is...

Do you think this relationship requires strict boundaries in order to be safe?

Or did Bob get the message he's just not going to try anything like this again?

Because that's totally possible.

You might not even need to say, hey, look, pal, I'm married.

We're colleagues.

We can only see each other in these places.

We can only talk about such and such.

And I'm only going to respond to you on Teams or whatever.

Maybe he's taking a little space.

When he comes back to work, it'll be awkward.

It doesn't have to be messy.

But if Bob continues to flirt with you or he keeps looking at you a certain way,

or you just get that vibe that he's having a different experience from you when you're talking, then a boundaries conversation would be in order.

And on your end, you can keep being kind, maybe not quite as kind as before, but polite, pleasant.

You can be professional.

Don't make things weird.

I don't think it's you doing that, by the way.

But you can just hang back a little and let things settle.

Until he does something egregious, I think that's all that you really need to do.