Page 30 of First Moon

“Yeah?” he asked, like he needed to hear it again.

“Yeah.”

He kissed me right in the middle of my favorite spot on earth, and I swear I heard angels singing.

When he pulled back, his eyes went wide. “Oh my gosh, I forgot the ring.”

“Where is it?”

“In my pocket.”

“What? You put my engagement ring in your swim trunks?”

“I’d planned to do it under the tree there, but, when I saw the rope, I knew this was it. Reach into my pocket.”

I looked down between us, then back up at him. “Okay, but I can wait until we get back to shore.”

“No, I want it to be here.”

I let go with one hand and slid it carefully down his side, feeling for the pocket of his swim trunks. The rope shifted. Jack’s grip tightened. My fingers found the pocket opening, then the little velvet pouch tucked inside.

“I feel it,” I whispered.

The pouch was wedged deeper than expected. I tugged once, then again. It came free all at once, slick from the damp fabric, and, for one glorious half second, I had it.

Then it slipped.

The little velvet pouch bounced off my wrist, hit Jack’s thigh, and dropped straight down between us.

We both watched it fall.

It hit the surface with the tiniest plop imaginable and disappeared into the green water.

Silence.

Then I screamed. “Oh my God!”

He stared at the creek below us. “Okay, we don’t need to panic. This water’s very clear.”

“I dropped my engagement ring in Juniper Creek.”

The rope began drifting back toward the bank.

“No, no, no.” I kicked my feet as if that would somehow reverse the laws of motion. “We have to get it.”

“We will.”

The second we were close enough to the bank, Jack let go with one hand and grabbed the rope lower, bringing us in. My feet scraped the shallow shelf, but I didn’t wait for balance. I untangled myself from him and splashed toward the deeper water.

“Where did it fall?” I asked.

“Right below us, a little toward the center.”

“The center is deep.”

“I know.”

“You can’t see anything from up here.”