The Truth About Love Read Online Free PDF Page B

do, trying to calm him down, trying to keep life level and normal. “ Want me to help?”
    Still, he fumbled alone while I watched and tried to talk to him, soothe him, and keep him from overreacting.  I’m not sure I remember what I babbled on about maybe something about lunch, meeting Julia, the appointment and then it happened.  His hand shot toward his face and he began to bite down on the side of his index finger.  It was the universal signal he was about to blow a gasket.
    “ Let me help you.”   Without waiting for his consent, I shoved his phone in his pocket. “ There.”
    Somehow, I had ended up on the other side of the bed, away from Kylie’s crib, which was in front of the window.  It was a definite oversight, allowing Shane to be in the middle, for me to be far away from my baby when he was this volatile.  I realized it the minute he started kicking the headboard angrily.
    “Shane.  Calm down.  Relax.”
    It didn’t work.  I knew it wouldn’t.  He kicked harder and more violently, this time with both feet.  I could picture the entire bed collapsing with him on it, which wouldn’t make him any happier.  We had already damaged the frame during happier times.  The iron leaves and vines in the head board had broken off long ago one night when he let me use silk ties to restrain and tease him.  We had laughed.  It didn’t dampen our mood any.  The lovemaking was only hotter.  This…was a different kind of hot.
    During this rage, he injured his foot.  I sighed.  Loudly.  I knew what this meant.  He would only be more volatile now.
    Sure enough, he leaned over the side of the bed near where I hovered out of arm’s reach and picked up one of his sneakers.  He launched it and it ricocheted off the wall and flew at Kylie’s crib.  Rushing past him, I hissed.   “ Shane, Kylie is sleeping . You almost hit her!”
    Snatching my slumbering baby, I walked briskly from the room and didn’t slow down until I reached the great room.  As long as we were in the same house, I wasn’t safe from his tantrum.  Sadly, this didn’t bother me any more.  It was terrible to have grown accustomed to these outbursts, but over the past five years, I had.  
    Snuggling Kylie on the couch, I listened to figure out what was happening down the hall.  It was quiet once more and I hoped it meant he had fallen back asleep or calmed down.  After plugging the tubing into the surgically embedded button in her belly, Kylie’s feed was started through the feeding pump.  It had been running all of ten minutes of the thirty it was programmed for when Shane came limping out.
    At the moment, he was shirtless and wearing only one shoe.  I stared at him evenly while I tried to decide what to do next.  He flopped down on the opposite end of the sofa looking confused and upset.
    “Why would you bother me about going to dinner?”  He frowned.
    “I didn’t.”
    “Yes, you did.”  He insisted.  “You came in and you woke me up to talk about dinner.  I don’t want dinner.  And I certainly don’t want to meet Julia.”
    I felt like I was dealing with a child.  “That’s fine.  I already met Julia.  We met for lunch.  You were invited.  Remember?”   I urged him to make sense and recall our earlier conversation.  It didn’t work.  
    “And what did you do with my shoe?”  He pointed to his bare foot.
    “I didn’t do anything with your shoe.  You threw it.  It’s wherever it landed.”
    Gradually , he leaned forward and used what little inertia he had created to leverage himself off the couch.   Evidently he had decided to stumble back into the bedroom to locate his missing shoe.  I couldn’t tell you what set him off, but the walls were paying the price.  Holes were created as he punched the sheetrock near the back door and the light switch in the hall. Still angry, the thermostat was targeted next.  Since it injured him when he hit it, he kicked a huge hole in the sheetrock below