Page 64 of Man Flu

Tiana stands up, towering over me with her five-foot-eight-ish stature. “So, this is all about you, is it?” She’s kidding. She has to be kidding.

“Opposed to you for a change, yes,” I tell her. “You wanted him badly enough to break up a family, now do something to keep him.”

“Dios Mio, Hannah, are you that blonde? I’m here on a work visa. I didn’t know Rick was married when he started pursuing me. He wasn’t wearing a wedding ring, and he certainly didn’t mention you or Cora. How was I to know?”

They met at work. She was teaching some yoga class during lunch to help Rick’s company gain a better work/life/health balance. I knew Rick was going to yoga, and I assumed why he was going, but I had no proof, and he kept Tiana to himself for quite a while before I found them.

“When you found out he has a daughter, it didn’t cross your mind that he was possibly married?”

“No!” she shouts. “He said you left them.” Unbelievable. She’s seeing everything so clearly now, and I wonder how long this has been settling in her head. Still, not my problem. She found out I didn’t leave and still stuck with Rick, so I don’t care a whole lot about her reason for staying.

“Well, as you know now, we were, in fact, still married.”

“Yes, I know,” she replies, casting her gaze past my face.

“So, you’re here on a work visa, like you just said.” I repeat, knowing little about her story—just that she came over here from Cuba in search of work when the border laws were lifted.

A nervous look flutters over her eyes. “Yes, so?”

“Shouldn’t you be figuring out how to marry him? He’s your ticket to staying here, isn’t he?”

“Who said I want to stay here in your country?”

Me.

“You’re right. I shouldn’t be insisting that you do anything beyond what is going to make you happy.” I don’t even know what I’m saying or doing anymore. All I know is, I still have to go back and deal with Rick, who is doing everything in his power to kill my chances with Logan. That is if my chances aren’t already dead.

“Rick was making me happy, but something changed. He must have gotten bored of trying to please me,” she says. “I’m pretty sure he thinks he has a chance to win you back, and that’s what he’s trying to do.”

I sit down next to Tiana on her bed and take her shoulders with my grip. “I told him it wasn’t happening. It’s not happening. He hurt me, and I will never forget it. He needs to move forward, not backward.”

“He’s jealous of that baseball player, but I don’t know why. It’s not like he’s the whole package,” she says with a tickled laugh.

“What are you talking about?” I ask.

“Oh.” She covers her mouth and realigns the natural bow in her lips. “Nothing.”

“Fine, well if jealousy is the problem, I’ll just go back over there and rub it in his face.”

“Rub what in his face?” Tiana asks, seemingly confused.

“Logan.”

“Can I watch?” she asks.

“Only if you take Rick back home with you.”

“He’s the one who left,” she reminds me.

“Well, be the one to make him come back. I’m sure there’s some kind of trick you can use.” My eyes fall on her tight, cotton shirt. “Here.” I tug the collar down a few inches, exposing more of her voluptuous D-cups Cora is apparently enamored by.

She looks down at her chest and grins. “That should work.” Tiana stands up with a hint of confidence and a smirk.

I follow with hope. “Oh, one last question before we head over there?”

She stops in the doorway and turns to face me. “Yes, Hannah, these are real. So is everything else on my body, but thank you for the compliment.”

“What? How? I—” Cora. Why did she have to inherit my big mouth, of all things?

“Your daughter does not have a filter and cannot keep secrets.” She wags her finger at me and continues to the stairs.

“I’m glad we talked,” I tell her as we walk out of the house.

“Yeah, we’ll see.” I’ve never tried to like her but depending on how today goes, we’ll see if our camaraderie will continue.

The second I open the front door of my house, I hear Cora screaming, mixed with a variety of other noises. “What the hell is going on in here?” I run toward the family room, bewildered by the sight in front of me.