He gave her a dry look.
“Can you restore the tapes?”
“I can try a few tricks with some of the cassettes, but basically what I gave you is what you’re going to get.”
Angie inhaled deeply as she processed this fact. “Okay. Can you tell me if the rest of the cassettes at least matched up with the inventory list, apart from those final missing ones you already told me about?”
“Affirmative. Rest is all there.”
“Thanks for trying.”
“Anytime.” He handed Angie an invoice, and she settled her account. As she retraced her steps to the jewelry store, she recalibrated her thoughts. When she arrived at Accent Jewelers, they informed her that her ring was ready.
Dominique himself brought it out and slipped it onto her ring finger. The diamond winked and danced in the light. Emotion threatened Angie’s eyes and filled her heart. She wished Maddocks was here. She looked up at Dominique and said, “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
He smiled. “Looks good on you. Congratulations.”
Angie left the store with the ring on her finger and a cocktail of conflict churning in her gut. Maybe this ring resizing was a fruitless exercise. Maybe she really had pushed Maddocks too far. Maybe she shouldn’t be wearing the ring until they’d mended things. His words looped through her mind again.
I’m here. I’m yours. But it’s your call.
At the intersection she hesitated once more and stole another glimpse at the diamond on her hand. Her chest ballooned with trepidation. Fear. And a whispering, distant sense of ... excitement. Of possibility.
Your call.
She steeled her jaw and hurriedly dug out her phone. Quickly, before she thought the idea was ridiculous, before she decided she was overstepping the mark, she dialed a number.
Angie almost choked on a sudden upsurge of nerves, but she tightened her grip on her phone as Ginny, Maddocks’s daughter, answered.
“Hey, Ginn, how are you?” She tried to keep her voice light but failed miserably.
“Angie? Is ... everything okay? You sound odd.”
She cleared her throat. “Yeah. Yeah, everything’s fine. Have ... have you got classes this morning?”
“Not until noon. Why?”
She blew out a huge breath. “Okay. Can you meet me downtown? Like, soon? Now?”
“Angie? What’s going on—is it Dad? Is he all right?”
“It’s ... I need your help. It’s a surprise. And yes, it’s to do with your father. But it’s all good, I promise.”
“Ah ... sure. Where downtown?”
Angie gave the address without naming the store. “I’ll be inside. Ask for me.”
She ended the call and sucked in a huge breath as she pressed her hand against her sternum. She then bent into the wind and hurried back down the street. As she shoved through the door of the boutique, the bell tinkled. Mia and her assistant both looked up in surprise from where they were busy at the desk. Angie was breathing heavily.
Mia surged to her feet. “Is everything okay?”
Angie nodded toward the dress in the alcove. “I—I think I’ll try it on. That one.”
Mirrors covered the walls floor to ceiling, and a thick drape shielded Angie from a sitting area designed for family members or bridesmaids or girlfriends—or whoever brides-to-be dragged along to these things. She stared at her reflection with a sense of surreality swallowing her because Angie did not recognize the woman staring back.
Her red hair hung loose and long about her shoulders, offsetting the clean lines of the gown. It fitted like a glove—like Cinderella’s freaking glass slipper, like it was meant to be, just hanging there waiting for her to catch a case that would drive her into the bridal store where she would see the dress.
“Angie?”
