Page 80 of Julian

“That reaction means it was expensive.”

“It was just—”

“Harper.”

I exhale. “Diamond earrings.”

Abby freezes.

“Excusez-moi?” she says slowly.

“Diamond earrings.”

“How diamond are we talking?”

I stare into my drink. “Five carats.”

Her jaw drops. Like in a cartoon. Literally, to the floor.

“Five?”

“Please stop screaming numbers at me.”

“Harper Hawthorne!” she whisper-yells. “That man bought you FIVE-CARAT DIAMOND EARRINGS?”

“He said it was because I lost one at the hockey game.”

“The fake one?” she asks incredulously.

“Yes. The fake one.”

Abby stares at me for a full three seconds. Then four… then five.

“What do they look like?” she finally asks.

I lean back slowly against the booth cushions. “Champagne diamonds. They are…” I shake my head. “Honestly, they are breathtaking.”

“And you accepted them?”

“I tried not to.”

“But?”

“But he ignored me and handed me champagne-colored financial ruin.”

Abby collapses against the booth dramatically. “I cannot believe this is your life now.”

“Trust me, neither can I.”

“No, Harper,” she says, sitting upright again. “Listen to me carefully. That is not a gift men buy women they casually like.”

I look down because the second she says it out loud, my brain starts spiraling again, back to the way he looked at me across that dinner table. I could tell there wasn’t another person on earth he wanted to be there with.

Abby studies my face carefully. “You’re really in this.”

I laugh weakly. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“Yes, you do.”