Drained Read Online Free PDF

feet.
    Karen knelt and scratched him behind the ears. “Hey, buddy,” she said. Karen looked up at me. “How did he do today?”
    “I didn’t find anything anywhere,” I said.
    “Good job, Little Chop.” Karen continued petting the dog.
    “How was the drive today?” I asked. “I heard the traffic guy on the radio on my way home. It sounded bad.”
    Karen stood. She wore a gray blazer over a lighter-gray shirt and matching slacks. A multicolored necklace hung from her neck. She kicked off her shoes at the door. “The traffic was brutal,” she said. “It took me damn near an hour to get ten miles.” Karen freed her black hair from a bun. It fell a few inches past her shoulders.
    I walked over and gave her a hug and a kiss. She was holding a brown bag of groceries in her arm, so I took it from her. “What did you get?” I asked.
    “Organic chicken and spinach plus a few other things. Basically, everything to make chicken Florentine.”
    “I thought we were done with the organic kick?” I asked.
    “Nope. I found a nice little market.”
    I nodded but said nothing.
    “I figured after dinner we could go out and see the town a bit. Maybe do a little dancing,” Karen said. It sounded more like this is what we are doing as opposed to I would like your input on the topic .
    Karen enjoyed control, which after almost twenty years of marriage, I’d gotten accustomed to. She seemed to honestly like being in charge of the little things, from food to vehicles to entertainment. The big things in life we always discussed. The truth was while I’d often get crap about my wife wearing the pants, not having to worry about the little things made my life a lot less stressful, and as much as I could take or leave dancing the night away, it made her happy, which made me happy. Karen could still get a little carried away at times, but as far as our marriage went, I don’t think we could be a better pairing.
    “Um, about going out,” I said, “shouldn’t we probably deal with the boxes and start getting things organized instead?”
    “It can wait,” Karen said.
    I shrugged and headed for the kitchen. As I set down the groceries on the counter next to the sink, I said, “Kane called me this morning.”
    “Oh yeah? Just to talk or what?”
    “Seemed like it. I’ll call him back a little later. I have to think he’s bored just sitting behind a desk.”
    “Ah, he knew the job he was taking. How is Callie doing?” Karen asked. “She has to be due any day now.”
    “We only talked for a minute. I had to get off the phone. The navigation in the car was acting weird again.”
    “I’ll make an appointment at the dealer,” Karen said.
    “Or I could just get a different car,” I said. “I’m kind of sick of the Pinkmobile.”
    “It was thousands off because of the color. It was a smart buying decision,” Karen said. “But fine, if you want something else, get something else. I was thinking of relinquishing the vehicle-buying decisions to you anyway.”
    “Really?” I asked. Karen had picked out my last four or five cars. They had all been awful.
    “Yeah. Cars are now going to be your department. I kind of think they should be. Don’t you?”
    “Hell yeah. I’m getting something cool, then. Enough of this slow hybrid crap,” I said.
    She smiled. “Just settle down. I’m still going to retain veto ability.”
    “Damn,” I said. “Oh, I got made fun of for looking like a stereotypical FBI agent today.”
    “By who?”
    “Coworker. Maybe along with the vehicles rights, I could get clothing rights as well?” I asked.
    “Hank, I’ve seen how you look when you dress yourself. That is still one-hundred-percent my department.”
    “Fine. You seemed like you were being generous, so I had to throw it out there.”
    Karen smiled and walked to me. She wrapped her arms around my neck, and I dropped my hands and held her by her waist.
    “So,” she said. “Don’t leave me in suspense. How was your first day?