Taylor Everlasting

9

She called his cellphone but he did not answer. She tried his office and his assistant informed her that he was in a meeting. Fatima, really needing to talk to him and decided that she would wait for him in his office until he was done. She looked at the time and figured he hadn't eaten so she ordered food to be delivered to the office by the time she arrived. If she was gonna get him to agree to housing Amaya under these circumstances, she knew he needed to be as sweet to him as cherry pie and food was only step one of her plan.

She was greeted by the receptionist as she made her way back to his office. As she walked past, she was stunned to see who Zac was meeting with. She rapped lightly on the door seeing his parents there and everyone including Zac was surprised to see her. He stepped into the hall to greet her. "hey beautiful. What are you doing here?"

"Umm... hi. Babe, what are your parents doing here?" She said looking behind her into the conference room surrounded by glass walls. His parents and Jake watched from inside the room.

"They were just about to get to the point of their ambush when you came in. Is everything ok?"

"Umm. Yes." Fatima lied. I just needed to run something by you but it can wait. This is more important."

"I'm good babe. Im gonna wait in your office until you're done."

"No, you should be in there too."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely babe. Please. Come in." Zac insisted

Fatima followed reluctantly. She greeted her ex- in laws. "Mr. And Mrs. Taylor." Though Fatima once previously had a decent relationship with her in-laws, well her father in law ore specifically, she'd grown to despise them for they way they alienated Zac and Blamed his brother's death on him. Fatima knew how broken it left Zac and it made her feel even worse knowing that he was dealing with it alone while she was going through her her own battles.

"Hello Fatima. Nice to see you again." Zac's father responded, standing to his feet.

Zac pulled out his seat for Fatima to sit in. Jake offered up his seat to Zachary as there were only 4 in the room. Zac rejected Jake's offer letting him know he'd prefer to stand.

Zac's mother offered a polite smile. "Hi Fatima."

"Zachary." His mother began speaking

"Please. Just Zac."

"My apologies. Zac. Your father and are here today to apologize to you for our role in ending our relationship and we are hoping that we could start over."

Zac looked back and forth between his parents. "Ok. Go ahead. I'm listening."

Zac's parents were holding hands atop the table. His mother looked at his father trying to communicate telepathically to figure out what to say next. As if he was not prepared to actually apologize. " well, uhh" she began speaking but her husband spoke over her.

"Well son,"

"Zac." He corrected again.

"Zac. Your mother and I are sorry. We realize that while we've always wanted the best for you, our approach was not always conducive to raising two children who were completely different. We would like a chance to make the right and to get you know you and your family.

"Why?" Zac asked.

The question kind of stunned his parents. They thought the answer was obvious.

"Because we see you and we realize we don't know you. You're our baby boy." His father continued.

"No. I mean why was Isiah the golden child and I was the child treated like shit?"

"Zachary!" His mother said mortified at his language.