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The clerk helps me choose two items. The first is a pair of sapphire earrings that will complement Cat's eyes. I couldn't find a pair with stones as pale as her irises, but I chose the lightest blue available. The stones are surrounded by white gold. She will look lovely in these earrings, but that isn't the most important thing I wanted to buy today. I keep the second item in its box and slip it into my trouser pocket as I walk out of the store—until I realize the box creates a visible shape in my pocket. So I pull it out and remove the ring, stashing that in my pocket instead. Yes, it's a diamond ring. The glittering stone rests in a cradle of much smaller stones, all of them surrounded by white gold.
Tonight, I am going to propose to Cat.
I ring Cat on her mobile to ask when she might be home. She assures me she'll be done at the library in an hour, then she will come straight home. That leaves me with enough time to do what I need to do. She will say yes. Won't she? Of course she will. I set about making our lavish meal and creating the proper atmosphere for a proposal, which means candlelight and soft, sensual music, as well as roses in a glass vase and a lace tablecloth that I bought on my way back from the jewelry store. I also change my clothes. A suit without the tie seems more appropriate than the T-shirt and khaki trousers I'd been wearing.
Catriona arrives moments after I've finished the preparation. She hurries into the house while staring down into her purse as if she's hunting for something.
I clear my throat.
She freezes and glances up. "Alex, what is all this?"
"Dinner. It's a special occasion."
"What sort of occasion?"
I pull out a chair and gesture toward it. "Have a seat, and you'll find out."
Ringing emanates from her purse. She digs her mobile out and answers it. "Lachlan?"
Her brother isn't supposed to know about me, but I can't help wondering if fate has given him a nudge. Either that or I'm cursed. Why else would her brother call tonight? She doesn't speak to her family every day.
"Oh, aye," she says to Lachlan. "Well, I should speak to Jamie first. She's a teenager, and everything seems like a catastrophe at that age."
This does not sound promising, not for my proposal plans.
Cat disconnects the call and gives me a sheepish look. "I'm sorry, Alex. The dinner you've made looks wonderful, but I need to ring my sister Jamie. Her boyfriend just broke up with her. Threw her over for another girl. She won't stop crying, and she won't speak to anyone, not even our sister Fiona. Lachlan wants me to try to calm Jamie down."
"You should do that, then. I'll keep the food warm."
"This might take hours, Alex. Go ahead and eat."
Whilst she heads into the bedroom, I make a plate of food for her and deliver it to her. She gives me a grateful smile. I eat alone in the living room. By the time her call to Jamie ends, we both want nothing more than to go to sleep. I don't ask her to marry me. I don't even tell her about the ring. I do give her the earrings, which she loves, but I've apparently lost my nerve when it comes to popping that question. Maybe her sister's romantic problems are a sign that I shouldn't propose to Cat. I don't do it the next day or the day after that, not a week later either. I have lost my nerve, haven't I? That has never happened to me before. But then, I've never loved any woman except for Catriona MacTaggart.
And I still haven't told her that either.
