True Love Waits

When Sheffield finished singing, Evelyn couldn't wait to ask, "How are you able to sing that so nicely?"

"Practice! I wanted to get it just right for you." In order to make Debbie and Evelyn happy, he had spent many hours learning all of Debbie's songs by heart.

"Do you know all my mom's songs?" She looked at him expectantly.

Sheffield crossed his legs and played with her hand in the water. "Yeah. What do you want to hear?"

"My mom sang a song for my godmother Kasie. Do you know that one?"

"Piece of cake!" The man cleared his throat and began to sing, "That winter, the snow fell relentlessly. The night was blanketed in white. You saw me crying like a baby coming back from a hike..."

No matter which song Evelyn requested, Sheffield was able to sing it.

No wonder Debbie was so supportive of Evelyn being Sheffield's girlfriend. He cared about her. Because of his love for her, he had even learned all Debbie's songs-more than 100 altogether spread across several albums, EPs, and promotional singles. Evelyn was impressed. "How can you remember all the lyrics?"

Sheffield replied in a casual tone, "I had to memorize my grandfather's notes on traditional Chinese medicine. If I can do that, then a 3-minute song is nothing. It's also easier when you care about what you're doing."

The admiration in Evelyn's heart was obvious. She realized Sheffield and Matthew had the same ability: eidetic memory. They could remember what they read like it was a photograph in their minds they could refer to.

An hour later, Evelyn and Sheffield returned to their room.

Sheffield ordered room service. Nothing too fancy, just light dishes. Six different courses, four of them vegetables.

When they were almost done with dinner, his phone rang. He looked at the caller ID and said to Evelyn, "It's Joshua. I have to take this." Evelyn nodded.

"Hey, Joshua!" He stood up from his seat, took out a cigarette and wiggled it. It was his way of telling her he was going out for a smoke. Evelyn nodded again.

After walking out of the room, he lit the cigarette. "Go ahead, I'm listening!"

"How's it going? Why didn't you call me? Or text me, or something!" Since he was one of Sheffield's best friends, Joshua heard about his friend's proposal through the grapevine. Leaning against a pillar in the corridor and smoking, Sheffield replied dejectedly, "She didn't say yes."

What was

I'll make a bigger deal of it next

"Sorry to hear that. Hang

me, then could I really say

"Bruh, you're so

"You know it!"

it finally

pulled his bathrobe closer to him from the cold. "Hey, I gotta go. I have

I'll probably do the same after I propose to Terilynn. We'll be so busy I won't have

your future father-in-law's approval. Let's wait till he

hit the nail on the head. Joshua saw how Carlos made things difficult for

When Sheffield returned to the bedroom, Evelyn had

another set of clothes. "Here. Model these for me, would

of women's clothing in his hand. It was ceremonial, a match for what Sheffield had worn earlier. "Do... I have to?" She had

Let me help you put it on. I'll take you to see the snow later," he coaxed, raising his

see the

helped

her clothing was white and the inner layer was

especially a skirt. But when she saw how excited Sheffield was, she decided to

getting Evelyn dressed, he turned to look

"What?"

want to make mad love to you." She would never know how beautiful she was, just as he never knew how handsome he was. Those outfits were perfect for them. The red dress made her skin look rosy.

shoulders, which

beauty was, why he

tricked me

could spend the night here. It was going to be perfect. They'd walk in the snow for a bit, then come back and warm

his red costume again and held her hand as they walked to the

were about to reach the