Page 56 of Plus One

The boat rounded the outside of the mangrove tunnel and glided back toward the dock. The other boats ahead of them, their lanterns floating over the slick black sea like fireflies in the night, a path leading to somewhere Monique had never been before.

For the first time in a long time, she wasn’t afraid.

CHAPTER 14Maurice

The restaurant was positioned high above the boat landing, carved into stone against streaks of blossoms of every color, sandwiched between an onyx sky and sapphire sea. It wasn’t ornate, but it was grand.

New Jerusalem. The book of Revelation, chapter twenty-one, sprang to Maurice’s mind.

They’d docked and departed the boat on a string of blessings from their guide. Then they hosed themselves off. The water rushed between the planks beneath their feet, those planktons still broadcasting proof of their existence: silent yet persistent. Bright. Undeniable. Kind of like how he felt right now.

Maurice’s steps bounced on the wood, like he was still in the water. He was buoyant. His heart was light. Lifted.

“I’m wobbly,” Monique chuckled beside him, leaning into his arm.

He waswobblytoo. They swayed and rocked as if still on the sea. Could it be the intense feeling of touching this woman, being close to her, that tilted his equilibrium?

“Do you need to sit down?” He scanned the area for seating and secured his hold on her.

He’d seen her falter a few times already. Now knowing about her cancer validated his close watch. The word didn’t scare him. She said she was recovering. He’d learned early that there were greater things to fear, like sudden silences and the sharp wood-on-wood crack of a gavel. Those struck like a whip against his flesh.

With her, he was not afraid. The warm, salty seawater had startled him at first, but then he’d kissed her. And there was nothing left to fear.

“I’ve never been great on boats, but I love the water.” She let out a long sigh. “The meds make the vertigo worse. Right now, I feel good. Real good.”

He slowed their pace, and she looked up at him with confusion. The sudden desire to kiss her rocked him.

“Cousin!” Tommie shouted from nearby, interrupting them. “Y’all get in here.” Everyone had gathered by a group of trees and flowers, cell phones in hand. They arranged themselves and snapped a few selfies before Monique stepped back and took control of the photo shoot, capturing pictures of the couples with her camera.

She asked the men to pose together, and Tommie leaned into Maurice. “Monie is dope, right?”

Maurice hummed in response. She was better than that, more than that.Dopewas too small a word. It couldn’t hold all that she was.

“She’s smart and funny.Crazytalented. And she’s kind. Justgood.I don’t know how she manages to show up for everybody with everything she’s got going on. But she does.”

He hummed again, not taking his eyes off the focus of Tommie’s praises. Correction burned on his tongue, but he swallowed the fire. Maurice saw a woman who was weary and wary, but duty-bound. Tommie saw what he wanted to see.

Monique wasn’tjustsmart, kind, and beautiful. She was unlike anyone Maurice had ever encountered before.

“Look at me,” she said, but he had never taken his eyes off her and the way her white skirt dripped over her hips and then fluttered down toward the shimmering brown flesh of her calves as she gave directions. A flash of silver at her ankle teased him.

Her eyes met his and held him in her soft, playful grasp.

Tommie shoulder-checked him. “You gonna say anything? You’re feeling her, right?”

Monique’s earlier statement about Tommie and the Aunties plotting barreled at him, a speeding train of a reality check.

“You all worked it out so we’d meet.” Maurice was unsure if the words were in his mouth or in his head.

Lanie looked away. At least she pretended to be a little shamefaced. Nothing changed in Tommie. “Is it wrong for me to want my best friend and my best cousin to be happy? You could be good for each other.”

Maurice shook his head. Tommie had a way of pulling strings, but their scheme might be a bridge too far. But it was Tommie and Lanie’s wedding week. He wouldn’t ruin it. “Why go through all of this?”

“Why not?” Tommie looked defiant. “But you need to talk to Moms, she’s the real mastermind.”

Deb.“What are you talking about?”

Lanie pulled Maurice’s head down and pecked his cheek. “Sweetie, you are so slow sometimes. We got tired of waiting on you to do something.”