Page 144 of Lennox Lane

Lennox stood next to the sign. Nova stood to off to the side with both hands pressed to her mouth, already crying because she had the emotional restraint of a church soloist at a homegoing. Cadence sat in a chair near KC, one hand on her belly, glowing with a happiness that made Lane melt. KC stood behind her with a proud smile and one hand resting on his wife’s shoulder. Tariq held a box of tissues in one hand and a bottle of sparkling cider in the other like he had accepted his role as both fool and usher.

Lane looked back at Lennox. “You said it was important,” she whispered.

“It is,” he told her.

“I thought something happened,” she told him.

“Something did. Come here, Lavender,” he requested with his hand out.

Lane should’ve cursed him out for scaring her and let him know he was one vague text away from getting his SUV turned into a wind chime. Should’ve rolled her eyes at the way he stood there in all black with his handsome face filled with seriousness and those alluring eyes that were asking her to choose softness in front of witnesses.

Instead, she walked to him on legs that felt like jello, but they continued to move. Every step carried her past pieces of herself. The conference table where she had negotiated food deliveries during storms. The wall where they taped up pantry expansion plans. The chairs where patrons turned volunteers cried during orientation because they were told that needing help didn’t disqualify them from giving it.

This was her dream made real, her answer to hunger, and her proof that surviving wasn’t the end of the story. Lennox stood at the front of it waiting for her with his hand out as she placed hers in his, exhaling when his fingers closed around hers gently.

“You scared me,” she said, voice syrupy sweet, scaring even herself, “I was about to commit several traffic crimes.”

“I needed urgent Lane,” he chuckled.

“Robot,” she said sternly.

His mouth twitched, but his eyes stayed soft. “I’m sorry, Baby,” he told her sincerely.

“You should be.”

He pulled her to him and kissed her passionately. When Lennox pulled back, Lane knew she had a smile on her face that said she was love drunk and didn’t care.

She looked at the sign again because looking at him was becoming dangerous. “What is this?” She asked playfully.

Lennox stepped closer, still holding her hand. “This is me asking,” he said, inhaling deeply to keep his composure; for once, the great Lennox Jackson looked nervous.

That did more to Lane than the flowers.

“I’ve spent most of my life believing love was something people used against each other. I watched my father turn marriage into a power structure, while my mother shrank inside a life that looked beautiful from the outside. I told myself I was smarter than that and if I never belonged to one woman, I’d never become the kind of man who could hurt her the way he hurt my mother,” speaking from his heart as his thumb moved over the back of her hand.

“Then you came into my life, and you made every excuse I had look small.”

Nova was sniffling as she cried, causing Tariq to whisper, “Already Nov?”

KC hushed them both as Lennox continued professing his love to Lane.

“I was careless with you at first because I was arrogant. I let my fear of falling for you dress itself up as ego, bringing hurt to you. You had every reason to walk away from me and keep walking, but you didn’t. You cussed me out and threatened me. You even stole several important pieces of my car, but you held me accountable for how I was showing up in your life. Once I started getting my shit together, you let me learn you.”

“Art,” Tariq added.

Cadence whispered, “Tariq.”

Lane pressed her lips together as he brought her hand to his chest, right over his heart.

“You opened up and allowed me to see the parts of you others mishandled. You let me hold you when you broke, letting me witness your softness without treating it like a weakness. You made space for me to stand beside you while you keep living your dreams, and that matters to me more than you know,” he let her know.

Lane’s tears finally won as they cascaded down her face and Lennox’s own eyes shone, though his voice stayed steady.

“I don’t want to be a man who owns you, Lane. I’m trying to be a man who honors the fact that you choose me. I want to be where you rest when the world asks too much of you. I need to be the person you call whether you’re scared or need love and everything in between,” he joked as a laugh broke through Lane’s tears.

“That does happen,” she whispered.

“I know. I’ve logged your patterns,” he let her know, making everyone laugh.