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Chapter One

Devin

I rolled over in bed and watched o in the bathroom No matter how many times it happened, or how I tried to condition myself to it, the result was always the sa But it hadn’t always been like that

In the three years that Taye and I have beenrush hour I would see her everyon the train, and I watched and ade to speak to her To me, Taye was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen

One Monday , I decided that I would talk to her, so I positionedthe newspaper When the door opened, the first thing Taye saas me

"Good ," 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 Sheanything 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 saot on, I said, "Good " But this tiht 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, hadher 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, "GoodHow 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 s 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 feeeks, we beganafter work for drinks at first, and then dinner Dinner turned into dinner and a movie Dinner and a

"How did I get so lucky?" I asked her one night after we left the club

"What do you mean?" Taye said, as alked back to my car