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I rolled into the driveway expecting to see Taye’s car, but she wasn’t home yet. I went in the house and grabbed a brew from the fridge. The phone rang. I started not to answer it, but I did.
"Hello."
"Devin."
"Sandra?"
"It’s me. I know you’re mad at me, and you probably fired me by now, but—"
I cut her off. "No, I didn’t fire you, and no, I’m not mad at you. I really just wanted to know if you were all right."
"I’m fine."
"You sure?"
"Really, Devin, I’m fine. I just had some things that I had to workout for myself."
"And?"
"And I faxed you my resignation. It should be there when you get there Monday morning. But I thought that you deserved better than that."
"Wait a minute, Sandra; you’re resigning because of what happened between us?"
"Not just that, Devin, it’s a lot of things, but yeah, that’s a major part of it. I can’t come to work and see you everyday, knowing what a fool I’ve been making of myself."
"You haven’t been making a fool of yourself, Sandra. It was just something that happened, we didn’t intend for it to happen, it just did. But it’s not worth giving up your job for. Please, Sandra, take a few more days and think about it."
"I have thought about it, and I know this is what I have to do. Me and Ike talked about it, and we’re going to move back to Texas, so if nothing else, he’s happy about that."
"How do you feel about it?"
"It’s the only way it could happen. To be honest with you, Devin, it didn’t just happen. I came in your office that first night with a plan. You just played right into it."
"What?"
"I’ve always wanted you, Devin. I just never gave into my feelings or acted on them, until that first night. Since that night, I’ve tried my best to act like it didn’t happen; like I didn’t want to feel you inside me every time we were alone. But I had to stop lying to myself. I know that I can’t face you, not any more."
I sat there in shock holding the phone. I never knew she felt that way; never had any idea that I was being seduced that night. But it’s like Taye told me once, "Y’all just stupid that way."
While we’re down here scheming on level one, a woman is on level five, running a program that our dumb asses could never even imagine.
I thought I heard a noise.
I looked around for Taye.
"Devin, you still there?"
"Yeah, Sandra, I’m still here. Look, it shouldn’t have happened. It will never happen again. I like you, Sandra, but it’s not like that for me." I thought for a minute about what I was doing with Avonte and Qianna. Compared to that, what I had done with Sandra didn’t even rate.
"That’s why I gotta go. You can see that, can’t you?"
"Yeah, I understand. I hate to lose you. But I understand you feeling like its the best thing for everybody."
Now I was glad she was leaving. That would be the last thing I needed. I didn’t want, nor need, that type of pressure on my job. I had more than enough going on already. "Well, give me a call before you go."
This time I was sure I heard something.
"I can’t promise you that I will, but I’ll be thinking about you, Devin. Good-bye." Without another word, Sandra hung up the phone. I hated to lose Sandra. It would be like cutting off my right hand, but I would gladly sacrifice it. Sandra could be replaced.