Free Second Time Around by Darrin Lowery

chirped the alarm on her car. “It was nice meeting you, Mrs. Underwood.”
    Mrs. Underwood walked back to Korie and gave her a hug.
    â€œThank you, sister.”
    Korie was all smiles.
    â€œNo problem, sis, we each need to look out for one another from time to time. Listen to my girlfriend. She will take good care of you and get you going in the right direction.”
    â€œThank you again.”
    â€œNo problem.” Korie hurried down the path and opened her car door. “Jayna, I’ll call you later.”
    â€œOkay,” Jayna responded. She and Mrs. Underwood headed back into the house.
    Korie jumped in her car and headed east to her next appointment.
    She drove on the expressway. While in the car she was listening to old school love songs. As the songs played, Korie thought about the Underwoods. She thought about everything that they went through. She then thought about the fact that no matter what happened they stayed together; to this day they remained in love. She thought that was touching. She thought it was romantic. Then she heard his words in her head.
    There is nothing romantic about being broke.
    As she drove, she wondered was he right. She wondered what he would say about the Underwoods. She wondered what he was doing right now.
    Lord, why can’t I get this man out of my head? Why can’t I get him out of my heart?

Chapter Seven
    Korie’s next appointment was forty-five minutes away. She had already driven twenty minutes and her every thought was of him. She turned on the radio and “On Bended Knee” by Boys II Men was playing. Every song after that seemed like it was a wedding song. Korie turned the music up, and before she knew it, tears began to stream down her face.
    Apparently the songs touched her and opened up a door that she thought was forever closed. She thought about him. She thought about his touch, his voice, his smile, and his very scent. She could almost smell his chrome cologne. She thought about the last time they made love, the first time they made love, and the first time that they kissed. She knew in her heart of hearts that he was the one. She simply couldn’t understand why he didn’t see it. She couldn’t understand why they weren’t together.
    They should be on at least their third wedding anniversary by now. She should have had his first child by now. Instead she was working hard on her career and he was God knows where, working on his.
    Korie loved him. Jayna hated him. Korie thought he was the greatest man alive and Jayna thought he was the son of the devil himself. Let Jayna tell it, he was one uppity, arrogant sonofabitch.
    All Korie knew was she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him from the very first day that they met. She wanted to live with her man. She wanted to be married, and she wanted a bunch of his babies. He didn’t want any of that, at least not when she wanted it. The last thing in the world he ever wanted in life was to struggle. He made that perfectly clear.
    Korie didn’t fear struggle. She didn’t mind it at all. Like Mrs. Underwood, as long as she had the love of her man, that was enough for her.
    Something he used to say was, “Love isn’t enough; it may be poetic, but it’s not enough, it’s never enough.”
    â€œBullshit!” Korie said aloud as she switched lanes and thought about those words. She was just as upset remembering them as she was when he first spoke them to her.
    What was so wrong with struggling? This is what Korie asked herself at least a million times. She struggled, her parents struggled, and their parents struggled. Hell, struggle was part of African American culture as far as she was concerned. Even his parents struggled. So why couldn’t they? Why couldn’t they be a couple?
    In spite of what he said, she thought there was something romantic about the struggle of a young couple. She thought it spoke volumes for a couple to work