“It reminds me of when my Sally and I found the perfect ring,” Sam said.
Krissy had the terribly uncomfortable sensation of treading on something sacred.
“She’s gone now,” Sam continued, “but she still helps sometimes. But you have your own helper already, don’t you?”
“Sorry?” Krissy said. It was so much like something that her aunt Jane would have said that she didn’t even feel shocked when the man appeared to be nodding at someone over her shoulder.
Jonas, though, turned around, frowning, to look.
“Anything catching your eye here?” the man asked.
“Something inexpensive,” Krissy said again, at the same time Jonas, turning back to them, said, “Price is no object.”
The man looked back and forth between them again. A smile tickled his lips. He moved to a different case and came back with a small navy-blue velvet box.
He pushed it slowly across the countertop to Krissy.
She hesitated, feeling as if she was part of a spell. Jonas was the one who reached past her and opened the box. The lid creaked open.
Both of them stared at the ring.
* * *
“Wow,” Jonas said. The truth was he had spent quite a bit of time—and money—in jewelry stores.
It was just the easiest way to say I had a great evening or Here’s a little something to remember us by.
He realized now he was the go-to of a guy who had unabashedly defaulted to superficial in his love life. He was career focused and commitment phobic, and he made no bones about either. Basically, everyone knew the rules going in.
He followed a pretty predictable pattern. There were going to be a few really nice dinners, classic wining and dining, maybe a Broadway show, or a beach or ski weekend trip. The relationship—if it could be called that—was going to be casual, a few good times, some easy laughs. And then it was adios, señorita.
A certain kind of woman went for what he offered. Krissy’s aunt had gotten it in one glance at him. Bimbos.
That seemed a little harsh to him. Still, buying a bauble for a that kind of woman, even an expensive bauble—or maybe especially an expensive one—soothed something in him and satisfied something in her.
Unfortunately, standing in this little store with Krissy put the whole thing in a different light, and made it seem he had engaged in a series of tawdry business transactions. It all seemed embarrassingly superficial.
So here was the irony: this relationship with Krissy had been 100 percent fake from the outset. And yet everything about it—from getting to know her dog, to eating ice cream treats, to picnicking in the park felt real.
Last night had been one of the most real experiences of Jonas’s entire existence, though in all honesty, last night was quickly crowding out memories of his past existence!
But here was the truth: there was an authenticity about Krissy that was shining right through the lie he had convinced her to participate in.
Buying this ring was proving no different.
It was supposed to be part of the game, but it didn’t feel like it. Jonas felt invested. He wanted this gift to mean something. He wanted Krissy to love what they bought and remember this time they’d had together forever.
Forever? There was a word Jonas Boyden avoided. Obviously, it had been a bit of a slip asking her to the opening of his newest resort at the end of summer. This was a one-off.
Still, as he had watched her face as she looked at the jewelry, it was more than obvious that Krissy was not a jewelry person and never had been. She hated this exercise.
And yet the ring she was looking at now had transformed her features. It was an exquisite ring.
It was so her in the same way that little black dress had been so her. Classic. Timeless. Understated. Beautiful. The engagement ring was simplicity itself, a circle of perfect diamonds, all the same size, with no central stone.
“There’s no price on it,” she said hoarsely.
“Good,” Jonas said. He lifted the ring from its velvet cushion. As he held it up, it sparked, the diamonds capturing the light and then shooting out blue flames.
Too late, he got how wrong this was, particularly in light of the intimacy they had shared last night. It was taking the whole thing a little too far, but of course, that was something he was known for. He could spend months setting up an elaborate prank.
But as he held out his hand, he was aware this did not feel like part of a prank. He could not take his eyes off her face, the light in it. Krissy caught her tongue between her teeth—that was cute—and then as if caught in the spell, she placed her hand, palm down in his. Her hand felt feminine and soft, and yet there was strength in it, too.
He took a deep breath.
He tried, a little desperately, to remind himself it was a game.
But when he slipped the ring on her engagement finger it felt as if the entire world—and his heart—stood entirely still.
The ring went on easily. It settled at the base of her finger, snug, but not tight. It felt as if it would never come off. It also felt as if it was radiating a strange warmth. Krissy stared at it. He stared at it.
It fit her absolutely perfectly.
“It looks as if it belongs on my hand,” she said, stunned. “I’ve never even worn a ring before.”
She looked up at him, something tremulous in her gaze. Trusting him to somehow turn this debacle he had started into something with redeeming value.
Jonas realized, stunned, they could see where this was going to take them. It didn’t have to be a one-off.
“That’s the one,” Sam said, not with any question in it at all.
She nodded. Jonas nodded.
She slipped her hand from his. He was aware of not wanting to let it go. Krissy never even took the ring off her finger as the old man rang it up. Sam put the empty box in
