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It was scary.
No wonder the government kept her on their payroll.
Right now, she was on the hunt for some mysterious art thief who used fake names and was a master at disappearing into thin air after his heists. Despite his having stolen many expensive pieces, he’d never been caught. But now Senia was on his case. Chess didn’t doubt that Senia would find him. Poor guy! He probably didn’t even know that his career was over.
Noting the bags under her sister’s eyes, Chess asked, “Have you been working all night?”
“All night?” Senia frowned. “It’s just seven fifty-three.”
“Yes, it’s seven fifty-three,” Chess agreed then added, “A.M. It’s seven fifty-three a.m.”
“What?” Senia looked at her computer’s clock. “You mean it’s already morning?”
“It’s already morning,” Chess confirmed.
“Oops!” Senia laughed. “Guess I’ve been up the whole night.”
Chess sighed. There was no way Senia was taking Jay to school. One needed to be operating with a full battery to handle him. After wishing Senia luck with whatever she was doing and nudging her to go to bed soon, Chess left the room.
Her watch said that it was now seven-fifty-seven.
After some quick calculations, she realized that if she was fast, she could swing by Jay’s school, drop him off, then head to work and still have a few minutes to spare.
“C’mon, buddy.” She hustled her son out of the house. “You’re with me.”
Because of traffic, getting to Jay’s school took a little longer than expected, but still Chess was confident that she could make it to work on time.
“I’ll talk to Mrs. Evans when I pick you up later, okay?” Chess reiterated as she brought her car to a stop in front of the school.
“Okay.” Jay nodded.
Before he could open the door, Chess leaned closer to kiss his temple.
“Ew, Mama!” Jay immediately pulled away with a sour look. “Everyone will see. I told you not to do that when we’re in school.”
“Okay, okay. I’m sorry,” Chess apologized with a laugh even as she watched him open the door and slip out of the car. “Have a great at school.”
“You too.” Grinning, Jay shut the door and waved. “Bye-bye.”
He walked towards a group of boys that was waiting for him. Chess chuckled when she saw those little boys dap each other like adult men. Her baby was growing up into a fine man.
But a second later, the chuckle turned to thoughtful silence.
Any mention of men was always a reminder that Jay didn’t have a father figure to teach him how to be a man. And that was all her fault. She was the one who’d cut his father, Tazeem, out of their life. She was also the one who’d made sure that Tazeem didn’t even know that Jay existed.
Eight years ago when she’d vowed that it was over with Tazeem, she’d been very serious. She didn’t want him in hers or their son’s life. To that end, she’d deliberately misled him into thinking that it was a stillbirth.
Some might say that the lie was cruel and unnecessary. But back then, it had made complete sense to her. She was twenty-two and about to give birth to a child who’d been conceived courtesy of a friends-with-benefits arrangement. Her situation was so complicated that she’d decided that it was easier to raise her baby alone than to be tied to Tazeem.
Here’s why:
Tazeem had been one of the hottest guys on campus. Girls loved him, boys idolized him. They hang onto his every word and fought for his attention. Chess was just as dazzled by him as the other girls were. So, when he’d turned his twinkling eyes and dimpled smiles to her, she’d fallen for him hook, line and sinker.
Right from the start, he’d made it clear that he wasn’t looking for a commitment. He just wanted someone to have ‘fun’ with. But Chess had stars in her eyes and the mistaken belief that she had superpowers; that she could tame a bad boy like him and turn him into a house cat.
She was wrong.
Tazeem wasn’t the kind of man that a naïve girl like her could wrangle.
