Jio slid the ring back into the box and motioned to the sales associate to come back over.
“I’ll take it.”
The woman was pleased. She’d made her mortgage for the rest of the year off this one sale. “Excellent choice.”
“Can you engrave it?”
Auntie Vee clasped her hands together. “Ooh, that’s going to be nice.”
Kadeer leaned in. “What you putting? Please don’t put no corny shit.”
Jio ignored him.
The sales associate grabbed a small card and pen. “What would you like it to say?”
Jio thought about it. There were a thousand things he could say to Nina. He could promise her the world, but she knew he was going to give her that anyway.
He looked down at the ring one last time and one sentence came to mind.
“Wherever you are.”
He caused everyone to still.
The sales associate wrote it down. “Beautiful.”
Jio nodded. “Just like my baby.”
The paperwork took longer than he wanted, but Jio signed everything placed in front of him without blinking at the price.
The associate handed him the small box with both hands.
“Congratulations!”
She tucked the final receipt into an envelope and handed it over. “There’s a card in there of an insurer we recommend. I highly suggest you make that your first call in the morning. You just spent a lot of money, Mr. Gotti,” she said with a cautious smile.
He stared at the black velvet box. It was small enough to fit in his palm but heavy enough to change his entire life. “Let me put it in a bag for you,” she offered.
“Thank you.”
Security scanned the parking lot before giving Jio the green light to step outside. Auntie Vee climbed into the backseat first, still emotional but pretending not to be.
Kadeer looked at him once they settled in. “You nervous?”
“No.”
Kadeer laughed. “Liar.”
“Maybe a little.”
“That’s good,” his auntie chimed in.
“How?”
“Means you know what you got to lose.”
Jio looked toward the road. Because that he did… more than anybody could ever understand.
Kadeer bumped his shoulder against Jio’s. “For what it’s worth... her folks gon’ come around.”
