The address wasn't far, and I made it there in twenty minutes. Deira was just taking Makayla inside when I pulled up. I waited in the car and a few minutes later she emerged. I was going to get out and meet her, but she walked right to the car and got into the passenger seat.
"I can't talk long," she said. "But I realized storming off like that earlier wasn't helpful, so I wanted to try to explain." She fidgeted, like she was nervous.
"I did talk to Mr. White," I said, wondering if what he said was true, and now she was nervous because she regretted her actions. At his name, she glanced over at me sharply.
"Did he admit what happened?" she asked, seeming surprised.
"He told me his side of things. Why don't you tell me yours?" At the phrasehis side of things, her face fell. She looked down at her hands and took a deep breath. Finally, she spoke.
"He accused me of sleeping with you to get my job," she said quietly.
"What?!" I hadn't been expecting that at all, and I was so shocked I felt as though someone had slapped me.
"That's not all," Deira continued, still looking at her hands. "He said he wouldn't tell anyone, as long as I slept with him too. And that if I did, he'd make sure I advanced in the department."
My head was spinning. Was Mr. White capable of such things? I'd always found him to be a decent, hardworking employee. And yet, why would Deira lie about this?
"What happened next?" I asked, not sure what else to say. She finally looked at me.
"I refused, of course," she said, a hint of anger in her voice. "He got aggressive, so I hit him and ran out. I ran all the way down the stairs, which is when I ran into you."
"You hit him?" I asked. I hadn't expected there to be violence in this story, either.
"That'swhat you're worried about?" she asked, the anger in her voice growing. "I just told you that he accused me of trading sex for a job and tried to get me to do the same with him."
"I'm sorry, I'm just... processing," I said. And I was. I had no idea how to deal with this. "Deira, are you sure that he really said that? You didn't just misunderstand something?" It wasn't that I didn't believe her. I was just struggling to comprehend that this had happened in my company, with a man I had previously considered unproblematic.
Deira stared at me, her eyes hurt and furious.
"No, Cassius, I didn't misunderstand," she snapped. She pushed open the car door. "It was a mistake to say anything, I guess. I was considering telling human resources. Thanks for letting me know I shouldn't bother." She started to get out of the car, and I grabbed her hand.
"Deira, wait!"
She twisted her hand out of mine, her face full of disappointment.
"You asked me what happened, I told you, and you didn't believe me. There's nothing more to talk about." She slammed the door and practically ran up the sidewalk and into the apartment building. I was just thinking about whether I should try to follow her when my phone rang. I was about to ignore the call when I glanced down and saw the name on the caller ID. I answered the call.
"Dad?" I said, unable to think of a reason he would be calling me. I'd been estranged from my parents ever since I refused to work at the family company years ago, instead striking out to make my own way. I was actually surprised I still had his number.
"Cassius," my father said, his voice shaking, "I thought you wouldn't pick up."
"I almost didn't. I'm very busy, so can we..."
"It's your mother," he interrupted me. "She was in an accident."
I paused, my mind going completely blank. An accident? Mom? In the years since I'd spoken to my parents, they had sort of faded into the back of my mind. I assumed they were somewhere doing what they'd always done, my dad working too much, my mom redecorating the house a room at a time until she got bored and decided to start over on the whole house with a brand new theme.
Even though I hadn't wanted to have contact with them, I hadn't considered that something bad might happen to them. At my father's words, I got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I gripped the phone tightly.
"Is Mom okay?" I asked.
"She's in a coma. They're saying there's no way to know when she'll wake up." My parents were flawed as parents, but I'd always known they loved each other. My dad sounded totally different than the bossy business tycoon I remembered. He sounded on the verge of tears.
"What hospital are you at? I'll come right over," I said, already putting the car in gear. He told me the hospital, and I hung up, quickly pulling out onto the road and speeding in that direction.
As I rushed over, I thought back about how many years had passed since I'd spoken to them and realized everything they didn't know about my life. That now included not just my company, but Deira and, biggest of all, Makayla. They didn't know any of that.
I made it to the hospital in record time and found a nurse who led me to my mother's room. She was lying in the bed, very pale and still. My dad looked up and then immediately came over and threw himself into my arms. As I held him up and he hugged me tightly, it occurred to me that this estrangement had maybe deprived both of us of more than we had realized.