Free The Lights of Tenth Street by Shaunti Feldhahn

for something to eat. Diet this and diet that. Why couldn’t Sherry buy
normal
food?
    He grabbed a jar of peanut butter and stuck a spoon into it, his conscience niggling again as he ate. He knew his wife hated the extra weight she had carried around since the kids came along. And it was nice that she wanted to slim down, just for him. Why couldn’t he be more supportive these days? It was like every little thing set him off.
    Peanut butter and spoon in hand, Doug wandered out to the living room and turned on the television in their built-in entertainment center. He settled into the corner of the comfortable sofa and picked up his remote control. Maybe he could at least glance at the regional weather forecast before his flight.
    The channels scrolled by as he bounced from station to station. He found the news, but didn’t stay long; the usual details on the war on terrorism, blah, blah, blah. Unused to being home during a weekday, he was amused by the images from soap operas, infomercials, and syndicated reruns that flicked by.
    Whoa, what was that?
    He backtracked a couple of channels and paused. A bikini-clad model posed on the beach. Now she was under a waterfall. The camera pulled back to show a host of make-up artists, lighting equipment, and producers surrounding the waterfall shot. A male announcer’s voice described the long hours and technical effort that went into creating a series of popular college co-ed calendars.
    Doug’s eyes drank in the parade of pictures. Wow. That next girl actually looked a lot like Sherry … like Sherry had looked ten years ago when they were in college together. The girl shook her head and her glossy, dark hair cascaded over her eyes and around her shoulders. The camera panned down a bright yellow bathing suit over a perfect tan.
    “
And we’ll be right back with Calendar Co-Eds after these messages.
”
    Doug looked at the remote in his hand. What was he doing? He lowered hishead and shut his eyes tight. He could still see the waterfall, still see the long view of the perfect tan. That last five-second glimpse would probably stay in his mind for an hour. He heard the soft music of the calendar show returning, and changed the channel.
    He changed the station several times, but his eyes weren’t focusing. They were seeing the pictures in his head.
    After a minute, he clicked the remote quickly backward. It would just be a couple minutes, and then Sherry would be home so he’d have to stop.
    When he heard their SUV pulling into the garage, he quickly turned the channel to CNN, and then turned the television off. He hurried into the kitchen and put the peanut butter back where he found it, then met his wife at the door. She was trying to open the door with one hand, while holding a mass of plastic-wrapped clothes with the other.
    “Here, honey, let me do that.” Doug took the dry cleaning out of Sherry’s hands. “Thanks for doing this.”
    Sherry was out of breath. “I drove—I drove as fast as I could.”
    “I’m sure you did.”
    “What? You don’t believe me?”
    “That’s not what I said!” Doug tightened his grip on the mass of hangers and headed back to the bedroom. He could hear his wife’s sigh all the way down the hall.
    “Why do you always run away from me when I’m upset?”
    He shut his mouth tight, not trusting himself to answer. He jerked at the hangers, trying to pull some shirts free, his fingers clumsy with anger and haste. If he missed this plane—
    Sherry appeared in the doorway. “I’m sorry. I really want to help. And I think you’re still fine for the flight if we leave right away, so stop going nuts.”
    Doug felt his face going red. He forced himself to calmly detangle the last hangers and pull three shirts free.
    “I should’ve left from the office. I don’t think coming back home really works.”
    “I was just trying to get a little time together. I’ve hardly seen you since you came home from the
last
trip. You’ve been