Blindsided

The silence was too loud for Sara to bear as she observed her beloved friend, Lara, who was sitting on one of the new red accent chairs recently added to her work decor. Sara wanted her clients to be in an exquisite home-like environment when they came to see her, especially since she was always the bearer of bad news. Plus, it played into the downtown high-rise aesthetic. Seeing her friend in her royal blue skirt suit against the plush red chair confirmed that she made the right decision on the decor. It also caused her body to burn with compassion for her friend. Sara remembered when Lara’s husband told them that the outfit was his favorite to see her in.

She loved how Lara carried herself as a business woman when she wasn’t in the kitchen. Sara loved having an equally fashionable friend to go on lunch dates with. She also knew that it was something Lara only did to keep a smile on her husband’s face, but what Lara didn’t know was that she had a selfish liking for it as well. Lara wasn’t into fashion before becoming a star.

Lara crossed her legs at her ankles as she read the documents Sara presented to her. Suddenly, they heard commotion coming from the hallway.

“I wouldn’t spit on you if you were on fire!” A woman yelled.

“You mean the same spit I got burned from? Yeah, no thank you, dirty ingrate!” A man yelled back. 

“I would assume that mediation didn’t go well.” Sara said, laughing at her embarrassment.

Sara leaned against her dark Oakwood desk, watching Lara’s eyes scan back and forth. The cheer in her face gradually disappeared. Lara squished her eyebrows together and shook her head as she read the paperwork dropped off by the attorney’s office representing her husband. Sara didn’t know what to say while watching her friend’s hand cover her mouth as it fell open and closed numerous times. It put a flutter in her stomach. She cleared her throat to loosen the tension. 

“I had the same look when I went over everything; I also don’t understand; I was just with you two last week, and everything seemed…” 

“Ir- Irreconcilable differences?” Lara’s shaky voice interrupted. She looked at Sara with tear-filled eyes. “And he wants me to relinquish my half of the company? I’m the chef who won the Hell’s Kitchen contest. I’m the one with multiple culinary awards. Yet he thinks the company will survive without me? He wouldn’t have what he has now if it weren’t…” Lara stopped before saying something she would have to repent for later. She continued reading the documents. She didn’t know whether to cry or laugh at the outrageous demands her soon-to-be ex-husband was requesting. 

Sara struggled to find the right words to console her longtime friend. She grabbed some tissues off the accent table and sat in the chair next to Lara. She placed them in Lara’s hand. 

“I know you are probably feeling a variety of emotions right now, but don’t get impulsive. We want to be as wise as serpents. I have already let the firm know that I will be keeping a close eye on your case. We all deemed it best that I didn’t represent you. Knowing Cornell, he’s going to do anything and everything to get his way.” Sara rolled her eyes, thinking about how bullheaded Cornell was.

Lara slid out of her chair and walked towards the floor-length office windows overlooking the busy streets of downtown Dallas.

 “He’s leaving me for someone else. I know he is.” She sniffed.

“Wait, how do you know this?”

“My pH has been off for a while, so I went to the doctor, and they suggested it could be from him sleeping with someone else. Then there are the dreams. You know I’m a prophetic dreamer, Sara. I kept seeing him with another woman in my dreams, and we fought with each other in every dream. I’ve been praying for clarity on what they mean. Now I know.”

Sara blinked rapidly, waved towards the glass door to her office, and motioned for her assistant to come into the room. She remained as professional as possible, even though it was difficult for her to express how she really felt. 

“We have a team of highly skilled private investigators who can get solid proof if that is what you want,” she suggested. 

The young assistant took a seat in the corner and began to take notes on her iPad. 

“I just don’t want it to be true. I know what God was trying to tell me, but I didn’t want to believe it.” Lara tried to blink away the tears welling up in her eyes, but they flowed down her cheeks to no avail. She leaned her head back and took a big inhale and a slow exhale. She looked out the window again and wiped her eyes.

Sara could tell that a shift was happening as she sat and watched her friend gaze out the window in a daze. Watching Lara fight away her pain made Sara want to claw Cornell’s eyes out. Lara turned towards Sara and looked at her as though she were entering a game of poker. 

“Well, he can have the streets, and the streets can have him.” Lara’s voice was as cold as ice. “But what he will not do is take what I’ve prayed for and worked hard for. I don’t want him to see another dime from the Crème Brulle Pastries Company, Sara. Not even a penny.” 

“If that’s the case, then we are headed into a fight, Lara. Things get ugly when money is involved,” Sara warned.

Lara wiped her nose and threw her tissue away with force. She tugged at the bottom of her royal blue suit jacket, swung her 28-inch silk-pressed hair to the back, and stood tall. 

“I guess I better put on my best boxing gloves. Darkness can only contend with light for so long. No weapon formed against me will prosper. Yes, I want the investigators and whatever else we need. Search financial records and all,” she said with a straight face. 

Sara looked over at her assistant. The smirk on her assistant’s face told her everything she needed to know. She knew how much her assistant loved big, challenging cases and could tell just by the look on her face that this would be a messy case. She couldn’t blame her. She loved them too, and she loved to win them even more. She wouldn’t be a partner at the firm if she didn’t. What she did not like, however, was the fact that it was her best friend who had to go through this legal process.

Sara silently thanked God that she was a part of Baker & Brow, the best divorce firm in the Dallas area. She could ensure that things would be handled with excellence for her friend. She also prayed for increased strength from their Messiah for both herself and Lara. They were going to need it if they were going to beat that two timing jerk, Cornell and his legal team.