“Go ahead.”
“A’ight.”
He headed back to the car, and I cleaned up our little area. When I peered into the truck, I noticed that his eyes were closed. I leaned against the hood of the truck for several minutes and took in our surroundings.
It was several minutes later before he blew the horn. I jumped and turned around and mugged him. Climbing into the car, I asked, “Really?”
“Baby, we have to hit the road.”
“You could have rolled your window down and called my name.”
“That was more fun.”
I shoved him in the shoulder as I strapped in. Giggling, I asked, “What am I gonna do with you?”
“Love me.”
“I already do.”
We kissed before he declared, “Let’s hit it.”
23
NAIJHEL
THREE WEEKS LATER
She stepped out of the house wearing a flowing, lime-green dress that had a slit up the right thigh. On her feet were a pair of white espadrille wedges, and she wore a white, floppy sun hat on her head.
I couldn’t see her eyes for the oversized, white mirrored sunglasses she wore, but I could detect her excitement in her large, toothy grin and the loud gasp that emitted from her throat.
“Naijhel! She’s a beauty, baby,” she declared, rushing down the stairs of her front porch and toward me.
“Woman, you were supposed to wait until I rung the doorbell.”
“I couldn’t, baby. I’ve been so excited about this that I’ve been checking your location and looking out the window every two minutes. She deserves to be seen, so I had to see you pull up in her.”
I chuckled. “But you didn’t know she deserved to be seen before you saw her,” I refuted as she dragged her hand over my classic 1969 midnight-black Thunderbird.
“When did you finish her?”
“This morning. I hopped in the shower after I finished and immediately drove over here after I called you.”
“You couldn’t wait to go for a ride, huh?”
“Just wanted to be with you, baby.”
“I couldn’t wait to see this gorgeous girl,” Delaney declared as I opened the door so that she could slide inside.
I ran around the other side and opened the door. I watched as she dragged her hands over the cream leather seats and inhaled. “Call me crazy, but I love the scent of leather for some reason.”
“You’re not crazy. I love it too, especially on a nice leather jacket.”
“Where are we going?”
“I thought we’d take a ride along Atlantic Highway and over Scenic Bluff.”
“To see the ocean?”
