Take Her Man

Julian exhaled.

“You’re getting irrational,” he said. “I was just trying to comfort you. That’s all.”

“Well, you’re certainly doing a fine fucking job at that,” I said weakly. Suddenly I felt wrong for even calling Julian.

“Look, Troy,” Julian said distantly. He sounded the same way he had at the restaurant when we broke up. “I’m going to get off the phone now before I say something I don’t want to say. Just call me if you need me.” He hung up.

I hung up the phone and shook my head. I needed him now. Now. I needed him now. I needed… Just then Kyle’s face came to me and I went to find his number in my phone. I dialed his number and it seemed that almost immediately, he picked up.

“Helen of Troy.” Kyle laughed into the phone. “To what do I owe this splendid honor?”

I was quiet. He sounded so happy, I didn’t even want him to hear my voice. I didn’t want him to hear me crying.

“Troy?” he said again. “Now

I know you are not trying to prank call a brother. I can see your number.” He started laughing again. “Is that you? Are you crying?”

“No,” I replied, trying to straighten out my voice. “I mean, yes, it’s me, but I’m okay.” My voice cracked and I started crying again. I turned around to see Tamia still asleep in the bed.

“You don’t sound okay, Troy. Tell me what’s wrong. Why are you crying?” His voice had the same kind of urgency as Tamia’s father.

“I’m at the hospital. My best friend had a heart attack. She was taking some pills and my other friend ran away from me. I just embarrassed her and made a fool of myself.” The words came from me like a prayer. They escaped my heart before I thought of keeping secrets. I had to put them on someone. Kyle listened patiently like he already knew everything I was saying.

“Angel, stop crying,” Kyle said when I finally finished rambling through the story. “It’s not your fault. You were just trying to be a good friend. Stop crying. There’s work to do.”

“I know, but that doesn’t change what’s happening. I don’t know, Kyle. I’m just worried.”

“The good Lord didn’t take your friend from you, and the other is simply lost. She will find her way back to you. You just have to believe it, Angel. And rest assured in that gift of grace.”

“I know, I know.”

“I know it’s not easy. And sometimes when we want to be strong and not cry, we feel like crying and not being strong, but just know that everything is going to be all right. Everything is going to be all right.” Kyle was speaking to me in a way I’d never heard before. He was more than a friend, he was a man of God comforting me. “Our God is a waymaker,” he went on. “He is a God of change, of lifting up and bringing to excellence. You need to see that right now, Troy. And you have to know that even if this thing finds itself not as you wished, God is still God.”

“God is still God,” I repeated, looking at Tamia in the bed. She looked so peaceful, I imagined she was somewhere inside of herself smiling at me, telling me to calm down. Be strong, she was saying. Be strong. I wanted to be strong. I had to be strong for my girls. The 3Ts were strong. We’d survived everything else in our lives and we would survive even ourselves.

“Look, Troy,” Kyle said, “I can’t let you be alone like this. You sound awful.” Kyle paused. “What time is it there?” he asked.

“I don’t know, like 10 or something.” I looked up at the clock next to Tamia’s bed. “10:06.”

“Yeah, it’s just after 1 P.M. here,” Kyle said. “I think there’s a 3 P.M. daily out of LaGuardia.”

“LaGuardia?” I sat down in a chair. “The airport?”

“Yeah, I think I’m going to come out there. If I can get that flight, I’ll be there by 5 P.M. your time,” Kyle said.

“Oh, you don’t have to do that, Kyle. Really, it’s okay.” I lied. Inside I was thinking it would be great if Kyle came to L.A. Tamia’s father would be there shortly, but I needed to see another familiar face. But I couldn’t say that.

“Look, Troy,” Kyle said, interrupting my thoughts. “We’re friends, right?”

“Yes.”

“And friends are there for each other. I’m just going to come out there and make sure things are okay. If your friend isn’t awake by the time I get there, then I’ll have fun keeping you company until she does wake up. And if she is awake when I get there, then I’ll have two fine women to talk to. That’s it. It’s really selfish if you think about it. Either way, I get to see you.”

“You’re silly.” I laughed through my tears.

“So I’ll be at the hospital at around 6:00 p.m.,” he said, after taking down all the information.

“Okay, that’s cool,” I said. I couldn’t believe what was happening. Was Kyle coming all the way to L.A. just for me?