MINA [#Wattys2014]

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Tanya set about in the kitchen the moment she heard the shower go on, making a microwave dinner and reheating a frozen pizza in the oven as the coffee brewed...she hated the instant crap they tried to sell her in the supermarkets. It wasn't because it tasted bad; she just wasn't so overly fund of how much they had to process it before they sold it to consumers. Only pure coffee beans for her. And she'd broken herself so badly into the craving that every month she had some good coffee beans imported from the Blue Mountain Peaks of Jamaica. It cost her a small fortune, but every time she caught a whiff of it from the machine, the shudder that ran through her reminded her it was all worth it.

The food ready, and the coffee percolating, Tanya found herself thinking about her client. This was no ordinary case she'd aligned herself with, but she was never one to jump head-first into anything without first knowing exactly who or what she was dealing with. Expectedly she had done as much research as she possibly could on Mina, and discovered as troubled a past as her own.

A sexually abusive, controlling pig of a father and a pathetic excuse for a mother. She had had to pull a lot of strings and enlist the help of a dear friend to uncover the sexual abuse aspect of Mina's past, since it had pretty much been hush-hush and technically off the records. But even she had been able to recognize the signs when she saw the woman for the first time...and that had been due to her own personal experience. From what she had found out, the woman had few friends, mainly colleagues and most men she'd interacted with, she'd held at least arm's length away. None had been able to breech her personal boundaries.

Tanya however had not stuck it out as long as Mina had. She was out of her hell by fifteen, after calling social services herself and having her father carted off to jail and her mother put in a mental institution...but that was all water under the bridge, an eighteen year old bridge.

Today at thirty-three it was obvious that Tanya had come a long way but she was not done yet. Only her close friends who were few and far between knew the minute details of her past and those who did not, what they did not know could not get them killed. Her life was privileged information and she'd like to keep it that way.

Forty-five minutes later, she heard the bathroom door close and turned to watch as Mina entered the kitchen, in the blue pajamas Tanya had a feeling the other woman would not have been able to resist, and a towel was wrapped around her shoulder. Her hair was still wet and appeared more black than red, but still retained most of its body which was unusual for most wet hair. Then again, Mina was an unusual woman.

"There was a blow dryer in there you know..."

"I saw it but I think I've encroached on you enough as it is without adding unnecessarily to your electric bill as well. I've put a little dent in your supplies...let's just say, my hair was in dire need of the services they provided..."

"Hey..." Tanya interrupted her ranting. "Mi casa es su casa...use whatever you need. And believe me, I didn't bring you this far only to have you catch a cold on me. I can imagine you had a look at yourself in the mirror..."

"I ought to pummel you so hard...I can't believe you allowed me to go in front of National Television looking like that..." Tanya was already laughing halfway through Mina's tirade. "What are you cackling about?"

"Pummel?" she gasped, grinning through her shortness of breath, "You sound so old! Who in the world says pummel or cackle anymore?"

"I do," Mina grinned right back, "But considering you're giving me free clothes, food, and not to mention a place to lay my head..."

"And defending your ass in court..."

"That too," she laughed, "Henceforth I guess I owe you so I'll let the public humiliation of looking like a bum on nationwide television slide. Who knows it might just help my case, Lol."