Chapter 8
8
Taja
“Y es!” I shouted, closing out the Microsoft Word document I had been working on for the last few hours. It was now seven p.m., and everyone had left the office for the weekend. I had to finish formatting the new interviews I had conducted this week with our leadership team and schedule the post to be posted to social media next week. I checked my calendar and realized my next and last interview was with Weston.
A chill shot up my spine when I thought about our last encounter. Since that day, I hadn’t stopped thinking about him. Weston kept invading my mind while I avoided Jay. Instead of being around Jay, I spent longer hours at work by leaving earlier and staying later, just so that by the time I got home, I didn’t have the time or energy to be bothered with him. Jay didn’t seem to be concerned that I wasn’t around as often.
I packed my work bag and grabbed my items to leave for the night. As I made my way out of my office, I noticed a light shining from Weston’s door. This week’s office gossip was that Weston was spending day and night in his office. The rumors had grown to say that he was broke and didn’t have anywhere to stay. Another rumor was that he was running from a money shark. There were so many off-the-wall rumors that I didn’t believe any of them. However, I couldn’t help but notice he didn’t look like himself at all this week. He walked through the office with a rain cloud over his head. He barely said anything in meetings, and his door remained closed. Usually, by the middle of the week, he would’ve annoyed me in some way, but he didn’t.
I wasn’t sure what came over me, but I was soon standing in front of his office door. I knocked softly and waited for his response. Instead of knocking again, I pressed my ear against the door to hear any noise on the other side. A soft jazz melody played on the other side of the door. I slowly opened the door, and the sight in front of me pierced my heart. Weston sat at his desk with red and swollen eyes. He looked disheveled. He held a bottle of brown liquor in his hand, and he stared off into space.
“Um...Weston?” I softly called out. “Are you okay?”
He hadn’t even noticed I had opened the door. He looked in my direction and stared at me. I moved inside the room, shutting the door behind me.
“Is everything okay? Do you need me to call someone for you?”
The further I got into the room, I could see the papers sprawled across his desk. There were two empty bottles of the same liquor he had in his hand in his trash can. I’m sure if the CEO were to see this, Weston would no longer have a job. Instead of criticizing him, I grabbed the trash bag out of the trash can and tied it together. I placed it by the door to make sure I grabbed it on my way out. When I made it back over to him, he still had his eyes on me.
“Did you drink those two bottles today?”
He nodded.
“There is no way you can drive yourself home in this condition, Weston.”
“I don’t want to go home.”
I rolled my eyes. “Weston, whatever you have going on, you can’t drink yourself into a stomper like this. Plus, you are at your place of business. Can you not call Ms. Leslie to come and take you home?”
He shook his head. Something deeper was going on with Weston.
“Can I take you?”
“I said I don’t want to go home.”
I let out a frustrated sigh. “Well, you can’t stay here, drunk as hell, so decide!” I challenged.
“Can you take me to the hospital?”
My eyes widened. “The hospital? Are you sick? Is something wrong?” I looked him up and down, inspecting his body to make sure that I missed nothing.
“Can you? Yes, or no?”
I sighed. “Yeah, come on.”
He stood from his chair, stumbling. I shook my head at how disheveled he looked. We made our way out of the door, but not before I grabbed the trash bag with the two bottles of liquor.
* * *
Forty minutes later, we sat in front of the hospital. We had been sitting there for five minutes. I kept looking at Weston, waiting for something, but there was nothing.
“Um...Weston, are we waiting on someone or something?”
“I need to go in.”
He opened the door and tried to speed walk to the door but stumbled. I immediately jumped out to grab him on his left side. Security patrolled the hospital heavily, and I would hate for them to lock him up for public intoxication.
“Weston, what are you doing? You are too drunk to go up in there!”
“I need to see her. I need to see her.”
“See who, Wes?”
He finally looked at me. His eyes were filled to the brim with tears.
“Tell the receptionist we are visiting room 4 in the ICU unit. Please.”
I looked him up and down. Whoever was in here was taking a toll on him. Instead of questioning anymore, we walked toward the receptionist, and I did as I was told. We were now on the elevator headed to ICU room 4. I walked at his pace, slowly yet steady. We finally made it to the ICU hallway and were a few steps from room 4. He stopped walking and froze in place.
“Wes, what are you doing? You said you wanted to go to this room. It’s right there.”
“I can’t,” he mumbled, his voice shaking.
My eyes ballooned. “What do you mean you can’t? Wes, visiting hours are about to end. You are drunk as hell right now. All of this is too much!”
“I...she’s in there...” His voice cracked, causing me to stop talking. “She’s in there,” he whispered.
“Who’s in there, Weston?”
He sniffed. “My mama, and I’m the reason.”
I grabbed at my chest. My heart was hurting for him. Now everything made sense. Weston was acting the way that he was because his mama was in ICU.
“Wes...”
“It’s my fault. She’s in there because of me!”
Before I could respond, the glass door to room 4 opened. Out walked a short, dark-skinned woman with locs. She looked just as defeated as Weston. We made eye contact, and her eyes traveled to Weston. Instantly, her look of defeat turned to anger. She stormed over toward us with her fist balled up.
“You got some damn nerve! How dare you show up?” she sniffed. “Smelling like you washed in liquor when I’ve been calling you every day this week!”
“Rae—” he started, but she held her hand up, shutting him up. He dropped his head.
“I get it. You got your fancy ass job and still think I want something from you when actually I do. I want my brother to be here while our mother is in there fighting for her goddamn life!”
“Excuse me,” one nurse on the unit softly interrupted. “Do we need to call security?”
This time, I interjected. “Um...no, we were just leaving.”
The woman I now knew as Weston’s sister looked at me. Her look softened, but she was still angry. I forced Weston to leave the unit and return to the elevator, but it didn’t stop his sister from following behind us.
“Who are you?” she asked me.
I extended my hand. “Taja Walker. I work at TRU.”
She placed her small hand in mine. “Raven Jones, Weston’s older sister.”
She looked at him and rolled her eyes. He kept his head down, and I could tell he was embarrassed. She shook her head. We stood there awkwardly before Weston spoke.
“This is all my fault,” he stated.
Raven scoffed. “Weston, please save the dramatics. If you feel that way, why would you stay gone for almost a damn week? Do you know how hard it is to see her this way?”
He nodded instead of speaking.
She scoffed again. “No, you don’t. You get drunk and get in your feelings, blaming yourself instead of being here for your mother.”
I stood back, watching the interaction between brother and sister. Raven was hurt because she needed her brother, while Weston felt as if his mother’s being in the ICU was his fault. The family was hurting, and it was hard to witness.
“What can I do to fix this? Should I pay to have her moved to another facility? How much is everything?” he asked.
I cringed at the questions. Weston had missed the whole reason Raven was mad. Her nose flared, and her eyes slanted.
“Are you fucking kidding me, Wes?” she yelled.
Weston looked shocked at her reaction. “What did I say?”
Even though I barely knew the family dynamics, I could see things getting even more heated, so I interjected myself.
“Look, tension is high. Let’s table this conversation when we are in a sober mind, and everyone can hear everyone,” I said.
Granted, this wasn’t my family, but I didn’t want to see them head down a path of destruction because of emotions being high.
Raven looked at me. “Please get him out of my presence.”
I nodded and reached for Weston’s hand. “Come on, Weston. Let’s give your sister some space.”
He didn’t want to budge, but after a few more tugs on his hand, we entered the elevator and headed to my car. Once inside the car, I looked at him. He was even more defeated than before.
“Can you tell me your address so I can take you home?” I asked.
“Anywhere but home...”
* * *
Forty minutes later, I was pulling up to a hotel a few blocks around the corner from the office. There was nowhere else I could take him but the hotel. I didn’t know his family, and he couldn’t come home with me because of Jay, so the only option was to find a hotel. During the entire ride, Weston said nothing, nor did I. He sat in the passenger seat with his eyes closed. At every stoplight, I would quickly glance over to see if he had opened his eyes, yet they remained closed. He finally opened his eyes when I shut off the engine. He looked out the window and stared.
“You didn’t say where, so I figured this hotel would do. It’s near the office.”
He nodded. “This is cool.” He dug into his pocket and grabbed his card. “Can you book me a suite, please?”
Any other time, I would’ve told him to do it himself, but this time was different. He was hurting, and he clearly needed someone. So, instead of giving him attitude, I grabbed the card and headed inside to book him a hotel. After getting the key card, I returned to find Weston on the phone while also rubbing his temple.
“Rae, please just tell me how much shit is right now!”
He paused.
“Rae—”
She must’ve hung up the phone because he let out a frustrated sigh. I really wanted to tell him he was missing the point. Money wasn’t the way to fix this. Rae and his mother needed him, regardless of the money. Yet, I didn’t want to come in between him and his family with my unsolicited advice. Instead of digging and stating my opinion, I handed him the keycard.
“Here. You are on the sixth floor.”
He reached for the card. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Weston looked at me for the first time since we got back in the car from the hospital.
“Nah, for real, thank you. You could be home boo’d up, but you out here chauffeuring me around dealing with my fucked-up family problems.”
He dropped his head when he mentioned his family. I put my hand on his knee, causing him to look back up at me.
“Nah, I was headed home to rest and do it all over again tomorrow. Yet you’re welcome. It’s hard seeing you like that, plus it seemed as if you needed a friend.”
“What do I owe you for all of your help?” he asked.
I immediately rolled my eyes. Weston didn’t get it, and I felt it was time for him to get it.
“Seriously?” I asked with an attitude.
His eyes widened. “What?”
“It’s not about money all the time. I need you to know that sometimes it is not always about the money. People do things out of the kindness of their hearts because they care. People don’t want your money. Sometimes, they just want your presence. Money is not always the answer, Weston.”
“Then what is?” he rebutted.
“You! Believe it or not, sometimes people just want you for you. Not the suits, not the car, not your checkbook, but you. For example, your sister. She doesn’t want your money. She is not looking for you to come in and drop tons of money at the hospital. She wants her brother to be there for her. Pray with her, share memories with her, and help her make tough decisions. That’s all she wants from you, Weston.”
I felt myself getting emotional. I dabbed at my eyes to stop the tears from falling completely. It was devastating to watch him go through this when the solution was an easy fix.
“Look, Weston, I’m sorry for talking to you that way and butting into your family business, but—”
He leaned across the console of the car and softly placed his lips on mine, cupping the side of my face. He kissed me slowly before gently separating my lips with his tongue. Respectfully, I accepted his invitation. The kiss deepened but never once became forceful. My head felt light as if I was floating on a cloud. The busy city streets around us were quiet, and it felt as if time stood still. I had experienced many kisses, but none like this one. I could feel all of Weston’s emotions in this kiss. His other hand rubbed down my thigh, sending shockwaves throughout my body. He gripped my thigh tighter and moved down to my neck, placing a kiss on it. I let out a low moan. He continued with the soft kisses and his grip on my thigh.
The ringing of my phone snapped me out of my trance. I immediately answered it, not even focusing on who it was calling.
“Hello,” I tried to keep my breath, but it came out winded.
“Ta, where you at?” Jay grilled, damn near yelling into the phone.
“Um, I’m helping a friend right now, Jay. What is it?”
I didn’t bother to look over at Weston. I’m sure he heard him through the phone.
“I need the car. I need to DoorDash tonight.”
“Give me thirty minutes, Jay,” I responded, frustrated.
“Bet.”
Jay hung up the phone without even saying goodbye, or I love you. I shook my head, looking over at Weston in the passenger seat, but to my surprise, he was getting out of the car.
“Weston,” I called out.
He nodded his head and shut the door. I watched him walk away into the hotel lobby until I could no longer see him. I found it hard to crank up my car and drive away. Something in me wanted to run behind him and hold him. I wanted to drive him back to the hospital and be there with him, yet I knew our lives didn’t align.