Is this considered cheating?

I have a friend who came to me about this. He is a very nice guy, has a relationship almost all of us envy, has been faithful for 14 years, and seems to love his wife tremendously.

The problem seems to be that all of his wifes female friends want a man like him.

So, he said his wife went out of town for the weekend. One of their friends he texts occasionally (he showed me all of her texts on his phone from the last six months or so) started texting him.

He responded slightly flirtatiously as he does to most people. (he jokes a lot with people, even guys) She is rather saucy also and the bantered back and forth.

On the second day he was working at home. I stopped by for a quick beer. By following the time stamps on the texts she texted waaaay more than him, and kept at it.

Around nine she got off work, started drinking, and getting a bit naughtier. He was also drinking a bit. They continues for a few hours back and forth. She was pretty bad. Talked about her lack of sex recently, on to how big her boobs are, what her likes are for foreplay, etc. He goes a bit far, and responds a bit dirtily also, though nothing awefull.

She then describes what her nipples look like, how she got wet thinking about him, and even used vibrator thinking about him.

At this point I think he was too far, and should have stopped. They didn’t. There was obvious liquor involved, because of the typos, etc.

So, they continue to “sext” more. Basically she walked him through what her best idea of foreplay is for her, and how she reciprocates. They continue until he masturbates while texting and she says she does too.

He seemed to sober up after that because there was a pause, and he came back and said they shouldn’t have done that, he was sorry, she says she is sorry, he says, it’s my fault, I should have stopped before, she still wants to be friends, etc etc. He says they can be friends, but no more texting like that. Pg only, and no more excessive texting like she does.

She works in a mall and has a lot of free time.

So is this cheating? Should he tell his wife definitely hurt her and possibly ruin her trust forever and maybe even cause a divorce? Should he keep it a secret and never tell her and use the constant pain of the memory of what he did to shame him as punishment for life?

I am on the fence. I told him I would not give him advice foe a few days. I KNOW he regrets a tipsy mistake deep in his soul. He hates what he did, but he hates the idea of hurting his wife. What should he do? What would you do?
Thanks for all answers.