Page 83 of Ghost

“Is Erin bringing the baby later?” I asked.

“I haven’t heard,” Tito responded. “Maybe.”

Kimberly and Cash opened a nursery, which had been Kimberly’s dream for some time. It was an immediate success, consuming much of Cash’s time and all of Kimberly’s time. Their baby and Cash’s mother, Erin, had become fixtures in the nursery’s office, staying in a nursery Cash had built within the office.

Seeing Cash happily married gave me reason to believe I could to the same. I knew, beyond a doubt, that I would never want anyone but Abby. I’d given her my entire heart, and she, in turn, had given me hers.

I worried that two months into a relationship was far too early to propose marriage, but not expressing my intentions to her – when marriage was all I could think about – seemed dishonest to me.

And, as I had said since the beginning, I wanted to maintain complete transparency.

“Can you keep your little mouth shut?” I asked.

“About what?” Tito asked.

“About whatever I want to talk about.”

Reno stepped off the deck and started to walk in our direction. I raised my index finger. “Give us a minute, Brother Reno.”

He paused and gave a nod.

“Sure,” Tito said. “Why?”

“Because, I want to talk to you about some shit, privately. And, privately means privately.”

“It’ll remain between us,” Tito assured me.

While I watched Andy and Abby wander through Goose’s lushly landscaped yard talking, I turned to face Tito. He was a walking dictionary, had received a scholarship to MIT – which he declined – and a genius.

Beyond that, he had a good head on his shoulders.

“I’m going to ask you something,” I explained. “But I don’t want the statistical answer, or the Google response. I can Google shit. I want your opinion, because I respect you.”

“Okay.”

“Abby and I have been seeing each other for two months, basically. We’ve both admitted that we’re in love with each other. I can’t imagine living a day without her, and I want her to fully understand how much she means to me. How soon is too soon to get married?”

“The national average time to date prior to marriage is about three years,” he said.

“Damn it, Tito. I said I wanted to know--”

“But,” he interrupted, raising his hand between us. “I don’t think three years is required to realize you’re in love with that one woman who makes a difference in your life that only she can make.”

“So, you think it’s not too early? Not to get married,” I said. “But to propose marriage.”

“To get engaged?” he asked.

“Yeah. Engaged.”

“An engagement is the promise of marriage. Personally, I don’t see the problem with doing that as soon as you’re certain that the woman in question is that woman. Postponing that marriage to allow a lengthy engagement is probably a good idea. It would allow the two parties to learn each other’s faults and weaknesses, and to build on the relationship. Then, when they’re married, there’s very little that might go wrong.”

“Gives time to plan it and make sure everyone can attend and stuff, too,” I added.

He smiled. “Absolutely.”

I narrowed my gaze. “What?”

“Are you going to ask her?”