Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 80555 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80555 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
“Hey. I’m proud of you.” I clapped him on the back. “The order doesn’t matter. You’re making this work, and you’re going to be amazing parents.”
“Thanks.” He opened the envelope and the light bounced off a necklace with a flower with a smiley face center.
“Oh.” I picked it up, a thousand tiny memories hitting me as the rough, cheap chain rubbed across my thumb. “I won this necklace for Flo at a street carnival the first time we hung out.”
I’d had no idea she’d kept it, let alone passed it on to her mother for safekeeping, and my chest gave a weird wobble.
“Is that when you fell in love?” Diesel asked with all the surety of a young person in love for the first time. For his sake, I hoped he’d found the forever kind of love, but for myself, the question wasn’t so easy.
“One of the times.” I sighed. “We fell in and out of love more times than most people change their wardrobes. That night though? Yeah. I thought she was something special.”
“So you did love her,” Diesel prompted. Considering we didn’t often discuss Flo, the conversation was unchartered territory for us, so I took a moment to gather my thoughts.
“She was hard not to love. She was funny, charismatic, adventurous, and when she was happy, everyone in the room knew it.” I tried to be generous because this was Diesel’s mother, and he had his own set of memories to contend with, both good and bad. “But she was a complicated person, and ours was a complicated story. I loved her, but I hated what addiction did to her, to all of us. I love her because she gave me you, and you’re the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“Aww.” Diesel bumped my shoulder. “Sometimes I think about who she could have been without addiction.”
“Me too,” I admitted roughly.
“I’ve always figured she gave you a broken heart,” Diesel said simply like he wasn’t launching a conversational grenade. “It’s why you never tried again.”
“I’ve dated,” I protested.
“Not seriously.” Diesel shrugged as he resumed pawing through the envelope, leaving me with my reeling thoughts.
I’d dated subtly when Diesel was younger, less clandestinely as he’d become a teen and then an adult. But he was right in that I hadn’t sought out serious relationships. In fact, my thing with Eric was the most committed, stable relationship I’d ever had. And I couldn’t tell a damn soul about it, including Diesel, because Eric didn’t want to admit we were anything other than temporary.
“A ring!” Diesel interrupted my stewing as he held up a vintage-looking piece. Gold with a setting I associated more with midcentury pieces, although I was far from an expert. “Do you think it’s real? It looks old.”
“It does.” I nodded. I liked that it had a family lineage without a direct link to mine and Flo’s ill-fated romance. “We can have it appraised and sized, but I think Maren would look lovely in it.”
“You want to walk with me to the jeweler down the block?” Typically impulsive, Diesel was already standing and heading toward the office door.
“Why not?” I grabbed my jacket from the back of a chair. I’d long ago figured out that following Diesel’s brainstorms was easier than trying to be the voice of caution and reason. “We’re slow.”
The walk to the nearby jewelry store was chilly, the sharp edges of the wind whipping against my face. I should have grabbed a hat for my exposed scalp. Once inside the store, an elegantly dressed male clerk cornered us and immediately swept up the ring for inspection and appraisal. Diesel followed the man to a low table with magnifying glasses and other jewelry tools, but I took the opportunity to wander.
Obviously, I wasn’t in the market for jewelry as a holiday gift, but for the first time in twenty-odd years, the idea didn’t terrify me. I stopped by a display of men’s rings. I glanced down at my bare left hand. I’d never remotely longed for a ring or what it symbolized, but a little tingle of what if had me looking more closely at the case. Eric undoubtedly still had his ring from his marriage to Montgomery, even if he didn’t wear it. Would he ever want another?
Probably not. That answer made me huff, a harsh sound in the near-empty room. Diesel swiveled to frown at me. Outside, sirens sounded in the distance, first responders headed to an emergency somewhere. Eric’s image flashed in my brain as it always did when I heard sirens these days. His job wasn’t without danger, and my pulse inevitably sped up.
Not waiting for permission, my hand reached for my phone. We rarely texted during the work day, but the urge to contact Eric exceeded my usual willpower.
You still off tonight? I’m letting Sandy handle closing again, so maybe you’d want to watch something later?