Beyond Eighteen(103)

“Alright, let’s go,” Max said as he gave me a quick kiss on the lips and pulled open the door.

We walked across the front yard out the sea-weathered picket fence and down the narrow sandy trail toward the ocean cliffs behind the house. The long, thin, wispy foxtails swayed in the breeze, trouncing against our jeans as we meandered our way to the ocean’s edge. The winter sun attempted to warm our faces while the chill of the gentle wind betrayed all its efforts. Targeted by the salty ocean air, blustery against my skin, I reminisced about spending hours down at the beach when I was younger.

“So you want to take me to the beach?” I asked Max as he led the way, pulling me by the hand. “Because we need to head to the right if we are going down the cliff to the beach.”

“Well, actually, I saw that bench from the road and I was thinking I’d like to watch the sunset with you.” Max pulled me over to the familiar old redwood bench.

“You’re kidding me. Max, you have no idea how special this bench is to me. My grandpa had this bench built so he and Grandma would have a place to sit and watch the sunset. They used to bring chairs here, but when it got too difficult for them to carry, he paid the city to build this bench…right in their favorite spot.” I could feel a lump grow in the back of my throat.

I looked out over the horizon. The rim of the sun was sinking behind the edge of the boundless, dark blue ocean. Fire-red clouds splayed the landscape as misty fog danced across the water.

“Well, that makes this moment even more special,” Max whispered as he pulled me into his chest. I could feel his heart thrash against his sternum. The wind kicked up and my hair swirled around my head, lashing at my face. I pushed into his chest and tightened my arms around his back. He pulled me down onto the bench. As I turned to see the sunset, he held my hair out of my eyes. We sat on my grandparents’ bench, speechless, while we watched the sea swallow the sun.

Max cleared his throat and the last sliver of sunlight seemed to wait for us.

“I can’t explain what happens to me when I am with you. You are my purpose for getting up in the morning and the reason I want to be the man I am every day. I brought you out here because I wanted to tell you that I understand how important this place is to you…how much this completes you to be here. And I want you to know I will do everything in my power to keep your grandparents’ house for you…for us.”

I felt him shift before he lowered himself off the bench in front of me.

“I know we have a lot of growing to do, but I’d be a fool not to tell you how I feel. I don’t want to waste another minute without you. I will wait for you, I will follow you. I will be the only man you will ever need.”

Max pulled a small, black velvet box out of his jacket pocket and opened it. “Wilson, babe, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife? Will you marry me…someday?”

My heart thundered in my stomach. My butterflies cheered and my lungs clenched, keeping every ounce of air from letting me breathe. I couldn’t speak. Tears poured from my eyes so fat, I couldn’t even see the ring. All I could do was nod ‘yes,’ over and over again.

Max rose, catching me in his arms. We stood up, my legs weak by what he’d just done. I couldn’t stop crying. I couldn’t call up my voice to even say yes…God, I was totally and completely in love with him. I never expected him to propose to me. Not right then. No wonder his heart was thundering in his chest. I pulled him tighter against me. He kissed my neck, then ran his lips across my check and pushed his mouth against mine. He tasted better than ever before…the salt of my tears mixed with the refreshing flavor of the ocean. He tasted like home.

Finally I was home…the way I wanted home to be. Max’s kiss became something different. It was something I was going to have forever. The night sky swathed us into being the only two people in the world, the stars our guests, the waves our music, as we started our life together.

“I never put the ring on your finger,” Max whispered. I looked at him, his face in silhouette, the glistening stars faintly lighting his complexion. His cheeks were damp; it wasn’t just my tears I tasted against his lips.

He pulled my left hand up to his chest and rested it there. “Do you feel my heart?” he asked as he pulled the ring out of the box.

I nodded, still lost to words.

It was the most beautiful ring I’d ever seen. A single, gigantic diamond with a platinum band that curved up to hold the stone in place. A simple, elegant double band was the perfect symbol of our relationship, a continuation of how two lives can seem parallel until they come to the realization of how exquisite they are when they discover their flawlessness.