I open it, and Nora exhales hard.
“Thank god!” she says, her nose and cheeks pink from the cold. “I was hoping you’d be home.”
I step aside. “Yeah, no work today.”
“Were you asleep?” she asks as she walks in and studies my tired eyes and bare torso.
“Just catching up on my naps,” I say, grabbing my shirt off the back of the couch and throwing it on.
She chuckles with snowflakes sprinkled in her bright, blonde hair. “Lucky you,” she says. “I don’t have the luxury of taking snow days. I’m practically living at the office with the app testers and marketing gurus and I am freaking out.”
“About the new app?” I ask.
“No, about Clive!”
I catch sight of Melanie’s panties on the floor next to my bedroom door. “Okay, well...” I guide Nora by the shoulder toward the kitchen, far away from the bedroom and the soiled couch. “Tell me what happened. Did he hurt you? Because I’ll kick his ass.”
I sit Nora on the stool, purposefully keeping her back to the bedroom. “No,” she says with a laugh. “It’s nothing like that, though you know I always appreciate your willingness to beat guys up on my behalf. It’s sweet.”
“Then, what?”
Movement tugs at my peripheral vision. Melanie slinks through the doorway toward her panties. She must have noticed them, too.
Nora takes a breath. “Well, a few days ago, I noticed that one of my rings was missing from my jewelry box. I was in a hurry to get back to work, so I just made a mental note of it to look around later in case it dropped behind the dresser or something.”
I nod, keeping Nora’s focus on me as Melanie reclaims her undies. “All right...”
“Then, this morning, I was getting ready to leave when I noticed my ring was back! It was right there in the box where I left it.”
She exhales hard, her big eyes wide and accusatory.
I nod again. “Okay.”
“Okay? Robbie, the only other person with access to my jewelry box is Clive, so why would he take it?”
“Did you ask him?”
“Well, no.”
“Maybe you should.”
“But what if he lies?!” she asks. “What if he had it appraised? Or he took a bunch of pictures of it and put it up for sale somewhere?”
I smile. “Nor, is that really the only reason you can come up with for why Clive would borrow one of your rings for a day?”
“He is a thief, though,” she says, panic filling her eyes. “He’s tried to steal from me before and his old partner-in-crime may get out of jail soon. That can’t be a coincidence, right? I mean, what else could it possibly be?”
“He could have checked the size,” I say, keeping my grin.
Nora scoffs. “Why would he—” She stops mid-sentence. “Oh, my…”
I pat her knee. “I think Mr. Snow’s intentions might be more innocent than you think.”
She shakes her head. “No, they’re worse!”
“Come again?”
“He’s going to propose?” she asks.
“Probably.”
“To me?”
“Or a woman of similar finger size.”
“He can’t propose!” she says. “Is he crazy?”
“Crazy in love with you. He told me himself.”
“He did?”
“Yeah.”
“When?”
“A few days ago,” I answer. “We got coffee.”
“You did?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“Because he wanted to ask me about marriage.”
She gasps. “You told him to propose?!”
“Yeah.”
“Are you crazy?!”
I laugh. “I feel like we’re going in circles here, Nor…”
Nora places a hand on her chest. “Oh, god, this is not good...”
“What’s wrong?” I ask. “You love him, too, right?”
“Of course I do. Doesn’t mean I want to get married!”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know. I...” She pauses, completely out of breath now. “I don’t even know if I believe in marriage.”
“You run a dating app.”
“What people do afterward isn’t my business!”
I shrug. “Fair point.”
“I’ve never known anybody who was actually happier after marriage,” she says. “I mean, my parents’ marriage was a gigantic mess. Papa ‘Gento cheated on Trix’s mom with her step-mother and then cheated on her, too. And don’t even get me started on you and Mel.”
Melanie’s head pokes out from the bedroom doorway again.
I clear my throat. “Yeah. You know, we don’t have to talk about me and her right now…”
“It’s the best example I have in my life for modern marriage,” she continues anyway. “It’s hot at first and fun as hell, but it doesn’t last. Nothing but stupid fights that go on for days. And you know, just between us, I always thought Melanie was a real dumbass for how she treated you.”
Melanie’s jaw drops.
I pause. “What do you mean?”
“Divorcing you like that,” she answers. “Instead of staying with you when all you needed was a little help. It was pretty selfish.”
Melanie disappears from the doorway again.
“The divorce was my idea, actually,” I say, defending my wife.
Nora shifts back, surprised. “It was?”
“She wanted to stay. She wanted to help me, but I saw what my addiction was doing to her so I made the call. Not her.”
“Why?”
“Because I was determined to destroy myself and I loved her enough to let her go before I took her down with me.”
Nora’s eyes fall.
“You’re right, Nor,” I say. “Marriage isn’t happily ever after. It’s just the start of all your troubles and if not, it sure as shit ain’t fixing any of them, either.”
“Then, what do I do?” she asks.
“You get married anyway,” I answer, “because it just might work out.”
“But what if it doesn’t?”
I smile. “Ah, but what if it does?”
I expect her to parry it back a few more times, but Nora goes quiet instead and sighs.
“Well, if he is going to propose, then I need to think of a better Christmas gift,” she says as she hops off her stool. “Mine just seems dumb now.”
I stand up. “Sleep on that, I think. Personally, I’d let him have this one. Don’t start your engagement with a competition.”
Nora grins. “But my punishment will be extra special if I do...”
I shake my head. “Sorry, Bubbles. Not my kink.”
“Prude,” she teases as
