Side Dish

“C’mon, Sydni.  Amir”, Barb starts to say.

Interrupting her, “I know Amir is not coming back”, I say rolling my eyes.  “Don’t you have work to do?”  I ask her, firmly and turn my back towards her, so she doesn’t see the tears.

Barb walks out of my office, closing the door behind her.  I go to my desk and pick up the picture of Amir, Simone and myself.  Tears start to flow like a waterfall.  I quickly dab at them with a tissue.  I take an empty vase from underneath my desk, take it into my bathroom and put a little tap water in it for the roses.  I set the vase on my desk and then arrange the roses in it.  I set the bracelet and card in front of me on my desk and just stare at it, as I sit back down.

As I pick up the receiver to call Jean, a knock on the door causes me to set it back down.

“Come in.”

Michael opens the door and closes it behind him.  My eyes light up with delight, as I maintain a straight face.

“Welcome back”, I say.

“Thanks.  It’s good to be back”, he says looking at me, smiling.

I look away.

Michael walks around my desk and stands behind my chair.  He places his hands on my shoulders and starts to massage them.

“That feels nice”, I think to myself.

He stops, leans over and picks up the card and bracelet.  Before I can take the card away, he reads it to himself.

“I see someone was busy while I was away”, he says and looks at the bracelet, then places them back down.

“What do you mean ‘busy’?” I ask.

“You have some nigga sending you some roses and a tennis bracelet and thanking you for the previous evening.  I would say that is busy.  When we shared a moment, you told me that you weren’t ready.”

“And I’m still not.”

“Obviously you were with him!”

“Excuse me?  For your information, I did not sleep with him.  We had dinner and spent time together.  That’s all!  We didn’t even kiss.  He kissed me on my forehead.

“Yeah, whatever!”

Holding his left hand up exposing his wedding band, I say,

“Anyway, why should you care?  Is it because you wouldn’t have been first?  Were you first with your wife?” and I drop his hand.

Michael looks at me, astonished.

“What you didn’t think that I ever noticed the band?  I didn’t bring it up, because it wasn’t my business, but since you want to be in mine!”

“Yes, I am married.  I never tried to hide it.”

“No, you just didn’t mention it, not even when we first met.  You told me about the kids, but not about her.  Why is that?”

“Because, I didn’t want to push you away.”

“Honesty keeps me”, I say.

“Okay, Sydni.  I am sorry for never mentioning that I am married.  Things aren’t great and”

Interrupting him, “And you want a side dish.”

“No, I don’t want a side dish.  I want someone in my life who can make me laugh, make me smile, make me feel vivrant.  Every time I look at you, I don’t know, I just want to be with you.  I never tried to push up on you and I already apologized for the scene at your house.  But Sydni, I am attracted to you.  I know we can only be friends, because of my marital status and that’s fine.  I just want to spend some time with you outside of work.”

I don’t comment.  Michael spins my chair around to face him and takes my hands in his to raise me from my seat.

Pulling me close to him, with my hands still in his, he whispers in my ear, “Can you spare time for a friend?”

He starts to kiss my ear, softly and then my neck.  Just then the phone rings.  Michael steps away from me, so I can answer it.