His hands rest on my hips as the water rises over my stomach and then lowers again. “It’s warm,” he says, kissing my shoulder as we walk into the water until it’s right under my boobs. He dunks under the water and comes up, and the sun glistens on his shoulders. “Come here.” He pulls me to him and squats down, wrapping his arms around my waist. My legs wrap around his waist and my arms around his neck as we just lounge in the water. Neither of us are saying anything. “Are we going to discuss what you said?”
I turn my head on his shoulder and kiss his neck, tasting the salt from the sea water. “Can we not?”
I can feel his chest moving as he laughs. “Leave it to you to ruin everything.”
I gasp and lean back to look at him. “How did I ruin everything?”
“Do you want to get married?” he asks, and my head screams yes.
“It’s my father’s fault,” I start to tell him. “He was all over me yesterday at work.” I really wish my mouth would listen to my head sometimes, but today isn’t that day. “How do you feel about Wilson? Will you marry him?” I put my hands up. “He just put all these things in my head.”
“Well, what was your answer?” he asks, and with the sun and the blue water around him, his eyes are almost a mint green.
I put my hand over my eyes to make sure I can see his eyes when we have this conversation. “What do you mean?”
“I mean …” He smirks. “How did you answer your father? Would you marry me?” My mouth gets dry, and the sun suddenly feels like it’s burning my skin.
“Are you asking me to marry you?” I ask, and he looks down and then up.
“I’m asking if I asked you, what would you say?” I don’t have any time to answer him because I hear our names being called and look over to see Alex, Julia, and Dylan all standing there.
“Are you guys banging in there?” Alex asks us.
“It’s a public beach!” I shout back, laughing.
“I’m not going in that water,” Dylan says. “Don’t you guys have a bed or couch?”
“What fun is that?” Alex says. “We’ll give you guys a couple of minutes to finish.”
“We will not,” Julia says. “Take an hour; we’ll use the pool.”
“An hour?” Dylan looks at the girls.
“Oh my God.” Julia gasps. “He’s a selfish lover.”
“I am not!” Dylan shouts at her, and Wilson slowly starts walking out of the water.
“Once, I had someone go an hour,” Julia says proudly.
“Impossible,” Dylan says, making the girls laugh, and only when we are out of the water does he let me go.
“No one was having sex in the water,” Wilson says.
“At least not now.” I smirk. “Tonight is different.” I walk up to the little bar that is set up on the beach. “Who wants a drink?”
“Yes.” The girls both clap their hands.
The afternoon is spent with the whole gang by the beach. We laugh and lounge, and when I step into the shower that night, I can see that I’ve gotten a little tan. “Wilson.” I call his name as he steps into the bathroom. “Look, I got color,” I say, sticking out my tits so he sees the white. “Not as much as you, but still.” I look over at him, and he’s golden from the sun. I close the shower door and finish my shower. Getting out and drying off, I slip on my long white one-piece summer dress. The spaghetti straps on my shoulders are tied in bows, and when I open the bathroom door, I stop in my tracks when I see two roses on the bed with a note. “Wilson?” I call his name, walking up to the bed and seeing the note beside the roses.
Two roses symbolize shared and deep love.
I love you, Frances.
I smile and turn to walk out of the room, seeing that there are more roses, this time in vases. The first one has twelve roses in it with a white paper in front of it.
Will you be mine, Frances?
I love you, Frances.
Walking to the next vase, I read the note.
Twenty-one roses show my commitment to you.
I love you, Frances.
I look around to see if I spot him, and I can’t see him in the room. The tears sting my eyes as I walk over to see more roses.
Twenty-five roses wish someone all the happiness in the world, and with you, I’ve never been happier.
I love you, Frances.
I take a couple of more steps in the living room, seeing roses on the counter in the kitchen. Three different vases with even more roses.
Thirty roses mean faithfulness. You will always be the only one I want.
I love you, Frances.