Before she started running, she let her hair down, which she never did in public. If she was going to run like a maniac to the French Quarter, she didn't want to be recognized as the Princess of Maldonia and the owner of a prestigious restaurant. In that moment of reason, she decided to call a cab instead. Luckily, she caught a fast driver who took her to Storyville at dizzying speed.
As he drove, Tiana ran over what she was going to do to Naveen. This lessened some of the instinctual rage that would've caused her to scream at him and potentially strangle him. She'd learned after two years that he didn't respond to that kind of behavior. It would remind him too much of his mother or his governesses from childhood, who he had learned to shut out.
She knew what she had to do, because she knew the reason.
As the driver raced down Dauphine, she suddenly spotted him, running and clutching his porkpie to keep it from flying off.
"Stop! Stop here!" she cried, pointing toward him. The driver screeched to a halt. Tiana threw a half dollar at him, hurriedly muttered for him to keep the change, and stumbled out onto the sidewalk in front of her husband. He finally saw her and slowed to a hesitant walk.
A smeared lipstick mark stained his cheek, and that was all Tiana could see. She rushed up to him with her hand raised to strike.
"Tiana!" he cried. His voice opened her eyes to the rest of his face, twisted with guilt. Her hand fell limply to her side, a lump formed in her throat. She tried to remember the words she thought she was going to say.
"I know you're better than this," Tiana said, her voice low, gesturing from his face to the whorehouse across the street. She swallowed hard, determined not to cry. "What were you doing?"