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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nBeing with Jose, she was able to forget Bryan\u2019s neglect, the splatters of beer on the floor around him, and the cookie and chip crumbs thick as piles of sand. She could forget the glob of mustard that had landed on her new dress. She could forget the fact that the real competition was not between the jerseys chasing the ball on the television, but between those jerseys and her. And she could forget the fact that the jerseys would always win.
So she relied on Jose to bring the romance and adventure to her boring existence. She might be a shadow behind Bryan\u2019s games, but to Jose, she was life.
\u201cTHAT\u2019S IT! THAT\u2019S MY BOYS! SUPER BOWL CHAMPS! AGAIN!\u201d Bryan yelled.
\u201cThe End,\u201d Jose whispered sadly.
Christine sighed. As she rubbed her hand across Jose\u2019s face one last time, she closed his jacket and set him on the coffee table.
\u201cYou know I\u2019m always just an arm\u2019s length away,\u201d she heard him whisper as she gave one last caress to the front of his face.
\u201cOh, Babe! What a great game! Did you see that last play? Did you see it?\u201d
She blinked her eyes to clear thoughts of Jose Amante from her head, then she looked at her husband. Overweight, greasy and powdery with potato chip leavings, a scruffy beard on his face. She wondered why he couldn\u2019t be more like the heroes in her books\u2014so genteel, so handsome, only desiring to please their lady loves. Completely the opposite of this mighty cave bear.
She looked away nearly in tears.
Bryan sat on the couch and placed his hand on her bare foot. It felt warm and comforting to her. \u201cSo, how was the book?\u201d He asked.
She sighed and smiled. \u201cGood, as always. Tell me about your game.\u201d
He opened the wine, filled the two glasses, and handed one to her. \u201cOh, good, as always. Hey, nice dress.\u201d
Christine wasn\u2019t sure she heard him correctly. \u201cWhat?\u201d
\u201cI like that dress.\u201d He looked at her for a moment and she wondered what he was thinking. \u201cHow long has it been since I told you I love you?\u201d As she took the glass, he reached out a hand and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
The goose bumps were back.
He brought his glass up, indicating for her to do the same.
\u201cI guess we\u2019re going to toast the champion?\u201d she asked.
\u201cYou bet.\u201d She took a deep breath and closed her eyelids so he wouldn\u2019t see her eye roll. \u201cTo Christine, the champion of my life. Thanks, Babe, for being so patient.\u201d They clinked glasses.
\u201cHey, do you still have that little cheerleader outfit you used to wear during the games?\u201d
\u201cOh, Bryan. That wouldn\u2019t even fit my big toe anymore.\u201d
\u201cShow me.\u201d
He stood, bent down and hefted her off the couch. She giggled as they headed up the stairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The End.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Love Affair Pt. VI By Nandy Ekle Being with Jose, she was able to forget Bryan\u2019s neglect, the splatters of beer on the floor around him, and the cookie and chip crumbs thick as piles of sand. She could forget the glob of mustard that had landed on her new dress. She could forget […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":12678,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-next-chapter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12677"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12677\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12698,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12677\/revisions\/12698"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}