The smile Emmy gave him was nothing short of evil. “Oh, I can resist it, honey. And just to prove that, you’re sleeping here tonight. I hope you catch crabs from Trevor’s couch.”
Luke’s smugness completely evaporated and was replaced with fear, while Trevor fist pumped and shouted, “Guys night!”
“Can we focus please?” I asked, a little on the hysterical side. “What exactly don’t you like about the ring?” I asked the ladies.
Lizzy looked at me in shock. “Um, well it’s a marquise cut diamond on a gold nugget band, so… everything.”
Yep, it was official. I was gonna hurl.
I dropped my head on the table and started banging it over and over.
“Who talked you into getting this?” Savannah asked as she rubbed my back.
I turned my face to the side and looked at her without raising my head off the table. “The chick at the store said it was a classic,” I replied dumbly.
“Classically ugly,” Emmy muttered out the side of her mouth.
I banged my head a few more times. “I freaked out, okay! I got in the store and there were rings everywhere. It was enough to give a guy a friggin’ heart attack! I mean, what the hell is a princess cut anyway?”
“How much was that thing?” Jeremy asked.
“It was only five-hundred bucks. I got it for a steal,” I replied.
“You got ripped off,” he replied as he picked it up to take a closer look.
“Come on,” Lizzy said, as she grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the chair.
“Where are we going?”
“To get you a ring that won’t make Stacia cry when she sees it.”
Chapter 2
Walking through the doors of a different jewelry store—since they deemed the place I bought the first ring from unworthy—with three women flanking me, brought back the anxiety that I thought I’d already dealt with. I’d progressed from feeling like I was going to hurl, to feeling like I was about to pass out.
“Okay, stay away from anything yellow gold,” Lizzy stated.
“Why?” I asked.
“Oh, and no pear shaped diamonds,” Savannah chimed in.
“What’s a pear shape?” I got the distinct impression that no one was listening to me.
“And prong setting, not channel.”
“Huh?”
They’d honed in on the engagement rings faster than a shark that smelled chum for Christ’s sake. They’d abandoned me by the door, leaving me to wonder what the hell a pear setting or whatever the hell they were talking about was. I could practically see the three of them foaming at the mouth as they oohed and ahhed over the huge-ass rocks in front of them. I had a feeling if I took their advice, I’d go bankrupt.
“Oh, look at that one,” Emmy said. “Two carat solitaire in a platinum setting.”
What was the deal with all the fruit and vegetable references? First they brought up pears, now carrots? I was more lost than when I came by myself the first time.
“Can I help you, sir?” a polite, middle-aged woman asked from behind one of the counters to my left.
I left my friends to their drooling and walked up to the sales lady hoping she’d be able to help me. “Uh, yeah,” I shot a quick glance at her name tag, “Claire. I’m trying to find an engagement ring for my girlfriend.” I hitched my thumb over my shoulder in the direction of the girls. “My friends said the one I got was ugly.”
Claire gave me a sympathetic smile. “I’m sure it’s not that bad. Why don’t we take a look?”
I pulled the ring out of my pocket and showed it to the kind-faced Claire. “Oh,” was the only response I got.
“You see my situation?”
Claire screwed her face up as she bent closer to get a better look. “Yeah.”
Monosyllabic responses were not a good sign.
I snapped the ring box shut and stuck it back in my pocket before anyone else could see it. It was bad enough I was never going to live this down with my friends, the last thing I needed was for strangers to point and laugh.
“Why don’t you tell me about your girlfriend?” Claire asked.
I felt that same goofy smile I got every time someone brought up Stacia appear on my face. “Well, we’ve known each other since we were kids, and I guess I just always knew I was gonna end up with her, you know? Even before we started dating, I’d look at her and just know.” I looked at Claire and saw she had that gooey expression women got when they thought a dude was being romantic.
“She’s got this smile that, even when I’m having a really crappy day, it just… I don’t know… it just makes everything better, I guess. That smile brightens up my world. She’s a total goof, but it’s just one of the many things I love about her.”
Based on the chorus of ahh’s coming from behind me, the girls had apparently turned their attention from the rings back to me.
“Oh, and she’s got a rockin’ body!” I exclaimed with enthusiasm. “Like, total 50s pin-up chick.”
The gooey, romantic expression left her face and she shook her head. I could have sworn I heard her mutter “typical” under her breath at the same time Savannah smacked me in the back of the head. “Why do guys always have to ruin it?” she asked in a huff.
“Well, what about this one?” Claire asked as I rubbed the back of my head. “This is from out vintage collection. It’s a one-carat center stone surrounded by pave diamonds in a white gold setting. Notice the intricate detailing along the band…”
I let her prattle on about the ring, not really listening to what she was saying because I couldn’t take my eyes off it.
It was perfect. It had an antique look to it and I could see it on Stacia’s hand clear as day. Looking at the ring, I got the same exact feeling every time I looked as Stacia. It was the one.
“I’ll take it,” I interrupted, cutting Claire off mid-sentence.
“You’re sure?” she asked cautiously.
“Oh, yeah,” I replied with a grin. “I’m positive.”
I glanced behind me when I finally noticed the silence in the store. Emmy, Savannah and Lizzy stood behind me, all with tear streaked faces. “Oh, Gavin,” Savannah croaked. “It’s beautiful.”
With that, all three woman busted out in full-blown sobs. I’m talking ugly crying with blotchy faces and snotty noses. I was in engagement-ring hell.
Chapter 3
“No, you aren’t helping with the proposal, Emmy. I’m not gonna tell you again.”
We’d arrived Trevor’s from the jewelry store and the girls instantly jumped on my proposal, throwing out ideas left and right on what they thought I should do.
“Oh, come on,” she whined. “I’ve got a ton of awesome ideas. Ooh, ooh, how about this? You could cover her house in rose petals and have candles lit everywhere. That’d be so romantic.”
“Not to mention a fire hazard,” Luke replied. He was sitting on Trevor’s couch—not at all concerned about what he could possibly be sitting in—with his feet kicked up on the box posing as a coffee table and his hands behind his head.
“Oh, shut up, Luke,” Emmy snapped. “What are you even doing here? Don’t you ever work?”
“Crime decided to take a break. What can I say? I’m such a badass, I scared all the bad guys straight, I guess.”
Emmy snatched the Sports Illustrated out of Luke’s hands and smacked him in the face with it. “Get lost, Deputy Dumbass. There’s a speed trap with your name on it somewhere across town.”
Luke stood and stretched before grabbing Emmy around her waist and pulling her to his chest. “Gimme a kiss to keep me safe first.”
“Safe from what? Getting run over by Mrs. Williams because she won’t listen to her doctor when he says she can’t drive because of her cataracts?” Savannah asked with a roll of her eyes.
It fell on deaf ears, however, seeing as Emmy and Luke were currently locked in a heavy make-out session.
“Glad to know my tax dollars help pay for our Deputy to suck face with his girlfriend,”
Brett said as I threw a handful of chips at Luke’s head.
He didn’t even break contact with Emmy while he flipped Brett the bird.
Trevor looked as me seriously before saying, “You know, man, if you’re worried about her shooting you down, you could always just knock her up. No chick wants to be single and pregnant.”
Savannah rolled up Luke’s disregarded magazine and proceeded to beat Trevor over the head with it. “You know, for society’s sake, I hope you have weak swimmers. The last thing we need is your help populating the earth.”
“Okay, I’m out,” Luke called. “I don’t need to be witness to Savannah beating Trevor to death.”
I took that as my cue and followed him out the door. “So you don’t think flowers and candles are the way to go?” I asked as we walked through the parking lot.
Luke stopped and turned to put his hand on my shoulder. “Think about it, man. You scatter flowers all over your house and who’s gonna have to clean that shit up the next day, huh? She’ll be too busy running around town tellin’ everyone who’ll listen that she’s getting married to do it, so that makes it you’re job.”
I gave a slight nod. I had to admit, he made a valid point.
“It’s not like they care that we’ve already done all the work anyway, just by proposing. You think they care what kind of trouble we go through to pop the question? No, of course they don’t.”
“Sounds like you’ve given this a lot of thought. You plan on askin’ Emmy to marry you any time soon?”
Luke looked a little uncomfortable as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Hell, Gavin. I’ve asked the woman three times already. She keeps shootin’ me down.”
That surprised me. “She tell you why?”
“Apparently, it doesn’t count if you shout it out during sex. What idiot came up with that rule?”
I threw my head back in laughter. “Probably the same person who decided tying a bow around your junk and telling your girlfriend it was her birthday present was a bad idea.”
“Hey, that was a brilliant gift. She loves that thing almost as much as I do. She just didn’t appreciate the sentiment behind it.”
“Uh huh. That would explain why she punched it instead of appreciating it.”
I saw Luke cringe a little out of the corner of my eye and I knew he was recalling how he walked around funny for days after telling Emmy to unwrap her “present”.
I always knew she had a mean streak. I just never knew she could hit that hard… or that a man like Luke was capable of crying.
It was my turn to cringe at the memory.
“I think it’ll be best if I just go with my gut on this one,” I told him before heading for my truck. “At least by listening to you talk, I know what not to do,” I called over my shoulder.
“See if I ever offer you advice again.”
I pulled the car door open and turned back to Luke. “Your advice is gonna get me shot one day. Hell, I’m in shock that you’re still alive and kickin’ after some of the stunts you’ve pulled.”
“What can I say, that woman worships me,” he said with a chuckle.
“Is that right?” a pissed off female voice said from behind Luke. He spun around, and I caught a glimpse of a furious looking Emmy before I decided to make a break for it.
“Ah, baby. You know I didn’t mean that,” he pleaded. I slammed the door and put the truck in gear just as he started spouting off how much he loved her.
I swear, him saying stupid stuff and her making his life miserable for it, was almost like foreplay between those two. I was positive they each got off on it.
As much as I loved my friends and appreciated them digging me out of the hole I put myself in with that first ring, there was no way I was going to take their advice on my proposal. Trevor would have me getting Stacia pregnant on the sly, and Luke’s advice would probably lead to me sleeping on the couch at Trevor’s with a bag of frozen peas between my legs to keep the swelling down.
There was no one that knew Stacia better than I did. I just had to trust my instincts and hope I made it through without passing out.
Chapter 4
STACIA
“I think Gavin’s cheating on me,” I rushed once we were all seated around Savannah’s dining room table.
I probably should have waited to drop that little bomb on my girls until after Emmy was finished taking a drink, but iced tea all over my ivory, cashmere sweater is a lesson in itself.
Once she finished choking, she looked at me with tears in her eyes and croaked, “What?” between coughs.
“You heard me. Gavin’s having an affair. That’s the only thing that can explain his behavior these past few days. That’s why I called an emergency girls’ meeting.”
A look passed between my three best friends but I couldn’t tell what it was about.
“Honey, I’m sure it’s not what you think,” Lizzy tried to placate me.
“Oh really? Well then, can you explain why he’s been taking all his calls in the bathroom all week when he’s at home? Or why, every time I ask him what’s going on, he gets all sweaty and starts to stutter? Or how about why he’s puking every five minutes? What do have to say about that?”
“Uhh… maybe he’s sick?”
“He’s guilty is what he is. I know that man better than he knows himself. He’s up to something. I can feel it in my gut.”
Emmy, having finally gotten control of her breathing, reached across the table and grabbed my hand. “Stacia, you know Gavin would never do anything like that to you. There has to be a logical explanation.”
I reached into my purse and slapped the folded piece of paper down on the table in front of everyone. “Well, explain this then,” I demanded.
Savannah picked up the paper and started looking over it. “What am I looking at exactly?”
“That’s Gavin’s credit card statement. When he started acting shady, I decided to do some digging. See there?” I said pointing at the charge in question. “That’s a charge for five hundred bucks for some place called Angel’s in Houston. I bet it’s some skanky strip club where he meets his skanky stripper girlfriend for a nooner while I sit at home like a total friggin’ idiot!”
The last few words came out in a choked sob right before I broke down in tears. “I bet her stripper name’s Candy or Crystal Chandelier or something equally as slutty and fake as she is!” I wailed.
They all just sat there wide eyed and watched me bawl my eyes out without saying a word. “Are y’all just gonna sit there staring or are you gonna console me?” I screeched. “I just found out my soon-to-be crippled soon-to-be ex-boyfriend is screwing around with a stripper!”
They immediately snapped out of their daze and jumped up to wrap their arms around me, offering words of reassurance that it wasn’t what I thought. That Gavin loved me more than life itself and would never do anything to hurt me.
I wanted to believe what they were saying but things just weren’t adding up. I’d never seen Gavin act so strangely in all the years we’d known each other. He was up to something and I was going to find out what it was.
I finally got my tears under control several minutes later.
“Promise you won’t do anything irrational, Stacia,” Emmy said as she ran a hand down my hair. “Everything you’ve told us can easily be explained. For all you know, he could just be planning on surprising you with something.”
“Really, like what?” I asked hopefully.
Before she could answer, Savannah hauled back and punched Emmy in the arm. “Ouch! Sonofabitch!”
I couldn’t make out the look on Savannah’s face, but her tight mouth and crazy eyes told me she wanted to kick Emmy’s ass. “What was that for?” I asked Savannah.
“Nothing,” she mumbled. “I thought I saw a spider or something.”
Emmy rubbed her arm where Savannah had punched her. “Thanks,” she said as she stared daggers in Savannah’s direction.
I tried to pull the conversation back aro
und to what we were discussing before the spider incident. “So you think he’s planning a surprise or something?”
All three of them got nervous looks on their faces. “Uh, I don’t know. Maybe. I was just saying it could be something else.”
I felt my hopes that there could be some other reason for Gavin acting so strange lately dwindle.
I figured I’d just have to work on my sleuthing a little more and get to the bottom of things.
Chapter 5
GAVIN
I had to hurry to get everything set up before Stacia made it home. I ran to the grocery store and picked up everything I would need to make her favorite dinner, chicken parmesan. I didn’t have a damn clue how to make it, but it couldn’t be that hard. All I had to do was follow the recipe and I was golden.
My phone dinged from my back pocket and I glanced at it to see a text from Brett.
Warning! Warning! Shit’s about to hit the fan!
I didn’t have time to try and figure out what the hell he was talking about, so I just stuffed my phone back in my pocket and went about the rest of my errands.
Once I made it back to our place, I headed to the kitchen to start dinner before I tidied up the house.
I pulled out the recipe book and sat it out in front of me before organizing everything that I needed.
“Dredge each breast in flour and tap off excess…” I read out loud, “…then dip in the egg and let excess drip off. Dredge both sides in bread crumbs. Huh… what’s a dredge?”
I didn’t have a clue what Bobby Flay was talking about, but I’d seen my mom and Stacia both make fried chicken once or twice, so I figured it wasn’t much different. A look at the clock showed that time was of the essence, so I decided to cut a few corners to make things move a little quicker.
Instead of wasting time measuring out the oil and dividing it between pans, I just poured the bottle into each until they looked about equal and set the burners on high.
Because I didn’t have time to separate the ingredients out into separate bowls and I still didn’t know what the hell a dredge was, I went for the method I’d seen Mom and Stacia use and dumped the flour, a few eggs and the bread crumbs into a Ziploc storage bag, then I cut open the pack of chicken breasts and dumped them in there too.
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