Free Gone Too Far by Angela Winters

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    â€œI wasn’t trying to seduce you!” Avery’s anger at his audacity brought her senses back. “You arrogant jerk! You kissed me.”
    â€œYou knew that was going to happen,” Carter accused. “Every time you slap me, we end up kissing or making love. You know the effect you—”
    â€œWhat?” Avery asked. “The effect I have on you? That’s my fault? And what effect would that be, Carter? To make you want me and then hate me?”
    â€œHow is that different from how you feel about me?” Carter took a step back, because while his mind was in control, his body still wanted her.
    â€œI don’t hate you, Carter.” Avery sighed, looking him in the eyes. “I love you. I’m sorry that we couldn’t—”
    â€œDon’t show me your pity,” he exclaimed. “Don’t tell me how sorry you are that you couldn’t love me enough.”
    â€œI can’t do this again,” she said. “I can’t keep explaining to you that my choice wasn’t about how much I love you.”
    â€œDon’t waste your time,” Carter said, feeling the resentment boiling inside of him. “Quote your scriptures to yourself. If you really loved me, you would have chosen me.”
    Avery tried to control her emotions, feeling tears begin to creep into her eyes. She had cried so many nights over this, but she couldn’t let him see her do it. Not anymore. “I did love you, Carter. I still do, but I—”
    â€œBullshit,” he responded, and was gratified with the angry expression that took over Avery in response to his dismissal of her feelings. He wasn’t going to be her fool again. “It’s not going to work anymore. If you insist on neglecting MY daughter in favor of everything else, I’ll see to it that you don’t have that choice anymore.”
    As he stormed out of the gallery, Avery let herself go and tears began streaming down her face. She ran behind the counter to grab a Kleenex and push the bell that rang in the back room, asking for help at the counter. Her coworker was on break, but Avery had to get some air. She knew what Carter meant by taking away “that” choice. He meant taking away her custody, and there was nothing that Avery feared more in this world.
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    â€œYou’re doing a great job, Darryl.” Leigh was warmed by the proud smile of the twelve-year-old boy sitting on the patient’s table in room 5 of Hope Clinic in South Central Los Angeles.
    â€œI feel good.” Darryl’s dark brown face lit up, showing his bright white teeth. “I was outside playing for like five hours yesterday.”
    Leigh looked at Aliyah, Darryl’s thirty-year-old mother, sitting in a chair a few feet away. Aliyah shook her head with a laugh.
    â€œIt was only two hours,” she said. “And not more than that.”
    â€œI’m sure it felt like five hours,” Leigh said as she turned back to Darryl.
    Four months ago, the diabetic preteen showed up at Hope Clinic very weak. The normally active boy broke into an exhaustive sweat after only twenty minutes of activity. After years of struggling, Aliyah had finally gotten off of welfare and was working as a part-time receptionist at a veterinary clinic. Unfortunately, the new job didn’t include health insurance, so she came to the clinic.
    Leigh diagnosed him easily. A drug he had been taking to manage his diabetes had turned on his kidneys and was damaging them. They were degrading fast, and if he hadn’t come to her when he had, they would have likely failed. There was no way Aliyah would have ever been able to afford dialysis, which is what he would have needed to stay alive.
    However, switching his medications, Leigh was able to stop the damage, and his kidney filtration rate was back to normal. It was the minimum of normal, but he was on his way. It was such a small change but meant the