“No, leave your shoes on. We are going out back. I have a little surprise for you,” I notified her, placing her bag down on her dining room table.
“What are we doing in the back?” Elise eyed me.
“You’ll see.” I took Elise’s delicate hand in mine and led her through the dining room and out of the back door.
“Rashawwnnnn!” She squealed once we stepped onto her screened in Lanai.
The last time Elise saw her patio, there was a small glass table positioned between two zero gravity chairs. Her townhouse overlooked the pond and water fountain in the community, and she kept saying she wanted to make the space more comfortable before summer, but I sped up the process.
There was a grass wall with sunflower garland covering the edges and string lights lining the top. Two brown, hanging egg shaped hammock chairs with beige cushions sat in front of the grass wall. Solar sunflower stake lights lined the exterior of the lanai, soaking up the last few seconds of sunlight to help keep the lanai lit at nightfall. A brown wicker coffee table sat in the middle of the patio. Elise couldn’t see the glass top because it was covered by a white tablecloth, gold silverware, and our food containers.
“This is beautiful. Even better than I thought about doing. How did you do all of this?” Elise questioned, slowly lowering herself onto one of the hammocks.
“Amazon same day delivery, DoorDash, and Redbull,” I affirmed.
“Thank you. I love it,” she bounced out of her seat and leapt into my arms. I held onto Elise, my hands cupping her ass as she leaned in to kiss me. My tongue slipped into Elise’s mouth, but I quickly pulled back and leaned down for her to meet the ground again.
“Slow yo ass down. We need to eat, and you trying to give your neighbors a show,” I joked, centering myself before my dick got hard.
“Okay. I’m sorry. Let’s wash our hands and eat,” she blushed, walking back into the house.
After washing our hands, we returned to the hammocks, and Elise held my hand before she started the prayer.
“Dear Lord, I want to thank you for blessing me with a man as handsome, loving, patient, and caring as Rashawn. You really outdid yourself when you placed him in my life. Please continue to watch over both of us as we enter the next phase of our life together, and allow our families to accept our love and the bond we share. In Jesus name. Amen.”
“Amen,” I chimed in, then pecked her lips. “God did his biggest one when he placed you in my life,” I complimented.
“Thank you,” she bubbled.
Twenty minutes later, we were done eating, and Elise found her way into my lap. The sunset as we overlooked the dark water while the solar lights did their thing.
“I want to marry you, Elise. I’m not trying to wait much longer. Are you ready for forever with me?” I questioned, interrupting the silence.
“You’re never getting away from me again. I love you, Rashawn. You’re the only man I could see myself with. I want to start the rest of our lives. I’m a little nervous to have the conversation with Essex.”
“I’m not,” I shrugged.
“Why?”
“What the fuck he gon’ do? Take his belt off and beat us?”
“I guess not.”
“Exactly, so you just have to be prepared to accept whatever reaction Essex has. Nobody else will give a fuck.”
“Well, then there are my parents,” she reminded me. “They already know, though.”
“What? You told them?” I spluttered.
“Well, not exactly. After my altercation with Faith my mother jokingly said something about it being college all over again and asked was I seeing you too. My poker face wasn’t in the room, and she immediately called me out. That’s partially why I was so distraught leaving the church. If they aren’t sure, they at least have an inkling, so they won’t be shocked.”
“Damn, why didn’t you tell me that part of the story? You love to leave out key details.”
“I didn’t want to talk about it. We went on to spend our first Halloween together, so I didn’t care to relive the conversation,” she explained.
I left the conversation alone and allowed the blend of frogs croaking and cicadas buzzing to fill the distance. After a few minutes, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and connected it to the waterproof speakers positioned at opposite ends of the flower wall. When everything was connected, I started the playlist I created when we were eighteen. Over the years, I’d add to it whenever I heard a song that reminded me of Elise. She had access to the playlist on Apple Music and could listen to it when she wanted to think about me.
Elise’s head rested on my chest, and I gently ran my hand up and down her back as we fell into a still silence while enjoying the music. Elise sat up and straddled me in the hammock.
