Moments of Clarity (3 page)

“About what I found out?” She screwed up her face. “You're not sorry about what you've been doing?” Sasha held down the delete button on her machine until she heard the automated voice, “Messages have been deleted.” Then she stripped off her clothing and headed for the bathroom to try shower away the stench of the day's events.

Chapter 3

St. Mary's Hospital was one of the busiest in Manhattan. There was a newly built cardiac unit and a sports conditioning unit that housed the latest equipment in the tri-state area. It had been recognized nationally for the last three years as best in customer satisfaction.

Sasha was in the process of dictating notes into her voice recorder when she felt three light taps on her shoulder. When she looked up and saw her favorite patient standing next to her, she ceased her dictation and gently scolded him. “Mr. Ramirez, what are you doing out here in the hall? You know that you're not supposed to be wandering around. It's dangerous to your health.”

Mr. Ramirez answered grumpily, “It can't be more dangerous than letting some of these first-year interns work on me.”

Sasha smiled at him and whispered conspiratorially, “You don't have to worry about that. Every time they leave your room I go behind them and check your chart to make sure that you're being well taken care of.”

Mr. Ramirez's voice was plaintive. “Good, because that last guy had no bedside manner at all. I needed to use the bathroom while he was there and he wouldn't help me. He said that he would send for a nurse. I waited for twenty minutes or so before she got there. It was only by the will of God that I didn't pee on myself.”

“You should have called for me. I wouldn't have minded coming to your aid.”

“I don't want to be more of a pain to you than I already am. As it is, you stay after work an extra hour every night just to keep me company.” He blinked away tears at the mention of the kindness Sasha had shown him since he had been admitted into the hospital three weeks ago.

Sasha gently turned Mr. Ramirez back in the direction of his room and once there, she steadied him as he slid onto the bed. Though he made no noise, his facial expression showed the spasms of pain he felt at every movement. She pressed the button on the side of the bed, raising the back of it until he was in a comfortable sitting position.

“Don't you dare thank me,” she ordered. “I do that for me just as much as you. You're the only one that I can get a decent game of cards with.”

“What about your fella? Doesn't he play cards?”

Sasha hesitated before speaking and then she said brusquely, “No, and it doesn't matter now. We broke up.”

“So you got tired of him, huh? I'm not surprised. You two had nothing in common,” Mr. Ramirez replied with conviction.

“That's not exactly what happened. He was cheating on me and I caught him at it.” Sasha's eyes flashed fire when she thought about her previous day's discovery.

“Usually when a man cheats on a beautiful and successful woman it's because he's insecure.”

Sasha shook her head in denial. “Abdul wasn't insecure. As a matter of fact, he was too secure,” she added sarcastically.

“Has he called you to make up?” Mr. Ramirez asked.

“He's left some messages on my phone, but I haven't returned his calls. Without going into detail, I can never forgive him for what he's done.” Sasha was quiet for a moment and then said, “And there's absolutely nothing he can say to change how I feel.”

Her telephone was ringing when she entered the apartment. Giving a sigh from sheer tiredness, Sasha slowly walked over to her answering machine. As she reached to pick up the receiver she heard Abdul's angry voice: “Sasha, I know that you're standing there listening to me. You are so childish by not at least returning my calls.”

Sasha stared at the answering machine with hands on hips, tapping her foot impatiently as she listened.

His next words sounded threatening, and Sasha raised her eyebrows at the arrogance of his tone.

“Sasha, I'm not going to call you again. You call me when you grow up!” There was silence before, “Then maybe we can straighten this thing out!”

The next thing she heard was the harsh sound of the phone on the other end being slammed down. She calmly reached over and once again pushed the delete button.

* * *

Sasha rolled over in bed to look at the digital clock on her nightstand. She groaned when she realized that it was four o'clock in the afternoon and she had slept away most of the day. The banging on the door that had awakened her sounded impatient, but she continued to lie still, willing the intruder to go away.

Then the banging ceased and she heard the sound of the doorbell. She resignedly got up and went to the door. Looking through the peephole, she saw that it was Tiara causing all the ruckus. She grabbed the doorknob and opened the door.

“What on earth is wrong with you?” Sasha demanded. “You're making enough noise to wake the dead.”

“Apparently not!” Tiara retorted. “I've been pounding on that door for at least five minutes. Why haven't you been answering your telephone? I've tried to reach you for days, and then I began to worry. I haven't heard from you since you left my house the night you caught Abdul doing the nasty with Miss Thang. Are you okay?” Concern was etched on Tiara's features as she searched Sasha's face.

Sasha brushed Tiara's concern aside as she beckoned her into the loft. “Of course I'm fine. I've been working third shift and I've been cutting the ringer off when I get home because I don't feel like answering all of the nuisance calls from telemarketers that you get during the daytime.”

“Oh,” Tiara responded in relief. “Is that all? I thought that Abdul might be giving you a hard time and you were in here playing possum.”

“No. He hasn't called for a week or so. He called for a while and left some not-so-nice messages.”

“I know he didn't. Where in the world does he get off?”

“I think he was trying to brazen it out, girl.” Sasha half-laughed. “You know how when people are wrong about stuff they try to play it off and go on the offensive.”

Tiara snickered and then asked, “Aren't you going to hear him out? It might be amusing, if nothing else.”

Sasha drawled, “Naw, I don't think so. I don't have the patience or the time. He's gotten too much of that already.”

“You're different from me. Before I got married, whenever I broke up with a guy, even if I knew that I wasn't going to take him back I let him take a stab at it. It's always a good conversation piece for your girlfriends.”

“If I thought that we could work it out, I would listen to him, but we can't, so why bother?”

“I must say that you're being very mature about this. It's obvious that you never really loved Abdul or you couldn't let it go so easily.”

“I know you're right.” Then Sasha walked a circle around Tiara and gave a long whistle. She leaned towards her and sniffed. “Obsession?”

“Of course. You know that's my signature perfume. It's like a fine wine, and never has a shelf life.”

“You sure look mighty fine for a Saturday afternoon. What are you doing all gussied up? You and Peter have a hot date?” Tiara was wearing a silk shirt with small pearl buttons. Her short hair was parted on the side, and diamond studs accented her carefully made up face.

Tiara gave a frustrated snort. “I wish. We were supposed to be going to the Knicks game tonight with the tickets Calvin got me, but Peter called and said he's stuck in Boise. That's why I'm here. I want you to go to the game with me.”

“No, thanks. I'm not in the mood.”

“But you have to come with me,” Tiara wheedled. “I don't want to go by myself, and Calvin put himself out to drop these tickets off at my house. Please, just for me.”

“Oh, all right,” Sasha gave in. “I know better than to stand around arguing with you when you get that look on your face. What time do we have to get there? I need to shower.”

“Tip off is at seven-thirty, but we have plenty of time. Calvin sent the team's chauffeur, Stefan, in a Hummer limo to get me and Peter, so I had him drive me over here when I couldn't get you on the telephone. He's downstairs waiting.”

“You're kidding, aren't you?”

“Now would I make up something like that? Girl, we're going to the game in style. When we show up at the stadium and get out people will think we're really somebody.”

Sasha laughed. “Too bad the reality is that we're just like Cinderella, and all of our trappings are on loan.”

“Well, if you get with Sexton you could live the life of Riley all of the time and I could be your sidekick.”

Sasha had turned and started for her bedroom, but she stopped and looked back at Tiara. “I refuse to go if you are going start waving me under Sexton's nose like I'm some mare and he's a stallion.”

Tiara laughed at Sasha's description but promised, “Okay, I'll stop.”

* * *

Once they got situated in the limo, they filled their glasses with champagne from the bottle in the bar that was located behind a partition. “Some people really know how to live, don't they?” Tiara said as she sank back into the sumptuous leather.

Sasha kicked off her heels, showing off her French pedicure.

“They sure do. But don't you think that this would get boring after a while?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I wouldn't mind trying to see.” Tiara mimicked her friend's mannerism.

As the limo approached Madison Square Garden, traffic slowed to a crawl. While Stefan navigated through the congestion of people and cars, pedestrians peered through the tinted windows, attempting to see who was arriving in the team's signature mode of transportation.

When Stefan pulled up to the curb, he quickly jumped out of the front seat and walked around one side to open the door for Tiara to exit. Once she was standing upright, she lifted her arms high above her head and gave herself a good stretch. Then Stefan walked around to the other side and opened the door for Sasha. She joined Tiara and, with a smile, copied her.

A group of interested bystanders milled nearby. A teenage boy shouted out to them, “Are you ladies stars or something?”

Sasha and Tiara caught each other's eye and decided to have some fun. Sasha looked at him, widened her eyes, and said, “Are you telling me that you don't recognize us?”

The boy hesitated for a moment and then said, “Yeah, I know who you are now. I saw the two of you on a video. You sure looked good in those bikinis.”

Sasha and Tiara looked at each other, barely able to stop themselves from laughing. Tiara said, “Thanks for making our day. Now we know that we've arrived.”

Stefan had stood quietly watching the scene and with a playful smirk on his lips said, “If you ladies like, I can lead you through the VIP entrance. You're sitting in the seats behind the team, so there's no need for you to go through the turnstiles.”

Nodding their heads in agreement, they followed Stefan to the side entrance. Sasha walked gingerly because she too, had donned a pair of skinny jeans and stilettos. The only difference between her outfit and Tiara's was the color of their shirts because Sasha's was a pale yellow.

Once they reached their seats, Sasha turned to their escort, reached in her pocketbook, withdrew a ten-dollar bill, and held it out to him.

“No thank you, ma'am. Mr. Calvin already took care of it.”

“Stefan, you've been so kind.”

He nodded his head at her and replied, “It's been my pleasure. Enjoy your evening.”

The energy in Madison Square Garden was one that could not be duplicated in any other arena. The Knicks were warming up and Sasha automatically started scanning the area looking for Sexton. He was on his back in the middle of the basketball court, and a trainer had his leg raised perpendicular to his torso. Sexton continued to stretch, bending his knees several times before he switched legs. The trainer nodded at him, then walked over to another player and began bending his legs so that his knees hit his chest. Sasha turned excitedly to Tiara and said, “I'm glad you talked me into coming. I love live basketball games. I haven't been in a while, and I've never had a spot so close to the team. I feel so special.”

Tiara laughed. “I know. Too bad I'm married. Believe me, if I wasn't I'd do some early Christmas shopping.”

“Just look for fun, girlfriend. There's no harm in that.”

“None at all,” Tiara agreed.

They sat watching the teams practice on the court. Some were dribbling lay-ups and others three-point shots. Sasha studied the long length of Sexton's body as he ran around the court. With every step he took she saw the muscles in his legs tense and veins stand out prominently.

Her attention was diverted when she saw Calvin walking towards them. He was dressed in a navy blue pinstriped suit, set off by a white shirt.
Calvin really knew how to dress
.

He looked at Sasha and said, “My goodness, Peter. You sure have changed since the last time I saw you.”

Sasha and Tiara laughed and Tiara explained, “Peter is still stuck out of town on business so I brought Sasha. I didn't want to sit alone because I knew that you would be too busy with the team to pay me any real attention.”

“Good idea,” Calvin replied. “Where are you ladies going after the game?”

“Home,” Tiara said, “why?”

“Some of the team members are planning to get together at a club later. Would you like to join us?” He looked at them.

“Sounds good to me. How about you, Sasha?” Tiara asked.

“Sure, it sounds like fun. Do I need to go home and change?”

“No, it's a private club. You have to be a member or be invited by a member to get in. We go there in order to relax. The players like it because they aren't bothered with fans who gawk and want autographs.” He looked at the middle of the court where the players were forming a line. “I have to go. Meet me outside at the west entrance after the game because that's where the valet brings our cars.”

* * *

After they stood for the national anthem, Sasha was looking around when she felt as if she was being watched. Her eyes were drawn to the basketball court. Sexton was watching her. Across the expanse of the arena their eyes locked.