A cool harmattan breeze whipped up small waves off Eleko beach and blew over Edward as he lay on a large and fluffy towel. His eyes were fixed on Gladys who frolicked inside the water. It was a hot day and she‘d tried to get him to join her when she went in but he demurred. He‘d explained sometime ago at a pool party they attended that he wasn‘t a water person right from childhood, and she left him alone ever since. It had been a long time since he told her bits about his life, and sometimes he saw questions in her eyes. But she hadn‘t brought it up again; it seemed she wanted him to take it at his pace.

He lowered his gaze as his mind wandered from the early years in Kano to when he settled in Lagos. Even before completing his engineering degree, he‘d registered his first renovation company at twenty-two and set himself two goals in a twenty-year plan. The first was to get married and have all his children within ten years. Then by forty, acquire majority shares that would give him control of a company quoted on the stock exchange. He‘d achieved the second earlier than planned, but he was still single at thirty-five. He‘d thought to settle for his last girlfriend, but they‘d broken up just before last Christmas.