Free Moments of Clarity by Michele Cameron Page B

this.” Tiara’s tone was icy, and she turned over to face Sasha.
    Sasha was unnerved by the puffiness of her friend’s eyes and blotchiness of her face.
    â€œWe were together when he got a call from Calvin. Calvin asked him to come in case he needed some help in dealing with Peter and his brother.”
    â€œAnd who asked you to come?” Tiara glared at her.
    Sasha was taken aback by the hostility of Tiara’s words. “I just thought that maybe I could be of some comfort to you.”
    â€œI know that, Sasha. I don’t mean to lash out at you. I know that you’re just trying to help. It’s just that I didn’t have a clue that this was going on. I feel so stupid.”
    â€œThere’s no reason for you to feel that way. Peter said that he was on a business trip, and you had no reason to think otherwise.”
    â€œHis brothers are so stupid. They ruined my marriage because they are so damn dumb. All they had to do was to come up with two hundred and fifty dollars to bond Peter out of jail and my marriage wouldn’t be over. After the way Mike blew it, he was too much of a coward to come over here and face me.”
    Sasha was slow to answer Tiara making sure she chose her next words carefully. “Tiara, I agree that his brothers do seem kind of dumb, but they did not ruin your life. This is all Peter’s fault. He’s the one who has ruined your marriage; he’s the cheat, and you need to acknowledge that. If your husband is going around soliciting prostitutes, that’s a danger to you.” She waited for Tiara the full impact of her words to sink in. “I think that you should come into the hospital this week and take an AIDS test.”
    There was a long silence in the room. Then Tiara began to talk so quietly Sasha could barely hear what she was saying. “You spend your whole adult life looking for a mate and you think that you’ve found him only to find out that it’s all a sham.”
    â€œI know. That’s how I felt when I caught Abdul doing the nasty with his piece on the side.”
    â€œThat is nothing like this!” Tiara’s voice rose to a high-pitched wail. “How can you equate that insignificant little episode in your life with this? The two of you weren’t even married. You didn’t stand in front of family and friends and pledge to be together body and soul for the rest of your lives. And you weren’t humiliated for the whole world to see. My husband was caught picking up an undercover cop thinking she was a white prostitute. That she was white seems to make it all the worse.”
    Sasha couldn’t help saying, “Does her color really matter?” Then she added as an afterthought, “Maybe she was the only one out there.”
    â€œIs that supposed to make me feel any better?” Tiara demanded. Animosity showed in the way she moved her head from side to side.
    â€œNo, I just want you to keep things in perspective,” Sasha explained, attempting to place a Band-Aid on an open sore. “At least you found out now and not ten years down the road.”
    Tiara pointed to the empty side of the closet that had once held Peter’s belongings. “Maybe you should keep things in perspective. You haven’t been subjected to what I’ve been through since last night. Right now my husband is getting his things in order to move in with his brother.”
    Sasha mentally counted to ten, knowing that Tiara was under a lot of stress and didn’t realize that she was venting her anger on the wrong person. “I know that your situation is different from mine, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that I was still hurt by Abdul’s shenanigans. The fact that we weren’t married doesn’t change that.”
    â€œI know.” And with those words Tiara began to sob. They were deep, painful sobs that rocked her body and seemed to rise from her very soul. As she