He opened the pictures he’d taken of her and showed them. Monique in front of the ocean and the sky, her white skirt like a cloud, and her skin sparkling in that way that he’d come to love.
The boat went silent.
“Damn,” Taurion whispered, falling back in his seat.
“Yep.” Maurice put his phone away.
“You got it bad, son,” Mr. Turner said.
Maurice couldn’t answer.
“What are you doing on this boat with us, then? Why aren’t you with her?” Richard asked, saying more words to Maurice on this boat than he’d said in the four years they’d known each other.
“Because I messed up.”
Tommie’s posture became tense. “What did you do?” Mr. Turner’s hand went to Tommie’s shoulder.
“We were…” Maurice covered his face. “I can’t say these things out loud.”
“And we don’t wanna hear them,” Tommie said, voice tight. “CliffsNotes.”
Maurice took a deep breath. “I don’t know what the hell I’m supposed to do—how to do this, to be with someone—how to want her and be good and safe for her.”
“I know we haven’t known each other long,” Mr. Turner said, reeling in his line. “But if my Elaine loves this knucklehead, and he trusts you with his life, then you’re all right with me, Maurice.”
“I appreciate that, Mr. Turner, but I’m just so bad at this. I want it—want her—so much that it hurts.” Maurice turned and looked off toward the island as if he could spot Monique from such a distance. He shook his head. “I keep screwing up.”
“I’ve known you for forty years, B. You’re a steady dude. And the work you do with Moms and Returning Home, that’s not without risk. Why don’t you believe you deserve some of what you preach?”
Maurice looked up at Tommie, who knew every detail of what he’d done and still thought he was good.
“What if she doesn’t agree with you?”
“Then you keep showing her the truth.”
“What if I mess up again?”
Taurion chuckled. “Oh, you will royally fuck up. Many, many times.” The other men nodded. “We all will. But you try again. You listen, and you learn.”
“How was it with Lanie?” Maurice asked Tommie.
Tommie secured his rod and turned around. “It took just about half my life to figure out how to love her, but once I got that, everything else fell into place. I was a kid when we met. Her family was so different than mine. Moms was so locked in on trying to save you, and Mother was always clocking for Moms. Daddy was just there, caught in between duty and something none of us had words for.”
Maurice nodded, remembering the elaborate charade that was Tommie’s family. Genuine, authentic love and care had always been there, but they could never love out loud in the way the Turners had. With Lanie, it was like Tommie was making up for lost time.
“Love, at least how Daddy would sometimes say, comes when you’re ready. It does what Papa Turner said: not to correct, but to repair. To fill in those spaces, those cracks. You’re different, stronger, because you love. Not perfected.”
“Hmm,” Richard grunted and turned to the water. Maurice did too.
They were quiet for a long time, just letting the water collect their thoughts in its foam and dissolve.
The city came into sharper focus, but still at a distance. The fellas were right: he had it bad. He saw her everywhere now. He blinked at the figure in the distance. Monique? Alone, on the promenade just above the docks.
Maurice’s phone buzzed in his pocket. A text from Deb.
BOSS LADY
Monique’s taking her friend’s news hard. She walked out of the spa. But I don’t think that’s all she’s angry about. Can you find her?