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“Soo… I have something to show you,” Irene said, pulling a little box from her purse. She opened it and a ring glared at me. A deep, green emerald surrounded by diamonds. I’d seen the ring before.
“Grandma’s ring?” I asked her. “Why did you bring that out here?”
“Because I’m giving it to you,” she said.
“Why though? It’s a woman’s ring.”
Irene nudged me. “In case, you know, you want to give it to Anna.”
I froze, staring at the ring, not blinking. Not even breathing.
“You want me to…to propose to Anna? With that ring?”
“When you’re good and ready, and if you don’t have another ring picked out, I thought it might be nice. It was willed to me, but I have no use for it… I figured it should be put to use, and I see how you and Anna are together, so…” She trailed off but looked at me with puppy dog eyes.
I couldn’t say no to such a sweet gesture, even though I knew there was no way Anna and I would ever get engaged. But how could I explain that to my sister without telling her the truth about us?
“I don’t know if I should take it, Grandma wanted you to have it.”
“She wanted it to stay in the family, that’s all that mattered to her. And Anna will be family, I can almost bet on it.”
My heart sunk into my stomach. “Irene, I’m not sure–”
“Listen, just take it. Even if you don’t plan to get engaged anytime soon, you’ll have it if the moment strikes.” Irene shoved it into my hands forcibly. I tried to give it back, but she stepped away and held her hands up. “It’s yours now. You do with it what you want.”
“Well, I’m going to give it back to you,” I told her. “You should pass it down to Maddy.”
“Only if you and Anna break up,” she said with a knowing smile. “Is that a deal? We have other jewelry I can pass down to my kids, but this… this is meant to be an engagement ring, I can just feel it in my heart.”
Anna and I had a pending breakup on the calendar. That seemed to be the easiest way out of this. I could give it back to Irene once Anna went to Tanzania or wherever she ended up.
“Fine, that’s fair. I’ll keep it as long as Anna and I are together, just in case.”
“There’s no just in case. It’s going to happen, Levi.”
“Sure,” I said, staring at the beautiful ring.
It was a vintage ring, passed down through generations of the Callaghan family. It had come straight from Ireland, I was told, from my great grandma who passed it down to her daughter who passed it down to Irene after our mother passed away.
And now Irene wanted it to go to Anna.
I slipped the ring into my pocket.
Irene linked arms with me and said, “Let’s go find your girl.”
We walked toward the craft pavilion, and as expected, Rose Berkshire was there, marveling at some of the homemade jewelry. Anna was by her side. I slipped beside her and said, “Hi,” but didn’t touch her.
Anna smiled at me, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Oh hey, I was just thinking of grabbing something to eat. Would you like to join me?”
It felt so overly formal and forced, but I nodded. “Sure. I usually get a corn dog when I’m here.”
She smiled wider, and it felt a little more sincere. “Of course you do, that’s adorable.”
For a second, the conversation from earlier had slipped our minds. Then it was like we remembered it at the exact same time and averted our gaze.
“So, what about that corndog,” Anna muttered and turned toward the food court. She walked a few steps ahead of me, and I gave her some space. The first food cart we stopped at had corn dogs. “You know, I haven’t had one since I was a kid, I might have one as well.”
“Alright, two corn dogs,” I said, speaking to the person in the truck.
