Page 20 of Differences
Rae held her hands up, stopping me from speaking. “They moved her to ICU. Come on, I can take you up there.”
Rae and I walked toward the elevators, neither one of us saying anything to each other. I wasn’t sure what to say. All of this was happening fast, too soon. The elevator doors opened, and Rae checked me in with the receptionist. We walked down a long hall before coming up to my mother’s room. I could see her through the glass doors of the room. Besides the tubes running from her body, she looked as if she was sleeping. My throat tightened, and my eyes became cloudy.
“You wanna go in? The doctors said she can hear us even though she is in a coma.”
“Mama had diabetes? Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
Rae let out a deep sigh. “Weston...we—”
“No, y’all didn’t!”
“We didn’t need to. Mama found out she had diabetes a year ago. She could manage it, but when the medication got expensive and her insurance stopped covering it, it was hard to get. When she would ask for money, it wasn’t for the reasons you think. She would lie because she didn’t want to worry you. I begged for her to stop lying to you, but she didn’t.” Raven paused, then looked at me. “The other day, when she invited you over, it was because she and I got into a heated argument because her health was declining, and I told her to reach out. After you acted the way you did, she didn’t think it would be best to ask.”
Rae wiped her tears. “Her blood sugar got too low, and she was out of her insulin, which is why she is currently in the state that she is in.”
The walls around me fell. It felt as if the floor was swept from under me. This was all my fault. My mother was in the predicament that she was in because of me. My mother could die, and it would be my fault.
“Wes...Wes!” Rae called out to me.
“I-I n-need to leave. I’ve got to get out of here.”
“Wes, please don’t do this right now! Please, for the love of God, stop thinking about yourself. Our mama needs you! Shit, I need you right now!” Rae shouted.
“I-I...”
I spun on my heels and ran out of the unit, quickly pressing the elevator button to the first floor. My vision was blurry from the tears that I could no longer hold on. My mouth was dry, and I felt sick to the stomach. As soon as I made it to my car, I turned on the ignition because I needed to get off hospital grounds, but when I went to put the car in reverse, my hand shook, and my mouth became heavy. My head fell back on my seat and the tears rushed like a river downstream.
“Mama...I’m so sorry.”
8
Taja
“Yes!” 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?”
