The Morning After Read Online Free Page A

dinner. It would only take ten minutes to cook the boilin-bag rice that would serve as a side dish to the peppered steak and gravy she’d cooked earlier.
    Elaine came to a stop at the mouth of the hallway and watched Mason struggle to pull his shirt over his head. He always came home from hauling loads, smelling like a mixture of gasoline and sweat. Emerging love handles were evidence of the lack of exercise that his truck driving job allowed. But none of that doused Elaine’s yearning to touch and be touched by him. Their marriage had seen some good days in years past. No one in her entire life, including the chiseled-framed Bermudian that she’d allowed herself to be swept away by, had ever loved her on the same level as Mason. It had been a long time since she’d been with him, but Elaine hadn’t forgotten what it was like.
    â€œHey.” Mason’s single-word greeting shook Elaine from her mindless gaze.
    â€œHey,” she replied, embarrassed that he had caught her longing stare. Her face felt flushed. “How was work?”
    â€œOkay. What about you? You done with the story you were talking about last night?”
    Elaine walked past him as she responded. “Almost, but not quite. I had to set it aside to meet a deadline on an article I was assigned. I’ll be finished with both before the end of the evening though. Are you about ready to eat? It’ll be a few minutes.”
    â€œNo problem. I gotta shower first anyway.”
    â€œEverything will be ready by then.”
    Mason went into the bedroom and eased the door shut. The rule was unwritten and unspoken, but Elaine knew that anytime he closed the bedroom door behind him, she wasn’t allowed inside. Most evenings when he returned home from his local hauls, he showered in the guest bathroom down the hall near Elaine’s office, but today he wanted to use his own. The master bath’s stall was more spacious, and unlike in the guest bath, this one’s shower head had massage settings. Why should he have to be the one to get second best? After all, it was Elaine who had messed up everything by inviting another man to enter territory where he had no business.
    â€œOkay, dude, cut it out!” Mason whispered harshly as he rubbed his eyes to try to wipe away the visual that often found its way into his mind. Every time he thought he was over it, mental snapshots resurfaced of Elaine and Danté pawing passionately at one another. For Mason, the thought of it served as a relentless form of torture.
    â€œListen, man, I know you don’t want to hear this, but maybe it’s time for you to seek psychological help along with spiritual counsel,” T.K. had told him just last Saturday as Mason shared lunch with him and their mutual friend, Colin Stephens.
    Ever since the morning after Essie’s death, the three men had bonded. For Mason, the friendship had taken some getting used to, but it was one that he knew he needed. All of his life, he was accustomed to having friends who wasted away every non-working hour of the day, driving fast cars or sitting around playing poker, eating barbecue, and drinking beer. And breaking away from the bad company hadn’t been easy.
    Over the last year, Colin’s and T.K.’s more productive lifestyles had been good examples for Mason. The banker and high school coach, respectively, had shown him that having fun didn’t require him to spend large amounts of money that his blue collar job couldn’t afford. And it certainly didn’t call for him to spend hours away from home, leaving his wife to wonder about his whereabouts. But in all of their influence, Colin and T.K. hadn’t convinced him to seek help for his inability to resume a normal marriage. Mason was already shaking his head before Colin could finish the sentence.
    â€œMan, I told you before, that ain’t for me. I ain’t going to no quack. You can forget that, bruh. It just