It couldn’t have been a good fifteen minutes later when back in walked Robin. Face all tear stained, eyes puffed up with a head full of different color rollers. She looked like a woman defeated and maybe she was. She had been blinding herself to her husband’s affairs as long as she had been dating him. Was this her wake up call? Is this what it took for her to finally come face to face with the kind of man she had pledged her life to? What kind of man has children by two different women leaving them both in the dark about the each other? Was she going to be able to go in here and talk to this other woman without jumping on her right in this salon? She knew in her heart that this woman was telling the truth about her husband but that didn’t make the desire to punch her in the face subside. Robin also felt as if she owed it to herself, as well as, this other woman to hear her side of the story. Theoretically the truth was, this woman didn’t owe her anything, not even an explanation, but Robin expected one in exchange for not dragging this woman out of the salon and kicking her butt all up and down the sidewalk. So, if she wasn’t going to allow herself to take the situation to a physical altercation with this woman, then at least she could get satisfaction of finding out just what had really been going on between this woman and her husband.
A complete hush fell over the salon as she made her way back to the dryers. Every eye in the building was on her anticipating the worst. Especially Sasha who didn’t know this lady, but was fully aware that she had just turned her whole world upside down and could only imagine how she, herself, would react in the same situation. But wait…she was in the same situation…she was about to marry this man or so she thought and now was finding out that he was married and had a family with someone else. It was becoming painfully clear that Jay had no real intentions of marrying her. How was he going to marry her if he was already married? Legally, it was impossible which made it implausible any other way. The initial shock had started to wear off and anger began to set in for her also. She shifted in her seat unable to conceal her discomfort with Robin’s return.
Monique quickly walked over and met Robin before she reached the dryers and said in a hushed voice, “Robin this is not the time or the place.”
“Monique, I’m not here to make a scene. I just came back to get my hair finished.” Robin calmly replied without so much as looking her in the face. Her gaze was fixed on Sasha, who was glaring back at her from under her dryer.
Monique raised an eyebrow and replied in a suspicious tone, “I’ll just put you over here.” She turned to lead Robin to a machine away from Sasha, but Robin would have none of it.
“I’ll take this one.” She said pointing to the dryer next to Sasha. “It’s still hot.” Sasha shifted in her seat somewhat uncomfortable knowing that something was being said about her but that she could not hear it over the roar of the dryer. She just continued to sit with her eyes fixed on the conversation going on between her hair stylist and her boyfriend’s wife.
“Robin, don’t start no mess in here.” Monique growled softly through her teeth, trying to keep her tone loud enough for only Robin to hear. The last thing she wanted to see in the salon were two women fighting over some man’s misdeeds.
“I’m not…just.” Robin started; however, the silence of frustration stole her words. She clinched her teeth together tightly and blew out a deep breath.
“Robin.” Monique responded in her usual disbelieving tone. She knew just how jealous Robin was when it came to Jay and even talk of another woman. She didn’t want to take any chances inside the salon with her cousin who was once known for being a street brawler.
“Monique!” Robin pleaded with her eyes starting to tear up again.
Monique gave in with a stern glare, while thinking to herself, “Family. Can’t live with them; can’t give them a twenty percent discount without having them act a fool where you work.”
Sasha was uneasy and had already made up her mind that she would move to another dryer if Robin sat down beside her. She just wanted to finish getting her hair done so that she could enjoy the rest of her day off. Just like she thought she would, Robin sat down beside her so Sasha began grabbing her purse so that she could move. Before she could get the hood of her dryer up, Robin gently placed her hand on top of hers. The gentleness of her touch made Sasha pause, knowing that this woman wasn’t trying to make any trouble. Sasha let go of her bag and lifted the hood of her dryer all the way up, so that she could listen to what Robin had to say. Robin started talking to Sasha in a tone too low for anyone other than the two of them to hear. This hushed conversation went on for more than thirty minutes under to watchful eye of Monique and was only disrupted by the sound of Sasha’s cell phone ringing.
Apparently the two ladies had come to some kind of understanding as Sasha had convinced their shared lover to meet her at her place for “lunch”. He quickly agreed seeing as they hadn’t made love in almost three weeks and he missed her or so he said. He even threw in a line about wanting to talk about setting a date for their wedding…all into the speakerphone feature of Sasha’s cell phone, as further proof that he did indeed know her. Robin and Sasha finished having their hair styled and left together in Sasha’s car to meet the man married to one of them and engaged to the other.
