CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX What Tasha Saw
Tasha came over before Maya asked.
She found Maya sitting on the kitchen floor with her back against the cabinets, still wearing the clothes she had slept in. A mug of coffee sat untouched beside her.
Tasha did not say I told you so.
That mercy almost broke Maya more than judgment would have.
"He cheated," Maya said.Tasha set her purse down and sat beside her.
"I know."Maya turned. "How?""You texted me at three in the morning.
"Maya looked at her phone. She did not remember doing it.
"Oh."Tasha leaned her head against the cabinet.
"Do you want to tell me?"Maya told her everything.Camille.
The message preview. Jalen's face when she said the woman's name.
The confession that there had been a kiss before the night they slept together.
The way he had used her history with Andre to shame her for asking questions while he was already being dishonest.When Maya finished, Tasha's jaw was tight.
"I hate him," she said.Maya laughed weakly.
"At least one of us has clarity.""Don't mistake my clarity for yours.
You have to get there yourself."Maya looked across the kitchen.Andre had chosen the pendant lights above the island.
Maya had wanted something dramatic and gold.
Andre had insisted on simple black fixtures that would not date the room in five years.At the time, she had called him boring.Now she missed his certainty about light fixtures so much it hurt.
"I want to call Andre," she whispered.Tasha did not answer immediately.
"Why?"Maya stared at her. "Because I miss him.
""You missed him before Jalen cheated?""Yes.
""Did you want to go back before this?"Maya's eyes filled.
"Sometimes.""But you stayed with Jalen.""I thought I owed the choice a chance.
"Tasha nodded slowly. "That's what I was afraid of.
"Maya wiped her face. "So I can't call Andre because it'll look like I'm running back because Jalen hurt me.
""It's not about how it looks. It's about what Andre deserves.
""I know what he deserves.""Do you?"Maya flinched.Tasha softened.
"I love you. But Andre is not an emergency exit.
You cannot burn down one relationship and then run to the person you left because the fire got hot.
"Maya cried quietly."What if he was the love of my life?
""Then you may have lost the love of your life.
" The words landed with brutal simplicity.Maya covered her mouth.Tasha wrapped an arm around her.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "But regret doesn't give us a time machine.
"They sat together until the coffee went cold.Later, Tasha helped Maya pack the things Jalen had left at the townhouse - a jacket, gym clothes, a bottle of cologne, two pairs of shoes, a charger.Maya put everything in a cardboard box.At the bottom of the closet, she found the brass key to Jalen's loft.She stared at it.This key had felt like proof two months earlier.Now it was just metal.Maya dropped it into the box.
"I'll take it to his studio," Tasha said.
"No.""You don't need to see him.""I don't.""Then let me.
"Maya shook her head. "I need to return it myself.
Not because I need closure. Because I need to practice leaving without begging somebody to choose me.
"Tasha studied her, then nodded."Okay. But I'm driving.
"For the first time in days, Maya smiled. "Bossy.""Alive and well."