Free Year of Living Blonde (Sweet Life in Seattle, Book 1) by Andrea Simonne

commitment.
    Natalie opens the guest bedroom closet to get out some clean clothes. As always, her decision on what to wear is based solely on comfort and practicality. All her pants are dark and baggy with a drawstring waist, all her shirts more of the same.
    Quickly she grabs a pair of gray sweats and a loose T-shirt with the words “I Eat Therefore I Bake” on the front—a Mother’s Day gift from Chloe last year.
    She pulls her ponytail out and refashions it, so it feels tight again.
    Leaving the guest bedroom, she walks down the hall past Chloe’s room, which has horse pictures plastered all over the door, and then past what she and Peter have designated as their home gym. For some reason she stops. The door is open and inside she sees the elliptical machine, along with a treadmill, a workout bench, and a row of shiny weights. Peter spent a lot of money on this room, only to join a gym in the end, claiming he felt more driven to exercise with other people around.
    For Natalie, their home gym may as well have been attached to an orbiting space station, as often as she visited it.
    Timing was always the problem. Should she exercise in the morning or at night? Her mornings were so early that adding an hour meant getting up at 2:30 am, something she wasn’t about to do. Exercising at night meant finding the motivation when she was exhausted from working all day.
    She’s exhausted just thinking about it.
    Yet she doesn’t leave.
    Instead, she thinks of Lena and her toned, muscular body. Then she thinks of how good it felt to slap her. Not a nice thing to acknowledge about herself, but letting her frustrations out in a physical way had felt good.
    With that thought in mind, she wanders over to the elliptical machine. Natalie stands next to it awkwardly, as if getting up the courage to ask it to dance. Finally, she makes a decision and climbs aboard.
    Immediately she fumbles as her legs swing around and she grapples with the handlebars.
    Whoa. Is that how this thing works?
    Within a few minutes, she gets the hang of it. Before long, Lindsay and Chloe are home and find her upstairs. Lindsay’s been picking up Chloe after school lately, since it’s so close to her art studio.
    “How was . . . school . . . today, sweetheart?” Natalie asks, sweating from the exertion.
    “When did you start exercising?” Lindsay asks.
    “About . . . ten . . . minutes . . . ago.” Natalie is huffing and puffing, but doesn’t stop. Oddly, it feels good. Like her stress is flowing out along with her sweat.
    “School was fine.” Chloe looks a little worried. “Would you like a glass of water, Mom?”
    “That . . . would . . . be . . . great!”
    Natalie keeps pushing herself. She thinks about everything that’s happened, every dark emotion that’s gripped her since Peter announced he wanted a divorce. It only drives her harder.
    Lindsay continues to watch, but doesn’t say anything.
    Finally, Chloe comes back with the water and Natalie stops, panting for breath. “Thank . . . you.” She takes the glass and gulps it down. “I think I’ll make veggie burgers tonight, do you guys want one?”
    “Sure,” Lindsay says.
    “I love veggie burgers!” Chloe’s eyes light up.
    Natalie doesn’t usually eat vegetarian burgers, but Chloe decided to stop eating meat last year, so she’s been making them more often. Oddly, she finds herself thinking that maybe it wouldn’t hurt to lay off meat a little herself, start eating lighter.
    After taking a quick shower, Natalie heads downstairs where she checks on Chloe, who is in the family room watching Flicka for what must be the hundredth time. Lindsay is in the kitchen, sitting at the island filling out some kind of paperwork. In some ways it feels like old times, having her sister around so much, and Natalie appreciates the support.
    “You know, I’ve been thinking,” Natalie says to Lindsay, as she grabs the burgers from the freezer. “If you’re going to stay over so much, why