“O-oh, um…” I scramble to find the spot where I scrawled the appraisal down in my notes. “It’s, um… Two… No… No… Three and a half thousand dollars.”
Luke’s smile drops. “Seriously?”
“The jeweler offered me two thousand in cash if he could have it then and there.”
“Holy shit.”
As Sawyer would say, “Damn straight.”
Luke’s eyebrows shoot up. “Did you just say…?”
“Oh, uh… yeah…” I lift a shoulder. “I’m cool sometimes.”
He laughs. “You’re cool all the time.” He neatly prints the valuation on the card. “Okay… Next one…”
We quickly make it through three more Polaroids. As it turns out, I can blabber on and on about the history of the piece and even the stones, but I get caught up with the numbers. The dollar figures I remember are way off. It’s lucky I never followed my father’s footsteps to become an accountant.
“You’re getting the hang of it,” Luke says. “Keep working on these at home. Write down what’s going to stump you when you’re put on the spot.”
“But what about the nerves?”
“Els—”
“It’s fine here with you, but on that stupid stage, I’ll be a deer in the headlights. I’m going to forget how to talk. I’ll probably faint!”
“Have you ever fainted before?”
“Yes!”
“Okay.” He braces his hand on my shoulder. “You won’t faint if you breathe. Take one now. A big breath. Go on.” He watches me suck down a gulp of air. “Better?”
“No.”
“You want another secret tip?”
“I hope you’ve got one better than your palm cards.”
Amusement warms his smile, but I don’t derail his overoptimism. “You can win half the battle by distracting everyone with how good you look,” he says.
“Easy for you to say,” I grumble.
“Pick out a nice dress and do your hair, and everyone will be too busy gawking at how gorgeous you are to notice if you stumble over a few words.”
“What about if I stumble overallof them?”
“I’ll be right there with you. If you need to find a friendly face, just turn and I’ll be next to you. And if all else fails, I’ll crack an inappropriate joke, and everyone will be too scandalized to remember that you forgot what the fat red stone is in that ring.” He points to a Polaroid.
“It’s a spinel.”
“See? You’re going to be fine.”
19
Unexpected thunder after a frantic office encounter
Luke was wrong.
Clothes don’t make a difference.
