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Chapter One
Devin
I rolled over in bed and watched my wife Taye get up and go in the bathroom. No matter how many times it happened, or how I tried to condition myself to it, the result was always the same: the sex we had was uninspiring. But it hadn’t always been like that.
In the three years that Taye and I have been married, we’ve gone through a lot. We met on the subway during rush hour. I would see her every morning getting on the train, and I watched and admired her for months, before I got up the courage to speak to her. To me, Taye was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.
One Monday morning, I decided that I would talk to her, so I positioned myself in front of the door, reading the newspaper. When the door opened, the first thing Taye saw was me.
"Good morning," and a friendly smile, was all I offered up that first day, before I buried my head back in the paper.
Taye barely acknowledged my presence. She made eye contact, but quickly looked away without saying anything. Men always tried to talk to her on the train. I sat and watched her turn away man after man who tried to push up on her. To her, I was probably just another faceless and nameless man on the train.
On the second day, I posted up in the same spot, and when the door opened and Taye got on, I said, "Good morning." But this time I added, "How are you today?" And then I went right back to the paper. Once again, Taye didn’t respond, but I could tell that this time she noticed me.
I stood there and feigned reading the paper, but Taye, as she did every day, had my undivided attention. I stood there, watching her reading her book—a novel called Commit to Violence. I checked out the look on her face as she read. It was like she was totally enthralled in whatever she was reading.
When Taye got on the train on the third day, I said, "Good morning. How are you?" Like I did the day before, but this time, I had to do a double take. "You look very nice today," I added at the sight of Taye in her black skirted suit.
"Thank you," Taye said, as she passed and moved to a spot to stand.
Instead of her usual ponytail, Taye let her hair hang down to her shoulders. We exchanged glances and smiles for the duration of the ride together that morning. And by the end of week, we had introduced ourselves.
Our relationship developed as a friendship at first; kind of an old-fashioned courtship. It was filled with long walks and picnic lunches in the park. We’d spend hours on the phone at night having long telephone conversations about everything, and nothing in particular. After a few weeks, we began meeting after work for drinks at first, and then dinner. Dinner turned into dinner and a movie. Dinner and a movie turned into dinner, a movie, and dancing.
"How did I get so lucky?" I asked her one night after we left the club.
"What do you mean?" Taye said, as we walked back to my car.
I stopped and turned to her. "How did I get so lucky to find you?"
"I guess you lived a good life." Taye smiled. "You’re not like any other man I’ve met lately. You’re a gentleman, and you took the time to get to know me. You made me feel like it was important to you; like I was important to you."
We stood there for a while; you know, having that moment. Looking into each other’s eyes; feelin’ that strong vibe. "No," I said, "that’s not what I wanna ask you."
Taye took a step closer and smiled. Close enough to kiss. "Well, just what do you wanna ask me?"
It made me a little nervous to be so close to her. I held it together, but it wasn’t easy. "Taye, you’re an intelligent woman. You’re funny, and you are so beautiful. How come you don’t have a man?" My father told me once, when you meet a pretty woman and she doesn’t have a man, find out why.
"Because he was a moron who didn’t recognize much less appreciate what a good woman he had," Taye said.
"So do you think it would be all right if I kissed you?"
"I don’t think I’d slap you, but we’ll just have to see."
I took Taye into my arms and kissed her gently. She put her arms around my neck, and I allowed myself to get caught up it the moment.
That first kiss, the one I’d been thinking about since the first time I saw her, was everything that I imagined it would be. Taye kissed me like it had been a while since she’d kissed a man, and even longer since she’d kissed a man she actually liked. Taye told me later that during the last year of her relationship with the moron, any type of intimacy was more like an obligation than a pleasure shared, when two are in love. It was a task to be performed and nothing more.
That first kiss between us was tender and filled with passion. I really couldn’t say how long we stood by the car kissing, but it was a long time.
When we finally separated from each other’s arms, we both just kind of stood there in complete silence, staring at each other until Taye finally said, "Wow."
"Yeah," was all I could manage before unlocking her door.
As we drove to Taye’s apartment, no words were spoken. There were none needed. The sexual tension in that car was strong. We held hands and exchanged glances during the ride. Each time I had to stop for a red light, I would lean over and kiss Taye; allow my hands to roam over her body. Not wanting to seem overexcited by what I thought was about to happen, I really had to fight the urge to drive faster.
