“Naijhel, please.”
“Uh-uh. What’s wrong with you, walking around with all them dangerous curves on display on this beach, talking ’bout your ass single?”
“Naijhel, don’t throw me!” she shouted when I lifted her over my head.
“Are you my woman?”
“What?”
“You my woman? I’m not investing in you for my health, girl. Are you my woman?”
“Yes, Naijhel. I’m your woman!” she screamed.
I let her down into the water, and Delaney placed her hands on her hips and scowled at me. “What was all that about?”
“Just making sure the universe knows that you belong to me.”
“We need to discuss this.”
“What’s there to discuss? I’ve been chasing you down, caring for you, and pouring into you for almost two months now. That’s more than I’ve ever done for any woman who wasn’t mine. I don’t do that unless I’ve already claimed that woman, and I’m not big on doing that. Tracy and a girl named Antoinette were the only women I’ve ever called my girlfriends in my adult life. I’m forty, Del, and I’m not getting any younger.”
“What are you saying to me, Naijhel?”
“I’m saying that you’re a good woman, and I’ve spent the last couple of months getting to know you. I enjoy our conversations, the time we spend together, your laughter, and how you make me feel. You challenge me to think about my perspectives, even at my older age. I know you’re not designed to be a girlfriend, but you were created to be my wife, so that’s my endgame. I’m just putting the cards on the table, so if you don’t see me in your future, run now.”
She stared up at me with those beautiful chocolate-brown eyes of hers, and they sparkled in the afternoon sunlight. “Is this supposed to be your idea of a marriage proposal or something?”
“Not yet.”
“Not . . . yet,” she repeated slowly.
“That’s what I said.”
“What is this, then?”
“What this is, is a declaration of you being my woman with the intent of making you my wife.”
She inhaled deeply and walked closer to me. Placing her hands against my chest and over my heart, she looked up at me.“As good as all that sounds, we don’t know what tomorrow will bring.”
“No man ever has. Yet, we still make plans anyway.”
“And God laughs.”
“So, if you lost your job tomorrow, are you telling me that you wouldn’t go out and find another one?”
“Of course I would, Naijhel. I have to survive.”
“My point exactly. We need people to survive. A man needs a woman the same as a woman needs a man.”
“But she can survive without one, and so can he. I cannot survive without food and water, and I need clothing and to be able to pay my bills.”
“You don’t necessarily need clothing, Del. You’re looking pretty good from where I’m standing,” I remarked, holding her at arm’s length and eyeing her up and down.
She smacked me in the chest. “I’m serious.”
“So am I. You can’t put your life on hold because you were disappointed about what happened in your past. You still have to make plans to move forward in your future, and you pray for the best with every step you take. It’s called faith, big baby. You should try it sometime.”
She sighed and looked away. I could see the tears framing her eyelashes, and I knew that she hated being emotional like this in public. I bent down and splashed water back up on her.
