Lasso

Chapter One-2

“How long?” Nikki clenched her fist. “How long have you been seeing her?”

“Why?” Winston asked. “What good will it do for you to know?”

“I asked you how long,” Nikki replied. She was trying her best to act like a lady, but looking at him, she wanted to punch him in the face.

Winston closed the small space between them. “Nikki, let me—”

Nikki’s hand found the right side of his face.

Winston closed his eyes. “I’m so—”

Nikki found his face again. She wanted to kill him.

“I deserved that,” Winston said.

“Damn right.” She raised a hand to hit him again.

Winston caught her hand in midair. He placed it in a vise grip. “I know you are hurt. But let’s be adults about this.”

Nikki dropped to a crouching position as if she had been hit in the stomach. She let out a loud wail.

“Nikki, please don’t.”

A moment later, the door opened and Dr. Patrick Penn rushed in with a bewildered expression on his face. “What is going on in here? The staff, not to mention the patients, can hear you all the way down the hall. This is a hospital.”

Embarrassed and devastated, Nikki rushed out past Dr. Penn. She rushed down the hall and out of the clinic. “Nikki!” she heard Winston calling behind her.

Several hours later, Nikki let herself inside the apartment.

She didn’t remember how long she’d sat in her vehicle. She returned to the clinic only for Dr. Penn to urge her to take the rest of the day off. He volunteered to cover the rest of her patients for her.

Nikki headed straight into her bedroom. She didn’t bother removing her clothes. She threw herself across the queen size bed. Looking up at the ceiling, she felt wave after wave of despair wash over her. She flopped over onto her side. She grabbed and punched the pillow over and over again. The thought that Winston had cheated and was marrying another woman was tearing her heart apart. She felt like her life was over.

* * *

BAM! BAM! BAM! Nikki heard the loud knocking through a foggy haze. She glanced over at the clock. It was 4:00 p.m. It had only been three hours. She didn’t remember dozing off. She stretched an arm over her head.

“Nikki! You’d better open this door,” she heard David Combs yell. A good friend since medical school, David was a classmate to both her and Winston. A fellow orthopedist, David was a hand specialist.

“I know you’re in there,” David said, resting on the doorbell.

He knocked again.

Nikki threw her long legs over the side of the bed. On wobbly knees, she made her way to the door and opened it.

She came face to face with a bewildered David, and next to him was Corina. Both were wearing worried expressions on their faces. They brushed past Nikki.

“Are you okay?” David asked. He threw his hands up in a surrendering gesture. “That’s a stupid question.”

“We stopped by to see how you were,” Corina said. “To see if you need anything.”

Nikki walked over and sat on the sofa. She folded one leg under the other. “Don’t worry,” she answered in a somber tone. “I’m all right.”

David sat next to her. Corina sat in the chair across from them. Nikki ran a hand through her hair. “I’m…I’m still in shock. I never saw it coming. How could I not know there was another woman?” She was babbling. “I didn’t see the signs. Nada. Nothing. I know we were arguing more than usual the last couple of months but still I…I…” Her voice trailed off.

“Never thought,” Corina finished for her.

“He’s getting married,” Nikki continued. “Can you believe it? I waited for his sorry ass five years, and he had the nerve to tell me he’s marrying someone else. Someone whose younger and richer.” She was seething with anger and humiliation. “I guess I couldn’t get him where he wanted to go.”

“Yeah, like running the hospital,” Corina said.

“It hurts.” Nikki drew her legs together. She laid her head on her knees. “How could he?” She started crying again. “How could he?”

“Maybe it’s for the best,” David said.

“Dr. Combs,” Corina exclaimed. She moved next to Nikki and placed an arm of comfort around her. “Can’t you see she’s devastated? Don’t pay attention to him. He’s a man. What does he know?”

David flashed Corina a look. “I know that was stupid,” he murmured. “I apologize.”

Corina returned his look with one of her own. She refocused on Nikki. “When did sorry ass say he’s getting married?”

Nikki wiped the tears on the sleeves of her shirt. She sniffed. “Next week.”

“Next week?” Corina repeated. She handed Nikki a tissue from the box on the end table.

“Who knows how long he has been seeing her.” Nikki dabbed at her eyes.

“Winston isn’t the type to do anything without thought,” David said, then, looking at the women’s expressions, wished he’d kept his mouth shut.

“You mean, Winston isn’t the type to do anything that doesn’t benefit Winston,” Corina replied.

“He isn’t like that,” Nikki defended.

Corina’s mouth gaped. “You’re defending him?”

Nikki looked away. She couldn’t believe that she was protecting him. She looked at the wall as if she could find the answer to her dilemma written there.

“Winston humiliated you. He broke up with you in front of the entire clinic,” Corina explained. “By now I’m sure it’s all over the hospital, and you’re defending him.”

Nikki sniffed. “Go ahead. Make me feel more humiliated than I already am.” She laid her head on Corina’s shoulder.

“I wasn’t trying to do that,” Corina said, giving her friend a hug. She focused on David. “You’re quiet.”

“I received an invitation to the wedding,” David said nonchalantly.

Nikki’s head popped up. Corina gave David a look that could kill.

“Why are you staring at me like that? I didn’t say I was going.”

“You knew?” Nikki launched from the sofa. “Didn’t you?”

“He knew,” Corina chimed in. “That’s his boy.” She folded her arms across her chest. “I know men.”

“You mean you hate men,” David replied.

“Only the ones that are two-timing cheats and their friends that cover for them,” Corina said.

David stood. He stuck his hands into his pockets and rocked on the heels of his suede loafers. “I knew. I found out a month ago. I wanted to tell you but didn’t know how.”

“What do you mean, you didn’t know how?” Nikki exclaimed. “You just open your mouth and tell me.”

“It’s not that simple,” David replied.

On one hand, Nikki felt sorry for David. She was sure he was in a perplexing predicament. He was a friend to both her and Winston. It must have been hard for him to keep something like that from her. She didn’t want to lose a friend. But on the other hand, she was furious. He should have told her.

“David, how could you keep something like that from me?” she yelled. “I’m your friend.” Her voice choked. “At least I thought I was.”

“You are, Nikki,” David tried to reassure her. He shook his head. “I just couldn’t tell you.”

“Couldn’t?” Nikki inquired “Or wouldn’t?”

“That’s not fair. You don’t know how many times I wanted to tell you.”

“That’s not good enough, David,” Nikki said. “If you cherished our friendship, you would have told me. Instead, you made me look like a fool.”

David leaned back in surprise. He blinked. “What? What are you saying?”

Nikki marched over to the door and yanked it opened. “I am saying that I want you to leave.”

“Now wait a minute, Nikki,” David protested. “I know you are upset—”

“You heard her, Dr. Combs,” Corina echoed. “She asked you to leave.”

David’s face fell. “Fine. If that is the way you want it.”

“I do,” Nikki said. “Get out!”

Without another word, David turned on his heels and strolled out the door.

“Some friend he turned out to be,” Corina said.

* * *

“I had to get you out of the house,” Corina said a week later. “I refuse to let you wallow in pity.”

“Is that why you have dragged me to every antique store in town?” Nikki picked up a vase. “All of this is not necessary. I’m fine.”

Corina took the vase from Nikki and picked up a green ashtray. She frowned. She put it back and moved over to an antique desk. “No, you’re not. I haven’t heard or seen you all week. You haven’t been to work, answered any of my calls or texts. I was beginning to get worried, so I showed up on your doorstep.”

“You embarrassed me by laying on the doorbell.”

“I wasn’t leaving until you opened the door.” Corina waved a well-manicured finger at Nikki. “In time you will get over Winston, and one day you will meet the right man for you, someone that is caring, loving, and who will appreciate you for the beautiful and intelligent black woman that you are.”

Nikki sniffed. She was still heartbroken over the breakup. “I wish I was as optimistic as you are.”

Corina opened the top desk drawer. “All in due time, my sistah.” She cast her a worried glance. “I’m glad you decided to take the week off to rest. It is a start to the rest of your life.”

“You call this resting?” Nikki flipped the switch on the antique lamp atop the desk.

Corina put an arm around her waist. She gave her a tight squeeze. “That’s what friends are for. I can’t let you stay cooped and feeling sorry for yourself.”

“I’m thinking of returning to work,” Nikki announced. “I have to keep busy. Keep my mind off Winston.”

“When are you thinking of returning?” Corina asked.

“Tomorrow,” Nikki replied. “The sooner the better.”

“Nikki, the wedding is Saturday,” Corina said. “Why not wait until after it is over? They are going on a two-week honeymoon,” she said. “Dr. Penn is fine covering your patients.”

“You spoke with Dr. Penn?” Nikki asked in a surprised tone.

Corina smiled. “Don’t look so shocked. Everyone in the clinic cares about you. They are all on your side. Whatever you need to do to get your head straight, we are behind you one hundred percent.”

“I know,” Nikki said. “That’s why I need to be working and not lounging on my sofa. I just lay there and think about Winston and his socialite. I still did not get an answer to why he cheated. I want to know. I need to know.”