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“And you believed it?” Chess’s eyebrows shot up. “Someone sends you an anonymous email and you just take it at its word? Really Kendall? You’re smarter than that.”
Kendall didn’t speak for quite a while, and when she did, her tone was hesitant and her voice was low. “So you’re not sleeping with Derrick?”
“Of course not!”
“Really?” Kendall was watching Chess as if trying to judge the truth of her words in her expression.
“Really,” Chess confirmed.
“Thank God.” Kendall exhaled in relief, and as she did so, she swayed on her feet. “So I guess that means it’s not true that he quit his job, right?”
“That’s complicated.” Fearing that Kendall might be too alarmed once she heard the truth, Chess moved forward and guided her to a seat. “Why don’t you sit down then I’ll explain?”
Once they were both seated, Chess took a breath then began, “Derrick really quit…”
She went on to describe the series of events that had led to Derrick handing in his resignation. Predictably, Kendall was stunned.
“Derrick would never do something like that.” Kendall’s face reflected the shock Chess had felt when she’d discovered Derrick’s betrayal. “He wouldn’t.”
“That’s what I thought too.” Chess softly added, “But the proof is there, and when I confronted him, he admitted to it.”
“No. How could he?” Tears filled Kendall’s eyes. “Oh my. I… I… don’t know. I’m so sorry, Chess.”
“You have nothing to be sorry about,” Chess soothed. “You didn’t do anything.”
“I knew he had issues but this-” A sob caught in Kendall’s throat. “This is so wrong.”
What issues?Chess itched to ask. However, she realized that this wasn’t the time to interrogate Kendall. She soothed, “He had his reasons.”
“What reasons could justify doing something so dreadful?” Kendall tearfully demanded. “And then for him to quit in a huff instead of apologizing? It isn’t right. It isn’t right at all. He’s so selfish.”
Chess couldn’t bring herself to refute anything her friend said. She plucked two sheets of tissue from the box in the middle of the coffee table and handed them to Kendall. “Have you spoken to him at all?”
“No, his phone is still off.” Kendall sniffed and wiped away her tears. “He’s probably hiding from me.”
“Is there any way for you to get hold of him?”
“I don’t know.” Kendall hesitantly offered, “Maybe I can call his parents or something?”
“You should.” At Kendall’s querying look, Chess explained, “If you don’t want Derrick to lose his job, then you need to find him.”
Kendall’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Hasn’t he already lost it?”
“I haven’t told anyone in the office about what happened with him so all they know is that he had a bad day and quit out of frustration.” Chess added, “I talked to Richard and convinced him to put Derrick’s resignation on hold. If he comes back by the end of this week, he’ll get his job back.”
“Really?” Kendall shot up from her seat to hug Chess. “Thank you, Chess. Thank you.”
Chess patted her friend’s back soothingly. “Don’t thank me until we get him back in the office.”
DERRICK REMAINED UNREACHABLE FOR THE rest of the day. Kendall couldn’t reach him even after calling his parents, and neither could Chess. However, a day later, something of his showed up at the office.
Chess and Donna were just coming back from lunch when they found a delivery guy at the reception waiting for Donna with a box that was about ten inches long, ten inches wide, and five inches high. The box was wrapped in pretty birthday wrapping paper and finished off with a red bow.
“It’s for Donna Lewis,” the delivery guy said as he checked its label.
“Oh,” Donna said as she cheerfully took the box, “who thinks it’s my birthday?”
The delivery guy checked his clipboard. “It’s from Chelsea Winters.”
