Free The Last Exhale by Julia Blues

right?”
    He shakes his head. “If we keep this up, might be a different story.”
    I sigh.
    â€œYou have more at stake than I do,” Brandon says. “Let me get you to your car.”
    My head hits the headrest. “How did we get here?” The question is more for me than him.
    â€œYou’re easy to talk to. The moment I walked in the gym, you were all in my ear like a Chihuahua.”
    I don’t let him see my smile. “I thought you were someone else.”
    He bites down on his lip. Finger taps the steering wheel. Actions of a man with serious thoughts.
    My hand reaches for the door. It’s not worth it, not worth it, not worth it. Is it?
    â€œThings that bad at home?” Brandon summons me from crazy thoughts.
    â€œWhat makes you say that?”
    â€œA happily married woman wouldn’t be in the car with a happily married man.”
    â€œYou’re giving me a ride.”
    â€œSo that story’s working for you, huh?”
    I look out the window. Try to put my life in perspective without staring in the face of a man who’s brought me so much joy in such a short time. I mean, literally. All it took was a five-minute case of mistaken identity and I drive home with a newfound crush. I’m too old for a crush. I catch a glimpse of Katrina getting in a car with a man who looks like he’s out for one thing. What’s sad is I know she’s going to give it to him. She’s been running around with all kinds of subpar men since her husband left. Am I staring in the mirror of what my life would be like if I keep entertaining my unhappiness with an illusion of happiness?
    â€œWas he wearing satin pajamas?” Brandon asks.
    â€œShe has a type,” I say. “You’d think after being dogged by every man she’s ever dated, including her ex-husband, that she’d wisen up and try a different approach.”
    â€œCan’t be good for her kid to see.”
    â€œLuckily, he doesn’t see much. She puts her hoeish ways on pause during the week and his dad keeps him on the weekends.”
    They say if you hang around people long enough, you begin totake on some of their tendencies. Yep, I’ve been hanging around Katrina a little too long.
    I turn to Brandon. “Do you have any kids?”
    He shakes his head and watches the car Katrina got into drift away into the night.
    My clutch purse vibrates in my lap. An incoming text from Eric.
    Again, Brandon says, “Let me get you to your car.”
    I give him directions to Katrina’s place, since we carpooled to the lounge. He parks behind my car and waits for me to get in and start the ignition. I roll down my window. “Meet me at the park Monday morning.”
    â€œSix a.m. sharp.”
    And with that, he drives off.
    â€¢Â Â â€¢Â Â â€¢
    â€œEvery time you go out lately, you stay out later and later,” Eric says as soon as I push open the bedroom door. He’s sitting up in the bed with the lamp on his nightstand on, a turned down book in his lap.
    â€œNow, now, I haven’t said anything about all those extra shifts you’ve been pulling lately.”
    He tosses the book on his nightstand. “That’s because it’s putting extra money in our pockets, ma’am.”
    I walk into the closet, put my shoes back in their box. Yell out, “Well, sir, according to your buddies at work, what I’m doing is putting money in our pockets as well.”
    â€œNot funny,” I hear him say.
    I snicker to myself, then peep my head out of the closet. “Aw, babe. Look, I had to make sure Katrina got home okay. She had quite a bit to drink.” At least half of it is true.
    â€œDon’t make me have to put an APB out on you.”
    I roll my eyes as I slide out of my dress, hang it up and walk back in the room in bra and panties. Give him a longer than usual kiss on the lips. “Now why would you have to do a thing like