Adore You

by Nicole Falls

“Yeah…that’s…um…sure. Just, uh…you know the number. I’m gonna just, um…I’ll talk to you later?”

  She started down the stairs, then turned around to hand me the last poster board.

  “I’ll let you hold onto this one.”

  “Bee?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I love you.”

  Her eyes widened, before a small smile emerged on her face.

  “I love you, too.”

  “I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

  “Ah…okay.”

  Her descent of the stairs was a bit less weighed down this time. I watched her walk down to her car, get in and take off before going back inside. Once inside, I went looking for my phone to make a quick phone call.

  “I need your help.”

  “You know this is some crazy shit, right?”

  “She out romanced me, yo. I couldn’t let her win.”

  Cadence laughed as she crossed the threshold.

  “Oh my God, it smells amazing in here.”

  “Told you I’d deliver.”

  “Yeah yeah yeah.”

  I wasn’t a complete asshole. See…before Bee came over with her cute ass poster board declarations and speech and shit, I’d been plotting. In the time we’d been apart, I’d been thinking…just like her. And I’d made up my mind that I was done with the silly shit…just like her. But I also wanted to make her sweat a little bit. I was waiting for CadyMac to give me the all clear before I enacted Operation Woo. I wasn’t going down without a fight. Everything was out in the open and despite her less than stellar reaction to us being outed; I knew that she was it. At the wedding, watching Trey and Demi pledge their undying love for each other—it hit me. That’s such a cliché right?

  “You realize I’ve had to hold sister circle vigils with her and Celena for the past two days because ‘I poured my fucking heart out and he didn’t even caaaaaaare’. Why do y’all insist on keeping the pregnant lady in the midst of your drama?”

  “I can’t talk about this shit with Trey or any of my boys, CadyMac. C’mon. You know that. Ev ain’t got time since he’s doing overtime trying to get his wife back, so…”

  “I get the logic, bro. Truly. I do. But, I thought you already fucking had the ring, dude. Why are you prolonging this?”

  “Because you let her out romance me! I know that grand gesture shit was all you!”

  “There is something truly wrong with you, you know that? Please tell me you’re going to talk to that girl today.”

  “I am. You wanna see it?”

  “Hell yes I want to see it. Why in the hell do you think I came by?”

  “You came over here because I promised you gumbo once you got the correct ring size for me,” I said, stirring the simmering pot on the stove.

  “And I fucking delivered!”

  “Language, CadyMac! All this cursing while my niece is in utero.”

  “Just show me the damn ring.”

  I grabbed the box from the counter and walked it over to Cadence. I was nervous watching her open it because I didn’t seek her counsel at all. I just asked her to get me Bee’s ring size and assured her I’d take care of the rest. I mean, after all, I’d known the woman for the entirety of her life. I knew what she liked, her tastes and style…shit like that. But…this was different. If I was giving her what was supposed to be a token of my undying love for her, it needed to be a showstopper. I’d been researching gemstones for weeks because the one thing I knew for sure was she didn’t want a diamond to be the centerpiece of the ring.

  “Oh my God, El!”

  “I did good?”

  The ring was vintage inspired, with a cushion cut morganite as the centerpiece, set in a rose gold floral setting with a scalloped diamond band. The morganite stone was a beautiful pinkish peach sort of color, which complemented the rose gold of the band quite nicely. The moment I saw it, it screamed Devorah to me. I was relieved to get Cadence’s stamp of approval.

  “You did great. This is beautiful! So when are you…?”

  “Tonight.”

  “Wait. You can’t tonight.”

  “And why the hell not?”

  “Her nails look a mess! You can’t propose to the girl with her damn fingers looking crazy because she’s been gnawing on them waiting for you to call.”

  “Cadence.”

  “Ellis.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yes! This is a thing. Trust me. Let me work this out. It has to be tonight, huh?”

  “YES.”

  “Okay. Fine. Give me a few hours. I’ll make sure her hands look presentable.”

  It had to be tonight because it had been exactly nine months since AdTech when we came to what was allegedly a no strings attached, no feelings caught understanding. Bee likely had no idea that from there we’d end up here, but I’d always known. All of my Black Clooney antics were my way of passing the time until we were really ready to do this. I knew I was really ready now and I hoped to God Bee was too.

  I stood outside Bee’s front door nervous as hell. I’d heard from Cadence hours ago that they did the nail thing and now it was show time. I shifted the poster board under my left arm and rang the doorbell. Instead of Devorah answering as expected, it was her friend Celena, who promptly shut the door in my face. What the hell? I rang the doorbell again, but it was a good two to three minutes before someone came back to the door again. It was Celena again, but this time she had a duffle slung over her arm. Passing me, she patted my shoulder saying, “She’s in the front room. Good luck!”

  I walked in and just as Celena said, there she was sitting on the love seat in her living room. I set the poster board that was in my hands down in the chair to my right and sat down next to her, wrapping arm around her shoulders to bring her close to me. I pressed a quick kiss to her forehead and felt her relax in my arms instantly.

  “Hey.”

  “Hi.”

  “How are you?”

  “Stressed.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “I…can we skip the small talk? Can you just get on with what you’re going to do?”

  I pulled back a bit to look her in the eye and could see the sheen of unshed tears she tried valiantly to keep from falling.

  “So about the question you asked the other day. I have an answer for you.”

  “Okay.”

  “Before I tell you though, I want you to let me finish completely before you respond, okay?”

  Devorah nodded once. I grabbed the poster board where I sat it when I walked in. I’d checked the no box. I watched as she looked at the board dumbfounded.

  “Turn it over.”

  On the opposite side of the board I’d written

  Bee inhaled sharply as she processed what I’d written. While she was reading, I’d moved into position on one knee, grabbing her left hand.

  “I know you’re going to have a thousand reasons as to why we should wait, it’s too soon blah blah blah, but I’m tired of playing. I love you and you claim to be deeply, madly, obsessively in love with…”

  “Yes.”

  “Hold on woman, I’m not done! I had a whole speech. Let me…wait…yes?”

  I looked up to see her nodding furiously, tears streaming. A huge sense of relief washed over me as I got up from the floor, pulling her into me for a real kiss. Before we got too carried away, however, I remembered we had somewhere to go. I pulled back, giving Bee one last soft kiss before telling her to put on some shoes. While she was getting herself together, I shot off a quick text to make sure everything was a go.

  The first person I called that day I asked Bee for some time to think about her grand gesture was Aunt Imogene. I hadn’t spoken to Uncle James in years, plus he and Devorah weren’t super close so I didn’t bother trying to track him down. I knew my dad still kept in touch with him, but for this I needed to engage the parent with which she had the most interaction. After a brief cryptic phone call, I went over to Auntie’s house, laid out my intentions and ask
ed for Devorah’s hand. She granted it instantly, shockingly, citing that she always knew her baby would end up with one of Randi’s boys.

  We arrived at her mother’s house and everyone was there waiting for us — my mother, father, Everett, Cassidy, Cadence, and Geoff. Hell even Uncle James was there, surprisingly. I knew that he and Aunt Im hadn’t split on the best terms and despite it being over a decade, the wound was still a little raw. It was a major deal if she called him over to join us. Auntie Imogene went all out, a huge photo banner, with a picture of us I’d never seen before; congratulating us was draped across the mantle in her living room.

  All of the women rushed Bee immediately asking to see the ring. Shit! I’d been so caught up in her actually saying yes, that I never even put the damn thing on her finger. I reached into my pocket as I walked over to where they were congregating and got down on one knee again as I placed the ring on her finger. The sharp intake of breath from Bee and collective awwwww from the rest of the ladies let me know I’d done a great job. They immediately peppered me with questions about the stone, where I’d gotten such a unique ring, and who had helped me pick it out. I think they were all very shocked that I didn’t need any help finding the right ring.

  Later that evening, Bee and I were relaxing at my place. We’d decided to crash there for the night since I lived closer to Auntie Im’s and we were eager to celebrate our engagement the right way.

  As we lay in bed Bee asked, “Why this stone? Why not a diamond?”

  “Oh like I forgot the twenty minute lecture I got about diamonds after we watched that god awful DiCaprio film? Or how every time you saw an extravagantly large diamond you’d sigh in disgust. Oh please. I’m surprised you let me get away with the diamonds in the band, which…by the way, are conflict free.”

  “I love this morganite. It’s such a beautiful, powerful stone.”

  “Powerful?”

  “Yeah, you know mama is on her Google everything kick and she looked it up. Says it’s supposed to provide relief and positivity during stressful times and aid in developing patience and communication skills.”

  “No wonder it screamed your name when I saw it!”

  “Hey!”

  “I mean…”

  “Oh shut up. I got it right eventually, yes?”

  “Took you long enough.”

  Acknowledgements

  It’s been a long road. I feel like I’ve been writing a book nearly as long as I’ve been reading books, ha! But I’ve finally made it by the grace of God. There have been tons of people who have been instrumental in the genesis of this finally coming to fruition, so to all of you who have listened to me lament about this book, I thank you. Your never-ending patience will not go unrewarded. And now for some special shoutouts…

  Mama: Thank you for support & an unwavering faith in your lastborn.

  Daddy: Thank you for an undying pledge to ensure that I doggedly pursue my heart’s desires at all costs.

  Ajua: Nineteen, my Leo sister. Thank you for being consistent with check-ins & reminding me of our brilliance.

  Ashley: You’ll never know how the words “So. I love your story.” filled my heart with so much glee. Thank you for being an awesome beta reader & friend.

  Christina: This book wouldn’t be here without you, full stop. I’m eternally grateful for your friendship & at a complete loss with where to even begin to repay you for the incredible amounts of patience, kindness & advice you’ve bestowed upon me. #HeadJonesie4Life

  Dom: Forever grateful for your friendship, patience, candidness, and feedback. [insert Mary gif here]

  Kayla: Your undying support of my all of writing has never gone unnoticed & I cannot begin to tell you how much it means to me. Remember I told you whenever I finally finished a book; you’d be in my acknowledgements. See, I wasn’t lying!

  Sarah: Thank you for keeping me on task & delivering a swift kick to my ass every time I tried to quit & just being an all around dope ass friend.

  Tahmeka: A few years ago you started a writing group & were it not for that group; this book would still be a figment floating in the ether of my imagination. Thank you for being the catalyst, my friend!

  Tawanda: The bio assist was clutch. You the real MVP.

  Trina: My sis, my ace…thank you for caring about these crazy folks from my brain and asking intermittently what the hell ever happened with them. Hope I managed to keep your attention, ha!

  And finally to the readers, I hope you enjoyed reading this one and will keep rockin’ with ya girl as I keep on keepin’ on.

  About the Author

  Nicole Falls is a contemporary Black romance writer who has taken entirely too long to complete her first project. She’s also a ceramic mug and lapel pin enthusiast who cannot function without her wireless Beats constantly blaring music. When Nicole isn’t writing, she spends her time trolling her friends and family while drinking coffee and/or cocktails or checking off yet another of these great United States visited in her quest to see some land! She currently resides in the suburbs of Chicago.

  Keep up with my random, rambling thoughts at: www.nicolefalls.com

  Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/_nicolefalls