Chapter 14
“Now where are you taking me, again?” he asked. My hand was in his as I led us to the location of our experience.
Other couples rushed past us toward the door. “One of my patients . . . clients. Ooh, that’s a hard habit to break.” I chuckled to myself. “One of my clients, her sister is a sound practitioner—”
“A sound practitioner?” He stopped walking, which ceased my forward motion as well. “What the fuck is that?”
I had to laugh because his expression was so serious. “Do you think I would bring you to something weird, Q? Some place where you would experience something unpleasant?”
“Shit, I didn’t think you would, but now? I don’t know.”
I sighed. “A sound practitioner is a person who facilitates sound baths. We’re going to experience a sound bath.”
“In front of all these other people?”
“It’s a couples’ sound bath.”
“So, we’re about to bathe in front of other couples? Are you a swinger, E?”
I let out a guffaw. “Q! Stop being ridiculous. It’s not a literal bath. This isn’t some public bath house. This is a wellness center. We’re about to experience being bathed in sound—with chimes and gongs. Stuff like that.” I shook my head. “I can’t believe you.”
“For a minute, I couldn’t believe you. I thought you were about to have me turn this place out. My baby ain’t getting naked or bathing in front of none of these niggas . . . or white niggas.”
“You’re insane,” I said, tugging his arm so we could start to walk again.
He held the door for me, and I stepped into the wellness center. I was immediately greeted by the smell of chamomile and ylang ylang. “It smells good,” I told Quentin.
He nodded. “It does.”
“It’s pretty too.” And it was. The foyer was painted a very calming shade of green.
“The sign says the room for the sound bath is this way.” He pointed to the left, then led me into the room where the sound bath would take place.
The room was just as lovely and calming as the foyer.
It was painted a warm beige, and there were oversized olive trees in each corner.
At the front of the room were about twenty vessels and instruments that I knew would be used to create sounds.
In the middle of the floor, thick, luxuriant beige mats, each with an eye mask, a pillow, and a blanket were set up.
There were enough mats for about seven couples, and many had already been claimed. “Let’s pick our mats,” I told Quentin.
We selected mats next to each other.
“This seems weird but also strangely calming. Between the scent she’s pumping in, the candlelight, the color scheme, and the soft music . . . this setup is a vibe.”
“It is.” I agreed, looking around and taking in the ambience.
After we’d been there for about ten minutes, the practitioner stepped to the front of the room, causing silence to fall over the space.
She gave us a big grin. “Good evening, and welcome to the first couples’ sound bath event.
If you’ve never experienced a sound bath before, let me tell you about it. ”
She went on to explain the sound bath’s ability to induce deep relaxation, to offer calm to the nervous system, reduce anxiety, provide the atmosphere for deep meditation, decrease tension in muscles, and potentially trigger the release of endorphins.
“Please stretch out on your mats.” We all stretched out on our mats, and Q took my hand in his.
“Because of the calming and meditative properties of sound baths, the inclination might be to drift off to sleep. I ask that you press against that instinct. To fall asleep would prevent you from experiencing the benefits of the sound bath. Please place your eye masks over your eyes, and we will begin.”
One hour later, she hit the gong to alert us that it was over and that we could remove our eye masks.
“Damn,” Quentin said, making eye contact with me. “I literally feel relaxed as hell.”
“Me too,” I admitted. “We should do this again.”
“We should see if she does private sessions. We should get her to come to the house. That way when it’s over, we won’t have to drive anywhere.”
“Agreed.”
We stood up from our mats with the other attendees and headed to the front to thank the practitioner. While we were thanking her, Q asked if she did private sessions and got her business card. Then we left the center, climbed into his truck, and headed for dinner at Londynville Luxe.
“I really enjoyed that,” I said as my eyes perused the menu. “The brain fog that feels like it’s always weighing me down actually feels like it’s lifted.”
“Say word.” He agreed. “I feel like my mind is sharp like a motherfucka.”
“If I had known I was gonna get results like this, I would’ve looked into a sound bath a long time ago.”
We were both quiet as we tried to decide what we would eat for dinner.
Quentin broke the silence. “This Saturday, don’t forget. We’re having lunch at my dad’s house.”
“I won’t forget. I’m too nervous to forget.”
He scrunched up his face. “Nervous? For what? My pops is cool as hell. He won’t give you no static. He’s just glad that I’m opening myself up again.”
I looked at him over the menu. “I’m glad you’re opening yourself up again too. And speaking of that, have you decided what you want to do for Teagan’s birthday?”
Teagan’s birthday was two weeks away. When he shared that it was coming up with me, I asked how he usually commemorated it.
When he told me that he usually played old love songs, stared at her picture, and drank himself into a stupor, I asked if he needed me to leave the house that day.
Then he told me that it was probably time for him to reframe the day and asked if I could help him come up with some ideas.
After discussing things that she liked, I gave him some suggestions but left it up to him to decide the actual agenda.
“Yeah. I think her favorite restaurant, Bougie Bistro . . . for lunch, and then the Londynville Black History Museum. She loved that place.”
“I love that place too. Sounds like a plan.”
He stared at me silently for a moment before speaking. “Say, I really appreciate you being open to doing this with me. Let me know if it gets too awkward.”
“It’s not awkward, Q. You loving her doesn’t make me feel any kind of way.
I think it’s . . . I don’t know . . . cool that losing her didn’t make you pack up your feelings for her and pretend like she never existed.
I think it’s cool that you keep Teagan around but not in an overwhelming or unhealthy way.
You acknowledge her without making her into some kind of supernatural being that nobody else could ever live up to. ”
“Nah, she wouldn’t want that.” He chuckled lightly. “She would hate that.”
The waitress arrived at the table. She took our orders and our menus. I turned to Quentin.
“So, do you think we can ride your bike to your dad’s house for lunch?”
“My bike?” He looked confused. “You wanna ride my bike?”
I cocked my head to the side. “Q, I grew up on the back of a bike. First my daddy’s and then Kobey’s. I’ve been trying to figure out why we never go anywhere on yours. Everywhere we go, you drive your truck.”
His eyes widened. “Oh shit, that never even dawned on me. Teagan couldn’t ride on my bike, because the dust and the debris set her asthma off.”
“I don’t have asthma,” I reminded him gently.
“You don’t.” He gave me a dimpled smile.
“Is that a yes? We can ride your bike?”
He stared into my eyes. “If you wanna ride on the back of my bike, we ain’t gotta wait ’til Saturday, E. I’ll take you on a ride as soon as we get home.”
The way that Quentin looked at me gave me butterflies.
“What?” he asked. “What’s that look on your face?”
“The look you put there because of the way you look at me.”
“How do I look at you, E?” His dimples were prominently displayed as he grinned at me.
“Like I’m something good to look at.”
“You are something good to look at. You’re my favorite fucking thing to look at. I’m tryna figure out how I can sign up to look at you years to come.”
I giggled. Quentin Bishop had me gone. “I really like you.”
He didn’t say anything for a long minute. The silence went on to the point that I thought I should probably take it back. Maybe I spoke too soon. “I like you more, E.” He held out his hand, beckoning to me. “Com’ere.”
I stood from my seat and walked around the table to his.
His hands went to my waist as he set me on his lap.
“You’re my proof that God didn’t forget about me,” he said before kissing my lips.
“You’re my proof that good things are still coming my way.
I never wanna feel the pain I felt when I lost Tea.
But I put it on my mama that I won’t let anxiety stop me from having every experience I can have with you.
“I want your laughter, your softness, and your sweetness. I want your heart and your body. I want you and everything that comes with you. And I want you to feel safe with me. I want you to know that I got you. Everything I have? You can have it, baby. My heart, my time, my protection, my material goods . . . whatever you want from me, it’s yours.
” He kissed me again. Deeply. Thoroughly.
“I know this is probably a deep ass conversation to have in the middle of a restaurant, but life taught me that you gotta say the shit you want to say. You gotta let people know where they stand with you, so if the worst happens . . . you’re not left wondering if they knew. If they knew how you really felt.”
“I wanna stay for as long as you’ll have me.” I kissed his lips.
“I wanna have you for as long as you’ll stay.”
Someone cleared their throat, and we both looked up. The server was there with our food. I hustled out of Quentin’s lap and into my own seat. My heart thundered in my chest at his admission. It was safe for me to fall because he would catch me. I was ready to fall.