“You’re not staying?” she asks incredulously. “Don’t tell me you’re leaving her after she nearly died trying to get to you, dumbass.”
Johanna crosses her arms. “Seriously. Iwillknock you out.”
“No!” I say quickly, horrified they would even think that. “I need to go do something.”
Rylee narrows her eyes. “What could possibly be more important than—?”
“I need to go buy a ring.”
That gets their attention.
Johanna blinks. “Oh, myGod. You’re serious.”
“I thought the fiancée thing was just a line to get you in the door,” Rylee says, stunned.
“It was never a line,” I admit. “Not since I thought I could lose her and have it not be true.”
They stare at me like I’d just grown a second head. Then Johanna smiles—just slightly—and Rylee begins wiping at her eyes again.
“She’s gonna say yes,” Rylee says quietly. “She might make you work for it. She should. But she’ll say yes.”
“Iwantto work for it,” I tell them. “I just don’t want to wait.”
Johanna nods. “Then go. We’ll stay with her. You just go.”
My phone tells me there’s a jeweler two blocks down from the hospital. It’s high-end, old school—the kind of place with the velvet-lined cases and price tags high enough to make your stomach drop.
The bell above the door chimes as I walk in.
The man behind the counter doesn’t look up right away. He’s polishing a ring like it’s the only thing in the world that matters.
When he finally does glance up at me—hoodie, worn-out boots, unshaven—he raises an eyebrow as if I’ve walked into the wrong store.
“Help you with something?” he asks carefully, Texas twang as thick as the nurse’s had been.
“I’m here to buy an engagement ring,” I say.
Both eyebrows go up. “Are you… sure?”
I laugh under my breath. “I know how this must look. I’m wearing last night’s stage clothes, haven’t slept, and might cry before I leave here—but yeah, I’m sure.”
That seems to be enough for him. He steps around the glass case and gives me a small nod of approval.
“Alrighty then. Let’s find her something good. Tell me about her.”
I blink. “Like… her ring size?”
He chuckles. “No, son. Tell me abouther. What’s she like? I gotta know the girl before I can know her ring.”
I rub the back of my neck, suddenly feeling like I’m being given a pop quiz.
But Mia is my favorite subject.
“She’s like a breath of fresh air,” I say. “She’s the most grounded person I’ve ever met. She’s sharp, and so smart. Sheseeseverything—and reads me like a damn book. She’s always got her camera in her hand, seeing things through it that no one else would. Makes everything she touches better—photos, people,me. I wouldn’t be anywhere if it wasn’t for her.”
He grins, and keeps listening.
“She’s got no idea how brilliant she is, which drives me crazy. She’s got this voice, too. And when she’s on stage with me? I light up in a way I haven’t in years. Most of the good in my life is her, easily.”
