Sincerely Yourz

What's Done in the Dark

Shay

Stalking Zuri was an impulsive decision that spanned two weeks and ended with a stupid altercation. I should have just hired a private investigator from the beginning. When I finally did hire a professional he told me a lot of information I already knew.

And some that I didn't.

I didn't know Zuri was gay. Dru was a female lawyer named Darrien Usa. They hadn't been together long, but it was supposed to be serious. It couldn't be that serious because, when I was watching her, I never saw her with a girlfriend.

Apparently, she moved out when she was a teen. She used to get into trouble fighting all the time. But she was smart enough to keep her grades up. And she started dating Kai for a stint, but they split sometime around the time she got pregnant.

I didn't know she'd worked at Grub House, Kai's family's diner, until she began working for her current employer. She worked her way up through the ranks, got a business degree and was being trained for a supervisor position.

Her kids were four and they were twins. She had no relationship with her mother but was close to Kai's family.

No matter what information he found, he couldn't find a definite connection to my family. In fact, when I pressed him about it, he confirmed that it was likely my dad knew her mother years ago. And that's when things got sticky.

There were records that indicated her mother worked for my dad as a forensic accountant at the same store that was his first branch. After she left my dad's employ she moved away, had Zuri and then got married about a year later.

The investigator posited the theory that Zuri's mom quit and moved away so suddenly because she was having an affair with my dad. And he also said that if he was correct about the affair it would make it likely that Zuri was a product of that affair.

And we were right back to my dad being a cheater.

I still didn't want to believe it, even though I'd accused Zuri of being his mistress. The thing that made me consider it even more was the fact that Zuri's mom married a man, but he never signed the birth certificate.

Her last name was her mother's maiden name. He left when she was eight.

I was only left with one course of action; talk to my dad. I had to consider that Zuri was being honest when I confronted her and the P.I. was on to the truth.

----------------------

I asked my dad to a private lunch under the guise that I really needed to spend some time with him. I made it sound like I felt neglected and I could tell he felt guilty. We usually had lunch at least once a week but he'd cancelled ever since he'd been spending time with Zuri.

I felt bad for lying to him. It wasn't natural for me to lie to him. It had always felt unnecessary. My dad was always the cool parent that would slip me candy and go easy on me. I didn't lie to him about things because I'd always felt safe to tell him the truth.

I ordered food for us and we ate in his office. I didn't want to have the conversation in public. It was too private a thing, accusing your dad of having an affair. I knew how seriously he took his marriage, so I didn't know what his reaction was going to be.

I picked over my food, trying to figure out where to start when he called me out on my weird behavior.

"Shay, I can tell something is on your mind. Why don't you stop punishing that poor chicken and spit it out," he goaded me.

"Did you have an affair with Juanita Childs?"

I dropped the question on the table between us with no tact. The air between us became charged with tension immediately but he said nothing. He just looked at me like he was trying to figure out where my information was coming from. I figured I should just keep talking since he wasn't going to say anything.