“What?â€
“What do you mean, what?†I asked curiously.
“I mean that I’m not kidding you so the answer is what.â€
“Geez, Dave, I’m so tired, so stop kidding me! I’m freaking enough as it is!â€
“Freaking, huh, your present dialect is fascinating, tell me why are you ‘freaking’?â€
“Aw, heck. I don’t know! It’s just you! Or me. Man, I’m just so incredibly attracted to you and I think I’m falling in love with you!â€
“You just think, Miranda? I thought when you were falling out of the sky, you were definitely falling for me!â€
“Dave, now you are teasing! Gimme a break, I’m just a lonely little girl with a crooked little heart, meaning it’s been cracked open a couple of times, so hey, don’t I deserve some mercy?â€
“Miranda, sweetie, you deserve everything you believe you deserve.â€
“Like you?â€
“What makes you think you deserve me?â€
“Well, maybe I don’t deserve you, because I think you’re too good to be true, but I know more than anything in the world I’ve ever wanted, well, I know that I want you.â€
A feather dusting of silence fell between us. Dave took my hand in his and kissed it lightly. We lay back in the sand and searched for stars away from the moon. And when the moon shone strong we lay there, cloud-bursting, blissfully happy as the minutes dripped on towards dawn.
As the sun started to rise across the horizon of the ocean, Dave tugged at the hair on my head to place it on his shoulder. It truly was the most spectacular sunrise I’d ever witnessed. The sky was an evolving mosaic of colors blending with mist, like an angelic preparation for the arrival of God. The sand was damp on my hands and sticky in my hair. The warmth I felt from Dave’s body was so reassuring. When the golden orb of the sun cleared the water I closed my eyes and dozed off fully aware of the rise and fall of Dave’s breath and the calming effect it had on my system.
***