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the dark bamboo hardwood floors.
    Kylie and I made it as far as the great room before Shane came rushing by.
    “I’m leaving.  What are you doing?” He demanded as he passed us.
    I looked him in the eye, and responded evenly.   “ Just waiting to lock up after you.”
    He was still going on about dinner as he wandered out to the garage.  I followed behind cautiously.  He sat down, taking his pack of cigarettes and the lighter from his pocket, but didn’t actually manage to smoke.  As he ranted, he fell asleep, slumped against the back of the couch.  Cautiously, Kylie and I snuck back into the house.
    My phone had been ringing earlier, but given the circumstances, I had ignored it.  It was after five in the evening when I returned Julia’s call.  I did what I do, only badly.  I tried to act like everything was fine.  Was it really only an hour ago we had hugged like old friends and taken pictures before she packed up the family and drove back to Atlanta?
    Clearly I wasn’t fooling her.  “What’s wrong?”
    I could hear the serious edge in her voice.  Jules knows me entirely too well.   “ Nothing…”
    Like a true friend, she called me out.  “Liar. Something’s wrong.  What happened?”
    Exhaling slowly, I tried to calm down.  “I’ll be fine.”
    Julia wasn’t going to let it go.  “Tell me what happened.”
    Where would I even begin?  “So, Shane went nuts.”
    She was silent a moment before she asked, “Do you need to cancel on me tonight?”
    I didn’t even have to consider before responding.  Julia had always been such a loyal and supportive friend, I wouldn’t dream of standing her up.   “ Never.”
    She seemed exasperated.  “How will you be able to do the radio show?  It sounds like it’s really crazy right now.”
    Biting on the side of my cheek, I considered her question.  “ I don’t know, but I will.  I would never let you down.”
    We were still chatting when Shane stumbled back into the room about fifteen minutes later.  He didn’t seem to notice or care I was on the phone.
    “This is my house,” he growled.  “You leave.”
    Ignoring him, I continued to talk.  Soon, he was in my face, repeating himself in case I hadn’t heard him the first time.
    “Get. Out.”
    As soon as he finished speaking those words, he walked back down the hall into the bedroom.  In my ear, Jules spoke words of comfort, words I was finally ready to take seriously.   “ Come here.  Come stay with me.”  When I failed to respond, I heard Jules sigh into the phone. “You can’t stay.  You have to leave.  You know this, right?  I mean, you aren’t safe and neither is Kylie.  Did he hurt you this time or just punch the walls?”
    She always feared his violence would escalate at some point, and destroying stuff wouldn’t be enough.  She believed it would just be a matter of time before he would lose control and lash out at me.
    “I was hit with a picture frame,” I admitted.
    Her reaction was swift and sound.   “ What if the frame had hit Kylie?  It could’ve killed her.”
    Hearing her say that out loud hurt.  Suddenly I was forced to recall a conversation I had with Brynn, my little sister.  She was struggling financially.  After listening to much complaining I finally reminded her life wasn’t about her any more.  She was a mom.  Her time was over.  The same was true for me too.  If it were just me, I’d stick it out.  I’d love him through it, same as always.  Only, now, with Kylie involved, I had to consider the ramifications of my actions.  If anything happened to her, I would be devastated.  It wasn’t about us.  I had to do what was right for our baby.  Living in a war zone was all kinds of wrong.
    The neighbors were clearly already talking.  While I was in the middle of the conversation, the phone chimed in my ear and I discovered I had received a text from one.
     
    Pilar: Is everything okay? I was in the kitchen when I saw the bedroom