Chapter 23: Love Somebody

Chapter23:  Love Somebody

“Dance as though no one is watching you, Love as though you have never been hurt before, Sing as though no one can hear you, Live as though heaven is on earth.” - Souza

            Lucy walked over to the club from her house.  The first snow of the year was on it’s way.  The clouds were low on the mountain ridges.  She got lost in the music she was listening to and couldn’t help but have a skip in her step.  As she walked the few blocks, she thought about what an interesting month it had been.  People in their valley seemed happier than usual and love was definitely in the air.  She looked forward to her Saturday morning Zumba class.  They had all become so close, sharing their joys and successes and crying with each other through life’s trials.  Lucy was happy to listen to anyone’s problems and she said a silent prayer thanking the Lord for her wonderful health, her amazing husband, her sweet children, and just for life in general.

            She could see the pink balloon archway in front of the club entrance from a block away.  Tonight was the big Sprinkle Pink Zumbathon.  Jamarcus had decided to have a fundraiser to raise money for Maddie’s cancer treatments.  When he brought up the idea in the employee meeting, everyone had been super excited to be able to help “one of their own”.  Every employee was helping out whether helping with food and decorations, gathering items for the silent auction, or soliciting donations from local businesses.  Pierson Photography volunteered free photo booth pictures to anyone wearing pink, Throwback Thursday Theatre offered free tickets for one month in a raffle, and the local bakery had donated hundreds of mini-cupcakes decorated in pink frosting.  The whole community was coming together to help Maddie and her family during their time of need.  That’s how things worked in Boomerang Valley.  Everyone was always looking out for each other.

Lucy thought of how Anton had made it his mission in life to look after Samantha.  She loved watching their relationship grow from Zumba buddies, to close friends, to flirting, and now steady dating.  Everyone had said they were a match made in heaven.  Samantha’s husband Darryl had done a lot of damage, but Anton had been there to pick up the pieces.  Anton’s ex-wife had ended up moving back to town claiming she wanted another chance.  Everyone was shocked to see Liv so desperate.  She had convinced Anton to let her stay with him until she could get her feet on the ground again.  How could he say no to a pregnant woman?  The girls were happy to have their mom around but their relationship with their mother had been forever changed, for the worse.  Anton had been trying to figure out a way to get his ex-wife out of the house but all the low-income housing was full so she was on a waiting list.  Samantha had felt threatened by Liv at first, but Anton proved himself trustworthy as no spark was rekindled with Liv in the picture again.  If anything, Anton wanted to be with Sami more and more each day.  Anton had been stressed out one day after class and had gone to Lucy for advice after Samantha had already headed to the locker room.  Together, Lucy and Anton had devised a plan that would solve everyone’s problems.  Lucy smiled as she thought about the plan that was to be put into action tonight.

“Hey Jamarcus, the place looks great!”

“Hey Lucy, not too shabby, huh.  Although it looks like the whole fitness center is covered in Pepto-Bismol,” he joked. 

Danielle greeted Lucy from the receptionist desk, “Oh Lucy you look darling!  I love your pink cargo pants and where did you get that Breast Cancer Awareness Zumba shirt?”

“Misty got it for me at the Zumba Convention..isn’t it great!  I love the way it sparkles.  Check this out..”

Lucy pulled a hot pink Zumba belly dancing skirt out of her bag and handed it to Danielle.

“For me?” she squealed with delight.  “But I’m supposed to let my knee rest one more week…I can’t Zumba tonight, I thought I told you…”

“I know you can’t dance tonight my dear, but when you are ready….well, you’ll be ready!  I can’t wait to have you back in class.  It just hasn’t been the same without you and we can’t wait for your doctor to clear you to dance again.”

“Oh Lucy, this means so much to me.  She tied the jingling skirt on over her jeans and hotpink halfzip pullover.  “How do I look?”

“Why don’t you ask him?”

Jamarcus laughed and said, “Oooh, girl, you are lookin’ fine!”

Lucy had noticed that since he took Danielle on their first date, Jamarcus no longer had butterfingers around Danielle.  He actually was more suave and debonair than ever.  Jamarcus honored his commitment to keep things professional during work hours but Lucy got a kick out of watching the two of them once they got out to the parking lot.  Sometimes they would race each other out to their cars, which was comical because Jamarcus would pretend to limp so he could be at the same pace as Danielle.  Another time as Lucy was walking over to teach a night time class, she had caught the two of them leaning on his truck locked in a sweet embrace.  Danielle had fallen head over heels in love with Jamarcus.  Lucy had seen them on the weekends at the movies, out to dinner, and bowling. 

One night, Drew had taken Lucy on a walk around town square.  They had walked by a park bench where Danielle and Jamarcus were sipping on hot cocoa and literally watching the stars.  It reminded Lucy of how smitten she had been with her husband when they had just started dating.  As Lucy and Drew had waved to them that night, Drew had commented on how even though there was no doubt that those two were in love, it was nothing compared to being married to your sweetheart for 20 years.  Drew always knew how to fill Lucy’s love bucket and she cuddled in closer as the strolled through the crisp night air that evening.

Lucy ran upstairs to grab her mic headset and then raced to the indoor tennis courts where the final touches for the Zumbathon were being made.  People were starting to arrive in all different shades of pink.  She saw Kimberly come in without her baby’s carseat so she ran over to give her a hug.

“Hey, you made it!  Where’s the baby?”

“Oh John said I deserved a night out on the town,” she beamed.  “John doesn’t like dancing or large crowds so really I am the one doing him a favor,” she giggled.  “This will be my first night without kids since the baby was born…I hardly know what to do with myself.”

“Well, I hope you brought your dancing shoes cuz I’ve got two full hours of dancing fun planned.  So you look happy, how are things going?”

“So much better!  I still have down days…”

“We all do my dear.”

“But, my down days are becoming fewer and fewer.  Thanks for being there to listen to me when I was at my darkest.  You are a true friend.”  Kimberly saw the silent auction items and politely excused herself while Lucy got back to the task at hand.  She pulled her ipod out of her bag to make sure her playlist was set and ready to go.  The tennis courts were starting to fill with people in pink workout clothes.  Somehow Linda Weldon had found some pink sweatpants for her husband Nick to wear.  “Only Nick could rock those,” Lucy thought to herself as she laughed.  Soon all the usual suspects were there, Lexie, Anton, his daughters, Samantha, Maddie, Misty, and tonight there were many new faces that had come to try Zumba for the first time.  It seemed like the whole town had shown up.  Lucy recognized some of the congregation in her ward that had come out to support the cause and she was excited to get the party started.  She gave Jamarcus a nod and he took the mic.

“We’d like to thank everyone for coming out to support our Breast Cancer Awareness Sprinkle Pink Zumbathon!”  He motioned to Maddie to take the stage and the crowd cheered wildly.  “All the proceeds for this evening will go to the Maddie Strong’s medical bills and the excess will be donated to the Susan G. Komen fund, so be generous folks.  Danielle will be handling the bids for the silent auction at the table in the entry way.   Now, let’s get this party started!”  He pointed to the dj, Lucy took the stage, and soon all 50 participants were starting a nice warmup to a Zumba Fitness Original song called All Around the World.

“All around the world
We're rocking and rolling like crazy, eh, all the way.”

 http://youtu.be/Cl9o_pcV0jU

Danielle looked longingly at all the Zumba people and wished she could dance but she knew she needed her knee to heal completely before putting in undue stress on it.  Jamarcus could tell the atmosphere was bringing her down so he pulled up a chair and sat down by her.

“You’ll be back before you know it,” Jamarcus tried to console her.

“Patience is not my thing…I want to be out there now!” Danielle whined.

“Oh hey, nobody told me you were having a pity party tonight.  You must have forgotten to send me an invitation”.

Danielle playfully punched Jamarcus in the arm, “Am I that bad?”

“Yeah, but you don’t have to be…you’ve got me now…isn’t that better than Zumba?”

“Ooh…what if I had you and you could Zumba with me!  That would be something!”

“Not gonna happen” Jamarcus said dryly.  Right then a person came to bid on the ipod touch.  Danielle looked around for a pen and there weren’t any to be found.  “Danielle, would you mind grabbing a box of pens from my office?”

“Sure, be right back”.

Danielle noticed the Laughing Waters Painting as soon as she walked into his office.  The first time Danielle had seen it hanging in his office was after their first date.  She recognized it to be the painting Jamarcus had told her about and she loved it!  There was something so peaceful and calming about the Jamaican shoreline.  She secretly hoped that he would take her there one day.  But what was she thinking?  They had been dating for a full month and not once had he even hinted of saying I love you.  She loved snuggling up with him to watch a movie, and they had shared a kiss or two over the last few weeks.  Jamarcus showed his love through acts of kindness and service but not through words.  Most guys Danielle dated would utter the three of her most favorite words by the second week.  She couldn’t figure out why Jamarcus wouldn’t come out and say it when it was obvious he adored her.  Maybe he thought she would break up with him if he did…like all the others.  Danielle grabbed the pens and hurried back to the table where Jamrcus was visiting with the people in the line.  She loved how he was always so happy and full of life.

“Let the bidding begin,”exclaimed Danielle as she held up the pens above her head.

The Zumbathon was a huge success.  Lucy kept the crowd dancing and sweating.  Towards the end of the Zumbathon, there was a pause in the music and Lucy announced that she needed help with the next song.  She looked over at Anton and winked.  “Would Samantha Dodson please come to the stage?”  Samantha looked around and put her hand to her heart, wondering why she would be asked to come up on stage.  She looked over at Anton, and he just shrugged and said, “You better go see what Lucy needs.”  As Samantha climbed the stairs up to the stage, the crowd cheered. 

“Samantha, we have had a special request tonight so we need you to sit on this barstool here on the stage.  You are going to have to sit this one out…someone grab her a bottle of water please.” 

The all familiar intro to Love Somebody by Maroon 5 started.  Lucy motioned for everyone to form a line.  Lucy’s sister Lexie brought out a huge bucket of lowers and set it on the stage.  She motioned to her husband to start videotaping.  Samantha sipped on her water as she realized she had lost where Anton was standing in the line.  She knew he had to be there somewhere though.  Lucy cued the choreography with a grapevine left and then right.  After each grapevine, one person in the line reached into the bucket and pulled out a pink rose. Adam Levine’s voice echoed through the tennis courts, “I know your insides are feeling so hollow, And it's a hard pill for you to swallow, yeah…”

Kimberly rushed up on stage and handed her a pink rose, which Samantha held delicately.  The song continued, “But if I fall for you, I'll never recover.  If I fall for you, I'll never be the same.”

            Next, Nick and his wife grabbed roses from the bucket and handed them to Samantha.  One by one, they grabbed a rose and came up.  By now, Samantha knew something was up but she still couldn’t see Anton.  Lucy cued a V-Step.  As each person gave their rose, they went back to the dance floor and followed along with Lucy’s dancing.  Rose after rose fell in Samantha’s lap until finally she was covered in roses.  As each rose was given, she was getting a little bit misty eyed.  The bridge in the song was coming up, when here came Anton’s daughters.  They grabbed the last of the roses and brought them up to the stage while everyone danced. 

Finally, Anton, who had made a quick change into a tuxedo, came rushing over to the bucket finding it empty.  He dramatically ran up to the stage and as if in a silent movie pantomimed that he had nothing to give her.  All in unison, the crowd sang with Anton,

“I don't know where to start, I'm just a little lost
I wanna feel like we never gonna ever stop
I don't know what to do, I'm right in front of you
Asking you to stay, you should stay, stay with me FOR LIFE, yeah!”

As the last chorus rang through the tennis courts, he pointed to himself and knelt on one knee.  Samantha sat covered in pink roses and through her teary eyes, she saw Anton pull out a small, velvet covered box.  He opened it and there was the most beautiful Black Hills Gold diamond ring she had ever seen.  She leaped off the stool, knocking flowers all over the stage, showering Anton with kisses.  As the chorus continued, everyone danced exuberantly, “I really wanna love somebody.  I really wanna dance the night away…”

http://youtu.be/2En16dCL6Es Love Somebody

 http://youtu.be/Cl9o_pcV0jUAll Around the World

http://youtu.be/2En16dCL6Es Love Somebody 

Maroon 5. Love Somebody. Rec. 14 May 2013. A&M/Octone, 2013.

Chapter 22: Safe and Sound

Chapter 22:  Safe and Sound

“Someday, someone will walk into your life that makes you realize why it never worked out with anyone else.”-Unknown

http://youtu.be/FIXt2xpc9Cw

Jamarcus had learned a lot about Danielle from their silly little radio game.  He was ready to learn more.  In particular, he still had tons of questions about Danielle’s date with Caleb.  First off, didn’t Caleb have a girlfriend?  What was he doing with Danielle anyway?  Second, what had happened to her up there on their hike that had been so life changing?  Jamarcus had no idea that he had brought her to the exact spot of her conversion and was confused by the emotional shift in her. 

“The Falls?  You brought me to the Falls?” she had almost whispered.

“Uh, yeah…is that ok?”

“Sure….it’s just that…well, never mind, I don’t want to get into it.”

Jamarcus wasn’t sure if bringing her here was such a good idea afterall.  He went on to explain, “We will be dining at the top of the Falls.  I heard they have live music playing and I know how much you like music so….” Jamarcus wasn’t sure if he should continue.

“Oh cool!” exclaimed Danielle.  “I love this restaurant!  Shall we?”

Jamarcus ran over to her side of the truck and opened the door to help her out. 

“Wouldn’t want your knee to get slammed again, would we?” he teased.

Danielle was off her crutches but was still hobbling around sporting her new knee brace.  She appreciated the help Jamarcus was giving her.  He helped her into the gondola at the base of the mountain.  As soon as they started their upward ascent, Danielle had to face her fear of heights again.  She reached out and grabbed on to Jamarcus’ arm.  He was a little shocked that Danielle moved in so close to him on the ride up, but he was more than willing to be her security blanket. He felt her body tremble a little bit and figured out what was going on.

“Danielle, you aren’t afraid of heights are you?”

This time, Danielle was true to herself.  She wanted to impress Jamarcus but thought better of it.  “Maybe” she thought, “I will impress him by being honest for a change.”  She went with her gut and said, “Afraid is an understatement!”  Jamarcus laughed and pulled her in closer as he said, “Well, you’re safe with me.”  He could smell the scent of her shampoo as he held on to her protectively.  Danielle squeezed her eyes shut when a breeze gently swayed the little gondola car.  “Don’t worry, I gotcha.” Jamarcus reconfirmed.  “We’re almost there now.”  As they went higher and higher up the mountain, Danielle looked over the edge and tried to guess the location she and Caleb had gotten stuck.  When they were almost at the very top, she looked over to her right and saw the ledge she had been stuck on.  No wonder the people from the gondola had been telling them they were idiots.  Although she and Caleb had almost made it to the top, had they gone up any further, they would have encountered a 20 foot sheer wall.  There was no way to get to the top cabin from where they had been hiking.  Had they tried to go up anymore, they would have needed Search and Rescue to come get them.  She shuddered at the thought.

“Are you chilly?”

“Um, no, I just uh was thinking.  Remember when you saw me after the day I had with Caleb?”

“How could I forget?”

“This is where we were.  She pointed over the side of the gondola cart to the cliff”

“You have got to be kidding!  How did you get way up here?  The path is nowhere near that?  More importantly, how did you get down?”

The gondola came to a swinging stop.  They had made it to the Falls Restaurant and a hostess was helping them out of their cart and showing them to their table.

“Maybe, I will tell you all about it sometime,” Danielle responded, “ but right now I am just starving.”

The live music for the night was a lone piano player who played with so much passion you would have thought you were sitting in Carnegie Hall.  He was playing Some Enchanted Evening as they took their seat at the table for two.  The décor of the cabin was as Montana as they come.  There were pictures of horses and cowboys, elk racks, and the head of a moose.  The coat stand was made completely out of welded together horseshoes.  Jamarcus was impressed with the entry way chandelier made completely out of elk antlers.  He had never seen anything like it.  He confessed to Danielle as they were seated that he had never even heard of an elk until he had had his first dinner with her grandparents.  Danielle giggled.  She had grown up with elk her whole life and she thought it was insane that other people had never even heard of them.

Danielle had seen the décor of the cabin a hundred times but now what she was interested in was who else was dining there atop the mountain that crisp, clear, fall evening.  She was surprised that she didn’t know anyone up there at all except for Lucy’s little sister Lexie and her husband Jag.  She waved a quick hello and then turned her attention to Jamarcus.  She watched him taking in the scenery.  He was in pure awe of it all.

“A little different than Jamaica?”  Danielle asked.

“Just a little…” Jamarcus laughed.

“You know, everyone in town is wondering how a guy from Jamaica ended up coming out to Montana?  We don’t see many…blaa…I mean Jamaicans around here.”

“Why did you stop yourself from saying black?  That is the color of my skin you know.”

“Obviously, but I didn’t want to sound racist or anything…”  this conversation was getting awkward for Danielle and she wanted to change the subject.

“Well, obviously, you are not racist because you agreed to go on a date with me…blind folded!”  he joked.

“Haha!  Yeah that’s right.  I just want you to know up front, that the color of your skin doesn’t bother me one bit.”

“Oh good, cuz the color of your blue eyes doesn’t bother me one bit either.”

“Hey!” Danielle swatted her cloth napkin at him.

Jamarcus pretended to dodge.  “No seriously, I know we come from two totally different backgrounds and I hope that doesn’t bother you.”  There, he had said it.  He hadn’t wanted to bring up the race issue before the appetizers had been served but now he felt thankful that it was out of the way.   The waiter brought out the homemade cornbread and honeybutter and took their order.  Danielle ordered first, “BBQ Ribs, corn on the cob, and coleslaw.”  Jamarcus said, “Make it two.”  Danielle couldn’t remember the last time she had actually ordered for herself on a date.  Usually she would have said, “I don’t know, what do you want?” which was always followed up with a “I’ll have what he’s having.”  She had been so indecisive before but being around Jamarcus was bringing out a different side of her…a side she quite liked: an independent, selfless, stripped down side.  As the piano player played Cough Syrup, one of her favorite songs at the time, she thought of an analogy.  With other guys, Danielle had been acting like a five piece band but with Jamarcus she was a slowed down, acoustic, almost organic version of herself.  She felt like she could tell him anything but right now she wanted to know more about him.

“So, I don’t have a cool radio game like you did…so tell me about yourself.”

Jamarcus hadn’t wanted to dominate the conversation, but he could tell that Danielle genuinely was showing interest in wanting to know about everything in his life so he didn’t hold back.  One of the qualities of his parent’s marriage had been the unique level of honesty.  Jamarcus knew that if tonight was the beginning of anything special, he would want to start out as honest as possible.  He took a breath as he told Danielle about his early college years, certain that she would be disgusted with him and beg to leave before the food came.  However, just the opposite occurred.  Danielle reached across the table and grabbed his hand and reassuringly said, “What’s in the past is simply that…the past.  It takes a lot of courage to admit to your immoral ways…and on a first date.  If you’re trying to scare me off though, it won’t work,” she laughed.  “Go on…”

Jamarcus told her about his special spot on the beach.  He told her of his mother’s dying words and the look in his father’s eyes as she slipped out of this earthly existence.  He told her of crying out to God, there by the shore, and giving all his sins away.  Both of them were wiping away tears as the main dish showed up.  He told her about his conversion, he told her about hearing the news about his father, he told her about the flight back home where he had met the Jacobs.  He told her of the funeral, the will, the Laughing Waters painting, the money.  Danielle listened to every word attentively, asking questions when needed for clarification.  She had been so enthralled with Jamarcus’ story, that she hadn’t been paying attention to her bbq ribs eating etiquette and had managed to get bbq sauce all the way up her face.

“You got a little something right there,” Jamarcus pointed to her cheek.

Danielle stuck out her tongue to try to lick it off but missed.

“No, right there…”

She grabbed her napkin and dabbed the corners of her mouth.

“Almost.  Here let me get it.”  Without thinking, Jamarcus reached across the table with a clean napkin and wiped the bbq sauce off her cheek.  As soon as he did it he realized how forward that must have seemed.  He froze for a moment until Danielle said, “Thank you.”  The way those blue eyes looked at him reminded him of something.  Instantly, he knew the look.  The same look his mom and dad had for each other.  Only now it was his turn.  This was too good to be true.  He stayed in that position a moment longer lost in her gaze.  He wanted to kiss her but knew that would be bordering on just plain rude.  He snapped back to reality and sat back down, placing the napkin back on the table.

Danielle loved that Jamarcus had a natural instinct to take care of her.  How many times had she seen her own mother straightening her dad’s tie before heading out the door to church?  How many times had she seen her dad tuck a stray lock of hair behind her mom’s ear.  These little acts of love are what Danielle desired the most in a man.  And so far, with all the men she had dated, she had never felt that way around any of them, except for Anton.  The few dates she had been on with him, he had doted on her almost near obsession levels.  But this was different.  With Anton she had felt like a helpless little girl, relying on his money.  With Jamarcus, she could imagine wanting to “straighten his tie” for the rest of her life.  As she looked into his eyes as he bent over the table to dab off the bbq sauce, she felt like she could see eternity.  She saw him and her, she saw beautiful dark skinned babies, she saw laughter, she saw joy, she saw….what was it?  She saw love!  How was this possible on just a first date?

Their eyes stayed locked on each other until they were interrupted by their waitress.

“Ahem, you two lovebirds ready for some brownie pie with ice cream?”

“Yes, please,” Danielle said dreamily not moving her eyes from Jamarcus.

“Uh-huh” was all Jamarcus got out.   

“I feel like I’ve known you a long time,” Danielle confessed.

“Well, you have been working for me for almost a month now,” Jamarcus teased back.

Danielle started to take notice of all his facial features for the first time.  When he smiled, his eyes would squint almost to where you couldn’t see his eyes at all.  It was like he was so happy, it actually consumed his face.  His teeth were so white which contrasted with his dark skin.  His chin had just a hint of masculine scruff.  His hair was trimmed and short.  Danielle looked at his broad shoulders and noticed just how ripped he was.  How had she not noticed before at work?  She loved his posture.  He looked like he was in charge but had a certain humility about him that made him almost, what was the word?  Irresistible!  He had a lot of girls going gaga over him when he first made his appearance in Boomerang Valley but he wouldn’t give anyone the time of day.  It was as if he already knew what he wanted and was holding out until he found what he needed.  Danielle hoped what he needed was her.

Jamarcus interrupted her thoughts, “So, do you mind if I ask you a question or two now while we are waiting for dessert?  I feel like I have monopolized all the conversation this evening.”

The piano player was still playing.  This time he started playing Laura Story’s song Blessings.  Danielle wondered if talking about the mountain was too intimate.  What if she just ended up breaking up with him in a month.  As soon as she thought it, she dismissed it.  She couldn’t imagine ever breaking up with Jamarcus Demont.  She knew what she was about to tell him would make her extremely vulnerable and she didn’t want to talk about the Falls with just anyone.  But he wasn’t just anyone she rationalized.

“Um, alright…” she said hesitatingly.

“I have been dying to know why you were wearing one lone red glove the day I saw you in the parking lot.”

“I thought you might ask me that,” Danielle answered.  She took a deep breath and started to talk.  This time it was her turn to bear her soul.  And she didn’t hold back either.  Jamarcus sat listening intently, so intently that the hot fudge was melting his ice cream on top of his brownie pie.  Danielle reminded him to eat, which he did, only this time Jamarcus smeared hot fudge above his lip.

Danielle started to laugh, “Um, you’ve got a little something right there,” she pointed to his lip.

“Seriously!”  Jamarcus laughed grabbing his napkin.

“Oh don’t worry, I’ll get it for you.”

Now it was Danielle leaning across the table and using her napkin to get the fudge off his lip.  Again their eyes locked as they gazed into each other’s eyes.  Danielle wanted to kiss him right then and there but knew she should wait.  What was the rush anyway?  She could tell by the look in his eyes that there would be many more dinners and dates with him.  She sat back down and finished her story. 

“Wow!” was all Jamarcus could say.  The piano player was playing Home by Michael Buble.  Danielle thought it ironic, that sitting up here in the Falls Restaurant talking with Jamarcus that she could feel so completely at home.  She didn’t want the evening to end but she knew it was time to be getting home.  She no longer was afraid to reach out for Jamarcus’ hand as they stepped into the swaying gondola for the ride back down the mountain.  The air was much chillier now than when they had gone up.  Jamarcus instinctively put his muscular arm around Danielle to protect her from the cold wind.  Danielle snuggled into his warmth.

Once they got back down to the truck he opened the passenger side door for her once again.  “What a complete gentleman,” she thought.  As he started the engine, he teased, “What station would you like?” 

“Haha!  I actually get to choose?  Well you know I love the Christian stations but I also like just Top 40.”

  He changed the dial and Capital City’s song Safe and Sound was playing.

“I could lift you up
I could show you what you want to see
and take you where you want to be

You could be my luck
Even if the sky is falling down
I know that we'll be safe and sound!”

            Danielle sang along, “Safe and sound…”  Jamarcus reached over to hold her hand and smiled.  Danielle knew she was going to spend the rest of her life with this man.  She didn’t know how, and she didn’t know when, but she just knew.  God had intervened in her life once more.  She was supposed to be heading back to college in a few weeks.  Since she didn’t have Anton’s money anymore, she wouldn’t be able to afford tuition.  Now that she was working at the fitness center, she could save up her own money but she suddenly didn’t want to leave Boomerang Valley…not after tonight.  Maybe she could finish her degree with online classes and internships.   Jamarcus wondered what Danielle was thinking.  He didn’t have to wait too long because she said, “Jamarcus, if I ever play that radio game again, this is the song that will always remind me of you.” 

Jamarcus laughed, “Safe and sound, huh?  Okay, as long as you don’t ever play this game with anyone but me.” 

“I wouldn’t dream of it!” 

They stopped at a stop sign and Jamarcus couldn’t hold back anymore, he leaned over and cradled her face in his hands and gently kissed her on the lips…and Danielle eagerly kissed back as the music continued to play in the background.

http://youtu.be/FIXt2xpc9Cw

Capital Cities. Safe and Sound. Rec. 1 Feb. 2011. Capitol Records, 2011.