“Am?” she called out softly. I stood in the middle of the living room, which I’d had emptied just for this. The floor was covered with dark blue and light purple rose petals, and what felt like a million balloons littered the ceiling. Because I had candles around the room, I was mindful not to have the streamers longenough to cause a fire. A neat pallet with large pillows and a plush blanket, along with food and drinks, sat in the middle of the room. “Am?”
“In here, Sunshine,” I answered. I put my hands in my pockets and took a deep breath to try to calm myself down. For the first time in I don’t know how long, I was nervous as fuck.
Yale stepped around the corner and instantly stopped when she saw what I’d done. Her eyes filled with tears as she looked around, and I smiled proudly.
“What’s this?”
“I wanted to do something for you,” I said, taking measured steps towards her. The last thing I wanted to do was bust my ass on the rose petals and fuck up the mood. When I got close enough, I took my hand out of my pocket and pulled her to me. I kissed her, then started walking backwards.
“You did this for me?” Her brow went up in surprise, and all I could do was smile at her. She was so used to doing things for others that when someone did something for her, she was always so surprised. Even when I did something small, she acted like it was the best thing in the world, which is why I always tried to make sure everything I did for her topped the last. I never wanted her to settle for less than what she deserved.
“It’s othing,” I laughed, then stopped walking. “It’s going to storm all day, and I wanted to show you how much you meant to me, so I decided to have a date at home.” Her attention went to the room, and I waited. “Is that okay?” She nodded, and that’s when I noticed that she was crying. I turned her face to mine and wiped her tears. “Talk to me, Sunshine. Tell me why you’re crying.”
“Why did we wait so long to do this?” She sniffed.
“Because it wasn’t our time,” I answered, then kissed her. “We had to go through the bad shit before we got to this part.”
I wrapped my arms around her shoulder and kissed her forehead. Yale wrapped her arms around my waist and rested her face against my chest.
“I want this forever, Am,” she softly said.
“Alright, let’s eat,” I said, pulling back. “I already know you’re hungry, and I have plans for you, so you’re going to need all your energy. Yale smiled at me and nodded. I helped her to the floor, then started pulling everything out of the small warming basket. “I made all your favorites.”
“Really?” She crossed her legs and put her hands in her lap. She looked like an excited little ass kid, and all I could do was laugh.
“Yeah,” I nodded, then started uncovering the food: steamed spicy oysters, grilled vegetables, and lemon-crusted catfish. I wasn’t a big fan of it, but I would eat whatever put a smile on her face tonight. Because she didn’t drink, I had her favorite fruit juice chilled and a few bottles of water. After I finished setting everything up, I took out Yale’s first gift and set it next to her plate.
“What’s this?” she asked as she stared at the box.
“Open it and see,” I said as I ate. Yale set down her fork, wiped her hands, then picked it up. She shook it a few times, then looked up at me. “To open a gift, you have to remove the bow.”
“I know how to open a box,” she laughed, shaking her head. “I’m trying to figure out what it is and why you got it?”
“Because I love you and thought of you when I saw it,” I answered in between bites of food. I’d had her gift for almost three months; it’d been sitting in my top drawer waiting for the perfect time to give it to her.
Yale nodded, then slowly took the bow off the box, set it aside, and then opened the small white box. Inside was a key. She looked up at me, confused, and I laughed.
“Do you remember when we were in college, and you said you wanted to own a house on the beach?” I asked, and she nodded. “Well, that’s a key to your house.”
“A house?” she repeated, and I nodded. “Amethyst, you bought me a house?”
“No,” I denied, shaking my head. I put my fork down, picked up my napkin, wiped my hands, then picked up my phone and swiped through it until I found what I was looking for. I handed her the phone, and Yale’s eyes got big. “Last year, when I was out of town, I saw this plot that was for sale, and immediately, I thought of you. It was empty, but that didn’t stop me from seeing the vision. I called up Bizzy, who made the right moves, and before the end of the night, I was the owner. My next step was getting in contact with a contractor. I made a few calls, pulled a big ass favor, and then got a meeting with C’s Foundation.”
“C’s Foundation?” Her attention was on the pictures on my phone, but I nodded anyway. “He built this?”
“Nah, he didn’t build shit,” I chuckled lowly. “She built that.” Yale lifted her head and gave me another surprised look. Ten years ago, Yale showed me an IG page of this construction company that she’d randomly started following. The company’s owners never showed their faces, but we knew it was black-owned. Their work was impressive as fuck, and over the years, they’d made a name for themselves through their designs. We both assumed it was a man, but when I requested a meeting, that wasn’t my only surprise. C’s Foundation was not only run by a woman but by a woman who looked like Yale. It took me a little digging and a lot of fucking money, but I was able to find out everything that I needed to know, and my suspicions were correct. Clarke was Yale’s sister. Tulane had fathered another child who had become successful despite his lack of help. “Clarke is a woman.”
“Get out of here,” she laughed, then went back to looking at the pictures. “And you got her to build this house?”
“She did,” I said, nodding.
Yale set the phone down, then pushed our food out of the way to climb into my lap. Her arms went around my shoulders, and her legs went around my waist. “Thank you,” she said as she buried her hands in my hair. “You don’t know how much this means to me.”
“I just wanted to give you a slice of heaven,” I smiled. “Now, whenever it gets too cold, all you have to do is say the word, and I will have the plane fueled up, and you can leave.”
“We can leave,” she corrected as she nibbled my bottom lip. “I don’t want to go without you, ever.”
“I may have to work,” I said, then kissed her. “So, you and the girls can go, hang out, and enjoy life. This shit around here ain’t going nowhere.”
