Just One More Breath Read Online Free PDF Page B

looked at me stunned. “Of course I want you to divorce him , Nicole. I’m just worried about you going through the stress of a divorce now, on top of everything else.”
    My anger abated, she was looking out for me. “I’ll be fine, I just want to get all of this behind me.”
    "Okay , well, I will remind you to mention it to Shawn when we see him tonight. I’m sure he can make it happen quickly," Zena said, pulling me in for a hug.
    "I sure hope so."
    We spent the rest of our lunch hour gossiping about celebrities and friends and laughing. Thankfully the rest of my day ended without a hitch. Despite my angst, my first day back had been good. Cathartic even.
     

Chapter Four
     
    Shawn
     
    I glanced at the clock on my desk again and groaned. It was only one thirty; the day was creeping by at a snail’s pace and felt torturous. I had literally spent the last three days trying to figure out how my client could walk away from his marriage with some money still left in his bank account. Money he would be in desperate need of when his illegitimate child arrived in four months.
    If I could offer free legal advice to married men everywhere it would be: If you’re going to cheat, use a goddamn condom. Getting your sidepiece pregnant is the easiest way to get your spouse awarded every type of support the judicial system offers. A woman who had been cheated on, and then learns about an illegitimate child, will turn into a red-zone pit bull going in for the kill. Ready to dismember her husband one limb at a time with her bare hands. And when money is involved…they go rabid.
    Being a divorce attorney solidified my disdain for the institution of marriage on a daily basis. The way people, who once stood before God and their families to pledge their love for each other, could try to tear each other to shreds was sickening. Most of my clients were soon-to-be divorced men whose soon-to-be ex-wives held them tightly by the balls with a vice-like grip.
    I planned on avoiding those kinds of situations in my personal life because I surely wasn’t in denial about what kind of man I was. I didn’t believe in marrying happily ever after. Not by a long shot. I’m wouldn’t categorize myself as a womanizer, either. I’m not just big on commitment.
    I scrolled through my email and noticed the e-vite to Nicole’s, my good friend from college, "Back to work dinner." I shook my head at the memories of what Nicole had been through in the last three months. Her husband unexpectedly left and then she lost her son. I hadn’t seen Nicole since her son’s funeral, and truth be told, I was still pretty messed up from that experience. Every time I thought about it my heart broke for her.
    There were so many times that I wanted to contact her, offer some kind of comfort or help. I just didn’t know what to say. At four thirty, my desk phone rang, and I saw Shane’s, my twin brother, cell phone number appear on the caller ID.
    “Hello?” I answered in a frustrated tone.
    “Dude, you ok ay? You sound like shit,” Shane said.
    It still amazed me how in tune my twin brother was to my feelings and moods. “No, I’m having a really long, really shitty day.”
    Shane’s tone instantly changed to one of concern. “What’s going on? Is everything ok ay?”
    “Everything’s cool. I’m just dealing with a really difficult case."
    “It’s days like today that I really wish I still lived in New York City. I would be at your office when you got out of work ready to drag you into a bar."
    Shane’s words made me smile. “Yeah, I know." What else could I say? I wasn’t pleased about Shane living in Chicago with his girlfriend, Mariana. Hell, wasn’t fond of Mariana in Chicago, in New York, or even on the Moon. And my entire family felt the exactly same way.
    “Well , I have something great I want to tell you guys,” Shane said, pulling me out of my anti-Mariana thoughts. “Hold on, let me conference Mark in on the call. I can’t call