Straightaway: No More Turns Left

With a new love and fighting for real love, both Kim and Brian are moving straight ahead trying to avoid the obstacles between them and the finish line to their happily ever after. 

Will there be too much wreckage from the choices they’ve made? Can they find their way to the lives they truly want?

Available on Amazon & Kindle Unlimited.

Sample #1

Denise

There I stood, outside the front door of my home. Well, what used to be my home. Now, it was merely a house where my so-called husband lived. What was I doing here? Why did I still have a key?

A year ago, when my world proved to be a fake, I distinctly remember leaving all of my keys in a drawer in the kitchen. But the same set sat in my hand about to assist me with re-entering the crime scene of the death of my trust. My love. My marriage. 

With a turn of the inserted key and a push of the twisted doorknob, soft moans echoed into the foyer. The male groaning was undoubtedly my husband. I didn’t recognize the woman. How would I?

At that moment, my feet should have guided me back over the threshold I crossed a second ago. However, curiosity pushed me toward the noises. 

My husband was fucking another woman again. Yeah, I left over a year ago and we had spoken little in that time, but he could’ve told me he moved on. We weren’t even divorced yet. Not one time had we discussed it as a finality. 

Each step reset my pulse as if I took off in the 100-yard dash. The closer I got to the master bedroom door, the louder they became. 

I counted to three to prepare myself for whatever my eyes would witness. Then I forced the door wide open to find Brian in the bed with Kim. 

Shouldn’t I have expected it?

They didn’t stop. I didn’t stop watching. It hit me that he loved her more than he ever loved me. My eyes moistened until a tear dropped. As soon as it rolled to my chin, a loud burst came from the front door.

My cousin, Bam, ran in my direction with a gun in each hand. I backed away from the bedroom door when she passed me screaming and cursing at them. A gunshot went off.

“Dee! Dee! Wake up, girl.”

Momma shook my shoulder pulling me from my nap. I cracked one eye open.

“Girl, get up. I need to head to work for a couple of hours. Your dad is out for the afternoon. Come get Layla so I can go,” she told me. 

“Okay.” I slowly sat up and stretched my arms as far as they could go. My back cracked a few times since I fell asleep slouched over. 

The last thing I remembered before closing my eyes was managing the inbox for a client of mine. Teressa Jennings was an influencer, author, speaker, and now an online teacher. She had an excess of email responses from her eager students and wanted the communication to be genuine. Teressa hated auto-responders which put money in my pocket.

Being a virtual assistant to a few busy professionals kept me occupied and paid. After being with my parents, who wouldn’t take rent money from their broken-hearted daughter, I saved most of it. I’d soon use it to find my own place nearby.

I made it to the living room where Layla flipped through soft books in her playpen. 

“You are working a lot lately,” Momma stated, pouring a cup of coffee. 

“I have to so we can get on our feet.”

She looked up, but her gaze was on the wall of cabinets in front of her. 

“Baby, you don’t have to do this alone. Your husband wants to take care of you. Why won’t you let him? He’s sorry. Let him do his job.”

“His job is to love his daughter and make sure she’s good. Even I cannot deny that he does that amazingly. Especially since no one asked me.”

“Oh, don’t go there again. Your father did the right thing by letting Brian see Layla. He did not betray your trust like you whined about before. You were being hard-headed. Someone had to step up. Who else than your dad? Family comes first with him always.”

“Brian is not his family.” I crossed my arms over my chest feeling justified. Everyone treated Brian like he belonged where he didn’t. 

“No, but he is Layla’s.” She made a face as if she proved a point. 

“It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“You’re right.”

Momma sat down at the bar with me to drink her almost black coffee. It contained a little drizzle of sugar. How she could stand the taste?

“Now, back to the real topic. Why are you being so stubborn with Brian? That man is here every chance he gets trying to win his wife back. You act like you found out he was a pimp or some kingpin behind your back.”

“But—”

Momma raised her hand to shut me up. “He messed up. We get it. He knows it. It was a onetime indiscretion. What will it take for you to forgive him? Brian is a good man.”

“He’s not good enough. The man I thought I knew would have never betrayed me. I cannot go back to him. Ever!”

“Dee? Come on, baby. It’s not the end of all things. You can get through this with him. I believe it.”

“Momma, I can’t even sleep in peace. I keep dreaming about him and that girl in bed. I walk in, and no one cares. It’s too much.”

“Maybe you can go to therapy with him. A marriage counselor can do wonders. Trust me.”

“Nah, I’ll just have Bam handle it like she does in my dream.”

“Lord, I don’t even want to know what that means.” She laughed because she understood anything involving Bam meant someone would get hurt. 

“Anyway, why are you going to work on a Saturday afternoon?”

“My boss lost his thumb drive that had a few reports I completed this week. Since he’s out of town, he needs me to go to the office to email them. Mr. Cook is so old school. Even at my age, I’m hip to the cloud. But he doesn’t want his work to become vulnerable to hackers. Nobody cares about his business enough to do any of the mess he fears.”

I chuckled at the image of his paranoia.

“Mama! Mama!” Layla squealed when she noticed I was in the area. 

“Hey, Mommy’s little bug.” I walked to the playpen and lifted her out. 

Layla gave me a big kiss emphasizing the sound as she always did. “Mua!”

“When did she eat last?” I asked Momma who placed her empty cup in the sink. 

“Less than an hour ago, but it was a snack. She didn’t have a real lunch yet.”

“Okay. Thanks for everything.”

“Oh girl, please. I would do anything for my girls. Even push that big red button that says ‘Don’t bring up Brian.’” 

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, you do that too often.”

“It’s only out of love. And being right,” she said, cracking a smile.

“Mmm-hmm. Where’s Nana?”

“Out in the garden. Well, the outline of a garden. She’s getting her list together of what she wants to plant so we can get it going for her.” 

“That will be nice. I cannot wait to help her harvest the veggies. There’s nothing like growing your own food.”

“You ain’t gonna be here that long. Your butt will be back in Houston where you belong.” She winked and grabbed her purse. 

“I see I’ve worn out my welcome.”

“No, no! That’s not what I’m saying.” Momma grabbed at Layla’s hand while I held her on my hip.

“Grandma is only trying to make sure the sweetest little baby has both of her parents in her life full-time. That’s all. Wouldn’t you like that my little angel?” she asked Layla. 

“You won’t stop, huh?”

“Can’t stop, won’t stop,” she sang, doing some lame dance move. 

“Don’t hurt yourself, Grandma?”

“Hey, watch how you say it. I’m not old. I still got moves.”

“Yeah, sure you do, Momma.”

Her phone buzzed on the counter. When she looked at the notification, she rolled her eyes. 

“Lemme get out of here before this man drive me nuts.”

“Alright. Love you!”

“Love you more.”

Momma kissed my cheek and pretended to eat Layla’s hand. My bug loved that. She giggled until her grandma stopped and exited through the garage door.

*******************

Saturday, I checked out a few apartments near my parents’ neighborhood. My dad took Layla to visit Brian wherever they met. The secret was out, but I still didn’t want to see him. 

After another year apart, my feelings confused me more than anything. Sometimes I missed my husband, and other times, I wanted to punch him in the throat or worse. 

My dreams didn’t help either. There were nights filled with horrible scenes of Brian being with ol’ girl or a random woman. Other ones had us happy together as if nothing ever happened. Dammit, if I didn’t wish the latter could be real. 

I wanted my old life back when I had a trustworthy best friend and husband. Blissfully ignorant to what happened behind my back. Even if forgiveness proved possible, my memory wouldn’t let the thought of them together go. 

No one had my back the way I wanted them to. Some days, my family should stick to saying what I wanted to hear. Tell me I could take all the time I needed, or I didn’t have to deal with Brian if I didn’t want to. Even if it wasn’t true. 

The initial emotional support had worn off long ago. Before, everyone shared my anger. Now, they pushed me to fix something I didn’t break. 

“Do it for Layla,” they’d say. 

Brian didn’t. He screwed over the both of us while Layla dwelled in my womb. That reality messed with me daily. Getting over it wasn’t as easy as they made it sound. The only person who experienced my pain shot her cheating husband in the foot. Aunt Rita got away with it. I wouldn’t. My luck would have my ass in jail. 

Layla was the spitting image of her dad. I couldn’t avoid him no matter how hard I tried. 

When I left the third apartment’s office, I received a text from my mom to see if I’d be home for lunch. She wanted to prepare enough food for me. After learning she’d make crab cakes, I placed my order for about five. 

One thing for sure, I gained weight eating all the fried goodness my mom cooked. Every other Saturday, she’d fry something. We didn’t eat healthy all the time, but she cut back on the fried foods after my grandmother recovered from her health issues. 

Aunt Rita pulled into the driveway right behind me. We got out of our cars. I waited on her so we could walk to the door together. 

“You’re here for the food, huh?”

“Girl, Patti mentioned them crab cakes on the phone. I hung up and headed over.”

We laughed as I opened the door. The smell hit me so hard, I closed my eyes, imagining the first bite. Momma was in the kitchen frying away, and Nana sat at the table nibbling on her cake. I gave her a kiss and asked for a bite. 

“Hell, no. Get your own,” she playfully snapped. 

“Ha! Those crack cakes got Momma ready to fight,” Aunt Rita said before giving her a kiss. “How you feeling, honey?”

“I’m just fine. I’d be better if y’all would let me eat in peace. Coming in here with all that noise,” Nana complained.

Momma and my aunt gave each other the same look. That meant Nana was in one of her moods. 

There were only about six crab cakes done. Momma made sure we took one at a time. The bowl with the mixture had plenty to go around once cooked, but we obeyed. My mom let us know she had a salad in the fridge. 

“What were you up to this morning?” Momma asked me. 

“Probably the gym,” Aunt Rita answered. 

Nobody was talking to her, but I wouldn’t dare say that out loud. She was the only one who spoke about the weight. It was only around fifteen pounds evenly spread. 

“I’ll go when you go.” I nudged her. “The apartments I told you about had some units available next month.”

“Wait! You were serious?” Momma asked. 

“Yes!”

Aunt Rita squinted. “What y’all talking about?” 

I swallowed the mouthful of my crab cake. “I want to get my own place.”

“She needs to make sure it’s the right move first,” my mom said as if I wasn’t in the room.

“What’s the big deal? We’ve been separated this long. It’s safe to say it’s over.”

Aunt Rita brought the fork down from her lips. “Maybe for you, but have you talked with Brian about this?” 

“Exactly my point,” Momma chimed. “She’s making this decision as if she’s divorced. She won’t even talk to the man and now this!”

My mom was getting a little too worked up over something that wasn’t her choice to make. It annoyed me how fighting for this lost cause of a marriage was the only option in their minds. 

“Here comes the prettiest little girl on the planet,” Dad said, walking through the front door. Layla ran inside the house. 

My dad looked dead into my eyes while holding the door open after he stepped inside. 

“Look who’s here,” he announced. 

Brian walked inside with his hands in his jean’s front pockets and had that stupid half-smile on his face. His nervous expression never changed, and I was already convinced that neither would he. So, what the hell was he doing here?

Thank you for reading!

The Playlist

Sample #2

Kim

Finally! The tension between two of the most important men in my life disappeared. After the hard part, they got along like no problem ever existed. The guys talked mostly to each other and somewhat ignored me. I gladly sat back and listened.

Anytime Ava came up, both of them lit up with pride. My baby girl was the answer to these men’s issue with one another. The conversation even ventured off to basketball. Brian obviously devoted his allegiance to the Rockets, and Evan claimed the Golden State Warriors. He admitted to jumping on the wagon a few years ago but represented them all the way now.

The waitress brought our check. Evan insisted that he pay. He felt like an asshole for what he thought of Brian before this meeting. Once she returned, I placed the leftovers in a container. She also handed me a bag with the to-go dessert that I had to wait to devour later. I stuffed my face enough for the hour.

While lost in those two going back and forth, I felt someone watching me. It was so strong that it broke my attention away from the men. Once I looked up, I saw Trent pointing at me while guiding his mother’s sightline toward our table.

Her face grew into a surprised smile as she made her way over. I froze and didn’t have time to warn Brian. My ex-fiancé, and basically Brian’s ex-friend, followed Sheryl’s lead from the entrance.

“Oh, my goodness, girl! When did you get in town?” she asked from behind Brian.

I stood up, and Brian turned around to see who spoke to me. He returned a worrisome glance my way.

“Brian?” Trent said, taken aback. Sheryl even stopped for a moment before giving me a hug.

Trent and Brian gave each other an awkward dap. I assumed Trent’s wheels were spinning from his squinted gaze.

“What are you doing here?—Oh! Hi, I’m Sheryl.” She greeted the only stranger at the table.

“I’m Evan.” He shook her hand.

“Yeah, Evan’s my boyfriend,” I said, avoiding Trent’s eyes. They were fixed on me.

Once I caved and glanced at him, he smirked.

Sheryl gave Evan a once-over. “Well, it’s nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.” He offered that gorgeous smile of his.

Trent nodded to my man, who reciprocated.

“Evan, huh?” Sheryl squinted at me and then back at him. She gasped. “Oh! You must be Ava’s father. He’s handsome, girl.”

“I’m not Ava’s dad. He is.” When Evan gestured toward Brian, I wanted to somehow disappear or transport my ass far from here.

All the damn time we spent together, I barely mentioned Trenton. Evan only knew that I was once engaged to a man who I’d been with for eight years in a not-so-great relationship. I didn’t care to share anything more. I couldn’t remember if I’d ever spoken his name in conversations with Evan. Now, I wished I did. He had no clue what he’d done.

“What?” Sheryl yelped.

“What the fuck did he say?” Trenton stood back.

Both of them drew attention to our table.

“Shit,” Brian mumbled.

Evan stared at me with his head tilted. “Babe, what’s going on?”

“Brian, tell me this nigga is jokin’.”

“Nigga?” Evan repeated. He hated that word.

“Trent, chill.” Brian turned in his seat to stand.

Sheryl placed her hand on my shoulder. “Kim, I-I don’t understand.”

“It’s time for us to go,” I told everyone. I grabbed Evan’s hand to get up. A large group heading to their table blocked the stairs behind us. The only way out was past Sheryl and then Trent. I made it around her and ignored her calling my name. Once I got close enough to Trent, he grabbed my arm and damn near yanked me toward him.

“Kim? What the fuck?” he yelled.

Evan broke Trent’s grasp and pushed him back.

“Don’t grab her like that, bro?”

“Nigga, I’ll fucking ki—”

“I’m not yo’ nigga.” Evan stepped forward.

“Whoa! Babe, no!” I tried to get in front of him, but he wouldn’t let me. I’d never seen him act this way.

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