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Why are you even crying?Nothing she’d done up until today was accidental – they were all deliberate choices. And nothing that had happened here today was surprising. She’d been well aware that when Tazeem found out about Jay, he would be furious.
And yet, the tears wouldn’t stop falling down her cheeks.
Maybe it was because she’d expected the anger but not the hurt that Tazeem displayed. He wasn’t just furious. His eyes and demeanor said that he was shocked, disappointed, distraught, and in pain. Looking into his eyes had been like seeing into the heart of a broken man.
Should she have done things differently? Should she have lied that she’d always planned to tell him? Should she have found a way to let him know about Jay as soon as she realized he wasn’t planning to exit her life? Or maybe she should’ve just told him about Jay eight years ago and let the chips fall where they may.
So many ‘shoulds’ raced through her mind, yet none of them changed the situation. She’d made the choices she’d made, and this was the result.
A sudden knock on the door interrupted Chess’s misery party.
Quickly, she grabbed a tissue to wipe away her tears. When she was sure that she was somewhat presentable, she called, “Who is it?”
“Derrick.” He asked, “Can I come in?”
“Come in,” she allowed.
The door opened and he walked in. As soon as he saw her, he frowned. “You’ve been crying.”
“No,” Chess denied even while swiping at her eyes with her palms. “I wasn’t.”
But Derrick wasn’t fooled. Worry clouded his expression as he crossed the room to take the seat directly opposite her. “What happened? I saw Tazeem storming out of here, and Jay at the reception. Did they meet? Did Tazeem figure out-”
“Yeah,” Chess answered before Derrick could finish his question. “He figured out everything.”
“You’re kidding!” Derrick’s eyes widened into saucers. “How?”
“Tazeem was always great at math.” Chess forced a smile even though the situation wasn’t in the least bit amusing. “I guess after seeing Jay, and realizing that Jay’s my son, he just added one and two and came to the right conclusion.”
“Jeez.” Derrick exhaled loudly. “This is terrible.”
“Tell me about it.” Chess rubbed her temple with two fingers to ease her sudden headache. “You should’ve seen how angry he was. I think he wanted to kill me.”
“Why would he want to kill you?” Derrick went from worried to furious in the blink of an eye. “It’s his fault that you had to hide Jay from him. If he wasn’t such a deadbeat, you would never have had to keep such a huge secret. What’s he got to be angry about? That you helped him skip eight years’ worth of child support payments? Please!”
“I mean… that’s true… But…” Chess sighed. “I don’t know… I don’t know. It just feels like I’ve done something terrible.”
“There is nothing terrible about what you did. You just did what was necessary.” Derrick scowled. “And if Tazeem wants to be angry about it, then he can go ahead and be angry somewhere else.”
Chess appreciated her friend’s unwavering support, but his words did nothing to ease her guilt or distress. Yes, she’d done everything she’d done for her son’s sake. But had she done the right thing? Tazeem’s pain had injected more doubts than she wanted to deal with.
“And what was he even doing here?” Derrick asked, “Did you two have a meeting?”
“No.” Chelsea sat up in her seat as a sudden thought lit her brain. “But seriously, what was Tazeem doing here? Tazeem never shows up unless we have an appointment or I call him. Neither of those happened today.” Before Derrick could get another word in, Chess stopped him with a raised hand even as she grabbed her phone’s handset. “Give me a second.”
Donna picked up on the first ring. “Donna here.”
Chess didn’t even bother with social niceties; she just jumped straight into the heart of the matter. “Donna, what was Tazeem doing here? Did he tell you why he came to the office?”
Donna answered, “He said you asked him to come in at three-thirty for a meeting.”
Sirens started blaring in Chess’s thoughts. She hadn’t asked Tazeem to come to Synovent. She hadn’t asked Kendall to bring Jay to Synovent. And yet, both had received calls asking them to show up at Synovent at approximately the same time. Was it a coincidence?
Chess didn’t think so. Someone had orchestrated Tazeem and Jay’s meeting.
“What did Donna say?” Derrick yanked Chess from her thoughts. “What was Tazeem doing here?”
Chess didn’t answer. She just shot to her feet.
