Someone’s cell phone rang, and it turned out to be the boyfriend’s. “We’re looking at rings, don’t you dare answer that,” Shelby said. Her tone was serious; if Reggie had used that voice with me, I would have ignored my phone.
“It’s my coach, babe, there are scouts coming to the next game. He was supposed to learn what pro teams are coming and then call all of us that have a chance in hell of getting drafted.”
“Fine, take the call,” she said, with an eye roll that I saw from across the room. The boyfriend took the call, getting up from the seat to stand in the middle of the room as if he couldn’t take the news sitting down.
Shelby saw me then or recognized me. “Didn’t I see you at the Cozy Cauldron earlier today?”
“You did,” I said, smiling at her.
Her boyfriend had walked across the shop like he wanted privacy for the call.
“You were sitting with what’s her name, Elizabeth?” Shelby said to me.
“Emma,” I said.
“That’s right, her and her new boyfriend.”
I nodded, still smiling. “That’s right.”
She glanced behind at the boyfriend, who was standing with his back to us. It was an important call for him; his whole future was on the line, and if they married, Shelby’s future, too.
The saleslady hesitated with a tray of rings in her hands. They were princess cuts, and I shook my head. “They’ll stick out too much at work, she’ll hate that. Do you have anything that is more flush to the ring mounting?”
“What’s her job?” the saleslady asked.
“She’s a teacher,” I said.
“Was she the lady I saw you with at the coffee shop?” Shelby asked. I hadn’t even known she’d noticed me with Miranda. I’d thought Shelby was totally into her boyfriend as she left the café. It meant she was a far better actor than I thought and that she noticed men even when she was on the arm of her soon-to-be fiancé. It was none of my business, but if I had been dating her it would have given me pause; lucky for all of us I was just there to keep her from getting killed by her stalker.
The boyfriend came back pumped and over the moon, listing teams that would be scouting him tomorrow. He actually did a little bounce on his toes like he was a little boy, too excited to hide it. I liked him better for it, but Shelby got that disdainful crook to her upper lip, and the eyes said clearly that he was behaving like a child and she did not approve. Reggie had a similar look; so had my first wife. Most women had it.
Boyfriend didn’t notice; he was too busy bouncing. Shelby saw me notice. She gave me the full force of that disdain and then her mouth softened into a smile, but her eyes didn’t go softer. No, the look in her eyes was hard and sharp as if her eyes were blue glass with edges hard enough to cut yourself on, but it just might be worth it. She was too harsh for me, reminded me too much of my first wife, and she had been a woman who used men until either she used them up or they wised up and moved on to someone safer to love.
The saleslady said, “How about these rings?”
I turned to look at the new tray of rings and took the chance to look at the window. Mark Cookson was still there but he wasn’t looking at Shelby, he was looking at the boyfriend and me. The boyfriend I understood; hadn’t Charleston said that one of the boyfriends had been killed along with the woman? I wasn’t sure why he was noticing me, but in case he was about to make a connection to me from the hospital I looked back at the rings as if I was serious about them. Before Cookson or the demon inside him recognized me as a cop, I needed backup.
The rings were pretty enough, but none of them were right, because the right one was on Reggie’s finger along with the wedding band that matched mine. I was suddenly homesick for her, for us. I shook my head at the rings.
Mark Cookson reached for the door. The homesickness vanished in a spurt of adrenaline.
“I want that one,” Shelby said.
“Babe, that’s got to be one of the most expensive rings in the store, I can’t afford that.”
Cookson walked into the store smiling and looking normal. If I hadn’t known what his angel looked like, or remembered his eyes from the hospital, I wouldn’t have given him a second look, but Shelby did. Maybe she was just one of those women who notice men?
“You have excellent taste in jewelry. This ring is one of my best,” the older salesperson said.
“Don’t I deserve the best?” she asked, gazing up at her boyfriend.
“Of course you do, and in a few years maybe we can do what this guy’s doing and buy you the biggest, most perfect diamond, but I can’t do it right now, babe, I’m sorry.”
“I can,” Mark Cookson said.
“You can what?” the boyfriend asked.
“I can buy her the ring she wants.”
“Why would you buy her a ring?”
“Because a woman as beautiful as Shelby deserves a ring like that.”
“How did you know my name?” Shelby asked.
“You went to school with my brother Mark, I’m Sam Cookson.”
“You mean Mark Cookson? I didn’t even know he had a brother.”
“We only became close recently,” he said with a smile that managed to be both charming and unsettling. Though that might have been me projecting.
“I can see the family resemblance, but you’re definitely the cute brother,” Shelby said with a smile that she shouldn’t have been flashing at other men, especially in front of her almost-fiancé.
“I don’t care who you are, offering to buy Shelby a ring is inappropriate,” her boyfriend said.
“Inappropriate . . . well, I lost my bet,” Mark, alias Sam, Cookson said.
“What bet?” the boyfriend asked.
“That you’d know any five-syllable words and how to use them appropriately.”
It took Boyfriend a second or two to catch on and then his face flushed. “Are you making fun of me?”
“Would I do that?”
Boyfriend frowned at him.
Cookson ignored him and turned to Shelby. “Let me buy you the ring or anything else you desire.”
“Back off,” the boyfriend said.
Cookson kept staring at Shelby, as if the boyfriend hadn’t said anything. “Anything that money can buy, name it, and it will be yours.”
“Anything?” she asked.
“Shelby!” her boyfriend said.
She smiled up at him. “Come on, sweetheart, you know I’m your girl. I’m just curious what he means when he says anything.”
“I mean anything, Shelby. Pick any piece of jewelry in the shop and it’s yours.”
She looked around the store like she was thinking about it.
Boyfriend grabbed her shoulder and moved her to look at him. He stood between her and Cookson, blocking their view of each other and giving the other man his back. That let me know that her boyfriend was an athlete but not a fighter, or maybe he’d just been bigger and stronger all his life, so he felt secure. I knew size and strength weren’t everything in a fight, but then I’d fought it for real.
“I thought you wanted me to buy you an engagement ring today,” he asked her.
“I do,” she said.
“Then stop screwing around and let’s pick out a ring.”