Free Bigger (The Nicky Beets series) by Erin Mayes Page B

honestly, I’m
not sure I’ve even seen him since last week. He’s here in the house somewhere,
but he’s like a ghost who slips into bed at night and back out in the mornings.
We mainly communicate through text messages.”
    “Dadda in office,” Sage interjected sleepily.
    I contemplated what Laurie had said for a moment. “But hasn’t he kind of
always been that way? I’m not sure I’ve seen Frank at all this year!”
    Laurie nodded, “Yeah. Which was fine for a while. We both have our own
things going on. But I may as well be a single parent for all the help I’m
getting from him.”
    “Ugh,” I offered.
    “What should I do, Nic?” Laurie asked, with a tone of half-joking
desperation.
    I laughed. I couldn’t give Laurie advice on childrearing or
husband-rearing, seeing as how I’d never had my own kid or been married. And
I’d always been at a loss when it came to understanding her marriage.
    “I wish I knew,” I answered, shaking my head. “You should at least talk
with him about it.”
    I glanced at my watch and noticed the time was getting late. “I’ve gotta
go. I’m starting this diet tomorrow and still need to go to the grocery store
tonight.”
    “All right. I’ve got to venture into battle anyway,” Laurie said. “Call
me tomorrow and let me know how it’s going.”
    “Will do.” I waved goodbye and blew sleeping Sage a kiss.

FOUR

 
 
    My detailed meal plan for the next two weeks was comprised of a lot of
vegetables and lean protein and not much else. I’d been on this diet before,
and it involved eating no fruit, no grains, no red meat, and no sugar. It
basically excluded all of the things I normally subsisted on.
    After an hour at the grocery store, I had a cart loaded with food I
wasn’t excited to eat, but my determination to make the diet work this time was
still running strong. During a frenzy of text messages at the grocery store, I
arranged to have Chuck pick up my “last meal” from our favorite local Thai
restaurant. I hadn’t told him yet of my diet plans and was pretty sure he
wasn’t going to be thrilled about it, so I was waiting until I had the
groceries in hand to break the news.
    I pushed the door to our townhouse open with the toe of my shoe as I
hefted two filled-to-the-brim paper grocery sacks in my arms. Chuck poked his
head out of the kitchen with a smile. “Get some good stuff?”
    He started toward the front door to help unload bags from the trunk.
    “Don’t get too excited,” I said. “There’s nothing tasty in these bags.”
    Chuck knew me well enough to smell a diet coming. I heard him groan as he
walked outside toward the car.
    After we hauled everything in and I was stocking the refrigerator with my
healthy wares, I told Chuck my plan.
    “I’m going on a diet, for real this time,” I stated firmly, hoping I
sounded believable and serious. “I’ll be making breakfast, lunch and dinner,
and I’m going to start yoga tomorrow with Roxanne, and I’m not sure yet, but I
think I’m going to start running, too.”
    I’d thrown the running in there at the last minute just to emphasize the
major lifestyle change I was expecting to make. As much as it pained me to
admit it, I knew Robin had a point that running was a fast way to shed weight.
    Chuck was staring at the floor with his brow furrowed.
    “What?” I asked him.
    “Ok, this is because of the thing on the news last night, right?” he
asked.
    “Well that was definitely the straw that broke the camel’s back. I can’t
keep seeing pictures of myself looking like this,” I held my hands up in an
invitation for him to really take in my full girth. Did he not understand that
his once thin girlfriend was now almost morbidly obese?
    “I just think these radical diet and exercise programs you go on never
work out,” he explained. “They’re too strict and unrealistic. You always fall
off the wagon in the first two weeks and then it’s back to the same stuff we
always eat.”
    I