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Her breath caught in her throat. “You do.”
“Really?”
She nodded. “Really.”
Again some more silence then, “Will he come back?”
Chess didn’t know how to answer that question, so she said, “I hope so.”
Surprisingly, that was the truth. Weeks – even days – ago, she’d hoped that Tazeem would never show up in Jay’s life. But now that he’d made his appearance she wanted him to stay. If Tazeem didn’t come back, Jay would be hurt even more than he’d been hurt tonight.
Jay mulled over her response for another long minute. When he spoke, his voice was much smaller, and worry crowded his eyes. “Do you think he’ll like me?”
A fist closed around Chess’s lungs at the sight of her son’s worry, and a lump blocked her throat. She gathered her son into her arms and hugged him tight. “Of course he’ll like you. Who wouldn’t like you?”
“Mrs. Evans doesn’t like me,” Jay mumbled into Chess’s shoulder.
Chess kissed her teeth. “That’s because Mrs. Evans is a psychopath.”
All of Jay’s tears were now gone as he looked up at her curiously, “What’s a psycho- psycho-”
“Psychopath?” Smiling, she drew him into her lap. “That’s someone who does bad things without thinking about others’ feelings.”
Jay thought over it for a second then frowned. “You did a bad thing without thinking of my feelings. Does that make you a psycho- sychospath?”
Chess’s jaw dropped. This was one of the ‘perks’ of giving birth to a smart son. Left speechless, she could only laugh. But even as she laughed while holding her son, panic and worry still bubbled in her stomach.
Now that Tazeem knew about Jay, what was his next move? Would he come back or would he ditch them? Would he want to take Jay away from her? That last thought left her feeling sick and extremely distressed.
15
C
HESS FELT LIKE EVERY ASPECT of her life was spinning out of control. First, the situation with Mark remained unresolved. Apparently, the asshole wasn’t as apologetic over his part in the Tazeem-Jay fiasco as he claimed because when Chess forwarded the issue to HR the following day, he declared that he had no idea what she was talking about.
Since she had no real proof other than the private conversation they’d had, it became a he-said-she-said situation. Mark had gone so far as to insinuate that she was doing all this so she could get a leg up in the competition for VP. HR was currently ‘investigating’, which was Synovent’s doublespeak for ‘dragging their feet until Chess forgot or gave up’.
If Chess was in her usual state, she would’ve created some more drama to at least force HR’s hand. But she was too occupied with the Tazeem and Jay matter.
Even just focusing on the upcoming fashion show was difficult. Fortunately, her team was competent enough that they could work without her looking over their shoulders all the time. Besides, Derrick was there to keep an eye out in case something happened.
Over the next three days, she kept calling Tazeem to discuss their next step regarding Jay, but his phone was always off. She sent him an email but it went unanswered. She called his office, but Le Stride was also a dead end because he’d apparently taken a leave of absence.
Her only choice was to find his home. Unfortunately, the lady on the phone wouldn’t give it to her. As a final ditch effort, she decided to go to Le Stride herself and see if she could pull Tazeem’s address from someone.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Winters,” the receptionist insisted, “We can’t give you that information.”
“But this is very important.” Desperation tingeing her tone, Chess added, “The fashion show might flop if I don’t talk to him.”
“His assistant, Peter, is authorized to deal with any urgent issues with the show,” the receptionist countered. “And if worse comes to worst, we can push it up to one of our other EVPs. But Peter is really capable. Why don’t I call him for you and see if he can handle the issue?”
“N-” Chess started but paused. If Peter was Tazeem’s assistant, then maybe he had his address. “Okay, please let Peter know that I’d like to see him.”
“Okay.” The receptionist grabbed her phone and dialed a number. “Hello, Peter? It’s Maria. Chelsea-” She looked at Chess as if to confirm her name.
“Chelsea Winters from Synovent,” Chess confirmed.
The receptionist continued, “Chelsea Winters from Synovent is here to see you.”
