The Throwaway Year (23 page)

“Hayden, if you push yourself like you would while running a
marathon or engaging in intense cardio, then it will happen. That hole we repaired can always be compromised. I’m sorry.”

She was stunned into silence and Brian
just held her hand. His Zombie face was etched in sorrow.

So?
she thought to herself. A collapsed lung wouldn’t kill her… but it hurt really bad…

“Are you okay?” Brian asked as they drove to the marathon to root for Todd and Kevin.

“Let’s just go home.”

Brian gave her a surprised look before pulling the car over to the side of the road.
He turned to her. “No. We’re going to root our friends on. We’re still Team Zombie.”

She shook her head.
“I can’t.”

“Hayden Michaels, I’ve never heard you say that
you can’t
.”

“Brian
, don’t you understand that I can’t even go to the gym now!” Her voice was thick with emotion and all she wanted to do was lie in her bed and cry. How could this be happening…?

“Baby steps honey.”

She calmed down and when her breathing evened out again, she nodded.  “My body is strong and healthy. I have a remarkable capacity for healing. Every function of my body operates exactly as it should,” Hayden chanted to herself, creating her own affirmation.

“Yes,” Brian agreed as he whipped out his cell phone.
He was repeating her words to himself and typing them into his phone.

“You say this every day until your body knows it’s true.”
He pulled the car back out onto the road and drove them to the marathon.

Hayden warmed up.
She was wearing lycra running pants that hugged every curve, pronounced every dimple in her thighs and that barely held in the pooch of her belly. None of it bothered her because the added weight had come to her honestly and for a good cause. Plus, she knew what to do to rid herself of it – but all in due time.

Dani looked scared.
“I don’t think I can do this,” she whimpered.

“Yeah
, you can. I trained you myself and I know you got this.”

Dani nodded.
In the last year she had lost most of her extra weight and what was left was toned and tight.

“Boys!
That’s enough!” Todd yelled. Kevin and Adrian were arguing because Kevin insisted that his brother couldn’t dress like a super hero during a Zombie Run.

“But Dad
, that’s stupid!” Kevin exclaimed. He was tall, thin and already a track star at his high school.

“Kevin
, your brother can wear what he wants. Now start your warm up.”

“I don’t need to warm up,” h
e pouted.

“Fine.
I guess I’ll out run you again this year.”

“Ha!
No you won’t. This is my year to beat you Dad.”

“We’ll see about that.”

Brian strolled over to Hayden. His zombie makeup had evolved to now being a zombie hunter and everyone did a pretty good job at guessing that he was Daryl Dixon from the show
The Walking Dead
. It helped that he carried an unloaded automatic crossbow and that he had great biceps in his sleeveless shirt.

They exchanged quick kisses.
“You’re kissing the enemy,” she joked. She was a long dead zombie with skeletal make-up.

“You wouldn’t have been the enemy if you had dressed like Michon like I wanted.”

“I am not wearing that bad Rasta, dreadlock wig.”

“Sweetheart
, you can’t have great looking dreds during the Zombie Apocalypse. Right, Dani?”

Dani laughed.
“Brian this is Team Zombie not Team Zombie Killers.”

“Where’s my child?” Hayden asked.

“Dad’s holding her.”

Hayden looked over at the sidelines where Mr. Fox was sitting in a foldout chair bouncing his granddaughter on his knee.  They were surrounded by several of their friends from Fox and Fox Vinyl—the name Bob had renamed the company once he moved the office to Cincinnati.
Among them was his pretty wife who looked bored and out of place in spiked heels and dangling earrings. Pam and Abdullah were there, as well as several others from the office. Their friend Bill was leaning against his car having a smoke so as not to offend the non-smokers. Although he had kicked his drug addiction he still smoked like a chimney—something Brian was trying to help him curtail.

The youngest member of the Fox family kicked fat legs and gurgled happily at her grandpa who was talking to Sean, Dani’s man.
Sean was still a great catch; tall, dark, handsome, no children, but now he was no longer single. Luckily, the attraction Dani had felt towards Sean was mutual and after unlatching herself from Dante, Sean became a tremendous support system and then later, he became much more.

Little Serenity Fox was four months old and her mom didn’t know if it would be possible to train for the Zombie Run in just four short months.
Serenity’s dad made sure that her mom did not over-do it and Auntie Dani kept Hayden active during her pregnancy by being her first client as a personal trainer.  Hayden had long ago given up her two jobs in order to be a stay at home mom and to indulge in her love for fitness as well as her love for self-affirmations. Daily, Hayden blogged positive affirmations and was pleased to see the positive response she got from them.

She also
worked in tandem with Todd as a personal training team. When one wasn’t able to work, the other would step in. It was mutually beneficial, allowing each time with their families, while also giving Hayden an opportunity to go to the gym without engaging in strenuous exercise. She had yet to suffer a reoccurrence of a collapsed lung, but that didn’t mean it would never happen again.

Kia was holding the hand of her and Todd’s little one as she joined the group to wish them good luck.
Jordan was just learning to walk and Todd was convinced that his son was a genius because he was only ten months old. He scooped up the toddler who gave his Zombie make up an unsure look before straining to be put down.

Hayden wondered again at the strangeness of
her life. Both she and Kia had given birth to biracial children. Serenity was gray-eyed with red hair and barely any brown to her skin, while Jordan was even more brown than Kia, although he looked just like Todd.  Or what Todd would look like if he were African American.

Serenity had Hayden’s features
though, and through her daughter, Hayden was able to see more of the beauty within herself.  Well, she would never doubt that beauty again. She remembered an affirmation that Brian had sent her long ago… something about: “It is through your eyes that I realize the extent that I can be loved…”

“Runners
, head to your positions!”

Brian gave her another kiss.
“Good luck honey. You have your cell phone in case something happens?”

“Yes.”

“And I’ll be with her every step of the way,” Dani added.

Brian
nodded once and then retreated, nervous but not wanting to fill his wife with any self-doubt.  Team Zombie stood ready at the starting line. They had grown from three to twelve, including several people from Fox and Fox; Abdullah’s kids, as well as Raina, Bill’s wife and the team’s youngest member who stood at the ready wearing a cape and a super hero costume.

Danyelle had a determined look on her face as they waited for the whistle to blow.
“Thirty miles is a long way to run.”

“No one said we had to run the entire thing.
We can run some and walk some.”

“We can?”

“We can do whatever we set our minds to do.”

~***~

Brian carried their sleeping daughter into the house. They had just barely moved in by the time Serenity was born. It had been a mad rush against time to be settled in before they welcomed the newest addition to their family.

Hayden had sold her
old house without a second thought. By that time, she and Brian had already been married for two months and baby Serenity was already brewing in her mommy’s tummy. Their wedding night was the second time that Brian had made love to her without a condom. Her daughter was a wedding night conception—though she would never tell Serenity that story, although her daughter would probably figure it out on her own.

Brian watched his wife limp into the house.
“Are you going to need me to carry you, too?” he joked.

“No, if you
just put the baby to bed and run me a hot bath, I would be mighty appreciative.”

“You got it.”
Before he headed up the stairs, he kissed Hayden gently. “You did good honey. I’m proud of you. I’m sorry you didn’t win.”

“Well
, there’s always next year for Team Zombie. And maybe next year, you’ll actually run the marathon with us.”

He shook his head.
“Nah, I like signing autographs. For once in history, being a redneck is cool.”

“Yeah well
, take advantage of it,” she advised, implying that it wouldn’t last forever.

He swatted her rum
p and then headed up the stairs.

Hayden kicked off her shoes and then stooped and placed them neatly in the closet. Her back creaked, but it wasn’t all together unpleasant. She headed for the office that she and Brian shared; he used it for his work with Fox and Fox, and she used it for writing her daily affirmations blog.

She’
d just thought of one that she didn’t want to lose. So sinking into the leather office chair, she powered up her laptop and gazed at the photograph of the three of them posing for their first family portrait. Sometimes, just looking at the picture gave her so many affirmations.  However, today her joy was due to completing a hard task.

Dani hadn’t copped
out and had continued until she limped past the finish line.  Although Kevin hadn’t beat his dad, he had won a metal in the teen age group, while Todd had placed third over all. Hayden had come in 23
rd
overall, and 10
th
in the women’s category. She was pretty damn proud of herself.

She logged into her website:
Now Repeat After Me—Your Link to Daily Affirmations.
She read the comments of some of her followers, smiling when a particularly good one found its place in a reader’s heart. Then she began typing tomorrow’s affirmation: “I need not know the entire journey in order to take the first step.”

The End

“I don’t allow the harshness of others or the world around me to harden the softness that lives inside me. It is my softness that helps to heal my world…”

-Pep’s Affirmation

PEPPER PACE BOOKS

~~***~~

STRANDED!

Juicy

Love Intertwined Vol. 1

Love Intertwined Vol. 2

Urban Vampire; The Turning

Urban Vampire; Creature of the Night

Wheels of Steel Book 1

Wheels of Steel Book 2

Wheels of Steel Book 3

Angel Over My Shoulder

CRASH

Miscegenist Sabishii

They Say Love Is Blind

Beast

A Seal Upon Your Heart

SHORT STORIES

~~***~~

Someone to Love

MILF

Blair and the Emoboy

Babygirl
and the Mean Boss

COLLABORATIONS

~~***~~

Seduction: An Interracial Romance Anthology Vol. 1

Awards

~~***~~

Pepper Pace is a popular author on Literotica.com. She is the winner of the 11th Annual Literotica Awards for 2009 for Best Reluctance story, as well as best Novels/Novella. She is also recipient of Literotica’s August 2009 People's Choice Award, and was awarded second place in the January 2010 People’s Choice Award.  In the 12
th
Annual Literotica Awards for 2010, Pepper Pace won number one writer in the category of  Novels/Novella as well as best Interracial story.

About the Author

~***~

Pepper Pace is the pen named used by author Kim Chambers, a name that she has penned for her unique brand of Interracial/multicultural erotic romance.  While her stories span the gamut from humorous to heartfelt, the common theme is crossing racial boundaries.