Free Out of Breath (Exposed Series Book 2) by Hazel Kelly

I really didn’t want any ice cream. I hadn’t even had
a chance to estimate how many calories were in the meal I just ate yet.
    “Now. Did you know that as you become fuller, food starts to
taste less good with every bite?”
    I squinted at her. “Maybe some foods,” I said. “But ice cream is
ice cream. It always tastes good.”
    “It always tastes good, sure, but the second bite is never as
good as the first, and the third is never as good as the second and so on.”
    “Are you trying to trick me into eating all this ice cream?”
    “No. Definitely not.”
    “Good.”
    “I just want you to take a few bites and pay attention to how
each bite tastes a little different.”
    I looked back and forth between her and the melting opposition.
    “A few bites?”
    She nodded. “Think you can do that?”
    “I guess.” I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. After
all, she hadn’t steered me wrong yet.
    Her eyes were fixed on me as I took my first small bite.
    It was totally creamy and delicious. A positive taste explosion!
I was looking forward to my second bite.
    It was delicious! No less delicious in fact! She was crazy. I
could practically feel the happy chemicals firing in my brain.
    I took the third bite, letting the ice cream coat my tongue and cool
my throat. It was still tasty, but I was expecting more.
    I furrowed my brow and took a fourth bite. It was still ice
cream. Yummy. Worth writing a song about. But it wasn’t the first bite. It was
missing a little something.
    I took one more bite to be sure. Just in case the fourth bite
was a fluke. But it wasn’t. There was no doubt that the fifth bite wasn’t as
good as the first or second.
    “Huh.” I stared at my clean spoon.
    “Well?” Dawn cocked her head.
    “Five bites. Maybe even four before the amazing taste faded a
bit.” I was surprised. I didn’t even want anymore, especially now that I knew my
best bites were behind me.
    “Now that happened pretty quickly because you’re already full
from our meal.”
    “Yeah.”
    “But that will always happen. No matter what you’re eating. So
if you really taste your food and listen to your body, you won’t feel as
compelled to overeat.”
    “I don’t think I’ve ever stopped eating ice cream after five
bites.”
    “You can have more if you want.”
    “No, I’m good,” I said, looking at the softening pile of
sweetness. “Even though it seems like such a waste. I mean, there’s so much
there.”
    “Kate.” Dawn locked her eyes on mine.
    “What?”
    “There will always be more.”
    “What?”
    “There will always be more food than you want or need, and it is never your last chance to eat something.”
    “That’s the opposite of how I think when I’m binging.”
    She nodded.
    I lowered my voice. “When I binge I always tell myself it’s the
last time. So I feel like I have to eat as much as I can because it’s my only
chance.”
    “But it’s not,” she said. “It never is.”
    “Cause I can always have something another time.”
    “Helpful?”
    “Yeah.”
    She smiled. “I’m glad.”
    “Do you miss it?”
    “Miss what?”
    “Your practice.”
    “Oh.” She stood up and pointed at melting iceberg on the table.
“Are you done with this?”
    “Yeah.”
    She walked it over to the garbage can and tipped the ice cream
in.
    “You must miss it,” I said when she returned. “You’re good at
it. Helping people.”
    “Thanks, Kate. That’s nice of you to say.”
    “Your patients must miss you.”
    “They’re okay. They’re all in good hands with the counselors
they’re seeing now.”
    “Why did you decide to take time off, though?” I asked as we
headed towards the exit.
    “I was just listening to my body,” she said, looking at me out
of the corner of her eye. “It said take a break, Dawn .”
    “When do you think you’ll start practicing again?”
    “I don’t know. Right now I’m just trying to focus on enjoying my
time with you.”
    It sounded like