CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED and NINETY-FIVE
(part three)
Thursday afternoon — 1:15 P.M.
“I don’t know why we’re here,” Jeraine said. “Miss T did some sleep walking last night and now she won’t have anything to do with me.”
He walked into their couples therapist’s office and dropped down on the couch. The woman smiled at Tanesha and closed the door after them.
“Thank you for making time for us,” Tanesha smiled and sat down on the opposite end of the couch.
“What’s going on?” Their therapist looked at Jeraine and then at Tanesha. “The last time we met, you were doing really well.”
“We were last night. We were yesterday. We were doing well the day before that and the one before that and…” Jeraine made a frustrated gesture. “Now she won’t talk to me. Just says we need to come here. So here we are.”
“What happened?” the therapist asked.
“She did some sleep walking and…” Anxious, Jeraine responded quickly.
“Tanesha?” their therapist asked.
“I can’t do this,” Tanesha said.
“What?!” Jeraine jumped out off his seat.
“Jeraine, please,” the therapist indicated that he should sit down. “What is it that you can’t do, Tanesha?”
“I can’t do this relationship,” Tanesha said. “I feel like I’m sitting around waiting for him to kill himself. Why pretend to build a life with someone when he’s just going to betray me, destroy our life and himself? Again.”
“How the hell…” Jeraine started.
“Jeraine,” The therapist’s stern manner and powerful presence were reasons she’d been so helpful for them. “Remember what we do here?”
“We listen until the person’s done talking,” Jeraine mumbled. “But she…?”
The therapist gave him a hard look and he shrugged.
“Please Tanesha,” the therapist said. “We’re trying to understand what you’re saying.”
“Yeah,” Jeraine said. “Trying to understand your insanity.”
“It’s not like it hasn’t happened before,” Tanesha crossed her arms and gave him an angry look. “How many times have I seen you destroy yourself? Me? Our life? A million.”
“I guess what’s confusing, Tanesha, is that all of this was true when we started working together,” the therapist said. “You were living with your grandmother and seeing that doctor. Jeraine was just out of rehab and living in New York. What did you say then?”
“I said I would wait to see where it would go but I didn’t promise anything,” Tanesha said. “Now I know where it’s going to go. He’s going to kill himself and leave me with all the responsibility for our screwed up life. One way or another, these addicted folks end up dead and everyone else has to pick up the pieces.”
The therapist gave Tanesha a long probing look.
“I feel like I’m repeating myself, but I really want to understand,” the therapist said.
“See! She doesn’t make any sense,” Jeraine said.
Denver Cereal continues tomorrow…
