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“I’m sorry. I don’t know what she was thinking.” I tell Laina as I drive back towards her apartment.
“They don’t want you with me. Why are you pushing this?” Laina asks as I suck in my breath.
“I don’t want an arranged marriage with the snob of their choice. Sarah is no different from the rest of them.” I say as I speed through a yellow light.
“You were with her.” I hear the pain in Laina’s voice and take a few breaths as I finish the drive to her house. Once I’m parked, I turn to face Laina.
“It was in high school for two years, tops. I wasn’t looking for a future with anyone back then, Laina. I want to be the one that chooses who I end up with and being with you keeps my mom off my back. Assuming she ever accepts it.” I stare at her.
“If they don’t like it, what happens? This is your dad’s company, Kyle. Will you lose your job?” Laina asks as she looks at me with wide eyes.
“He signed it all over to me when he retired. Dad might have some shares in the company still, but I don’t think he’d fire me and take it all back, Laina,” I assure her. Would he? “Business has been thriving since I took over. I haven’t done anything wrong.” Suddenly I find myself questioning the repercussions of my actions.
“You’ve worked so hard to get to where you are Kyle, I just don’t want to see it all go away for you,” she says as a tear slides down her cheek. “Not for me.”
“It won’t.” I promise her, reaching out to stroke her face. “Let’s go inside.” I remembered we were supposed to eat and cursed. “Are you hungry? Do you want to get dinner?”
We ended up in a drive-thru and took the food back to her apartment. After folding my clothes, I held her in my arms in bed.
How was I supposed to tell Laina I had developed feelings for her? That was never part of the plan.
I think back to the day I met up with Peter and Remy for lunch and we got to talking about Laina. Since they got along with her so well, they support us, and I decided I want to find her an engagement ring.
We leave the restaurant and Peter glances at his watch.
“I suppose I can take some time off. It’s inventory today, so I hope they can handle the simple task of counting the stock.” Sarcasm laces his voice, and I share a look with Remy as we chuckle.
“I’ll try not to hold you up.” I promise him, as he rolls his eyes. Peter owns the most popular art supply company in the world and ships to every corner of the earth. He’d been successful between that and his family’s trust fund and provides a great life for Logan, though I see that he’s still a little bitter about the separation with his wife.
I always thought getting a ring would be easy. I go in, look at a few, and pick something out that suits the woman. Looking at it as being a staged engagement, there shouldn’t be any of those worries.
This is for Laina, and technically, my friends don’t know anything about the ruse. I use that as an excuse for why I go to so many stores, not finding anything that jumps out at me until the fifth one.
I wasn’t even planning on asking her for the next few weekends, but something told me to get the ring today.
At the fifth store, they had a more eclectic collection, since it wasn’t one of the chain jewelry stores. It was refreshing to see the different styles, but when my eyes fell on a shimmering setting with a modest square diamond at the focal point, I knew I found the one.
I knew it was a life-changing moment for me and I asked the worker if I could take a closer look at it. It had a platinum band with smaller diamonds all around it, adding more shimmer without making it look gaudy.
Laina isn’t a gaudy woman, and this ring just looked like her. I had seen friends that bought massive stones for their wives, but that didn’t work for Laina. While this was still a generous three-carat diamond ring, the designers broke it up to make it seem more on the delicate side and I thought it would look beautiful on her.
“You’re going for it,” Remy noted, looking at the ring in my hand. “That’s nice. It looks like her.”
I felt jealousy at his comment and pushed it away. Laina hadn’t seen them since the charity auction, and she wasn’t even my actual girlfriend. Still, I didn’t enjoy thinking about her with someone else.
“Are you sure about this?” Peter asked me from the other side as I kept staring at the ring. They didn’t know we staged it, so there was only one answer. “It’s a big step and difficult to end once you make the walk down the aisle.”
“I am so sure about it.” They offered a matching wedding band to complete the set, and I told them I’d be back when that time came before leaving the store. I wasn’t sure when I’d execute the proposal yet, but I felt ready when I left the store.
15
If Only
Laina
Ihearthealarmin the morning, knowing Kyle had to leave now. He has to go home and get ready, but I feel him kiss my hair after he shuts his phone off.
“Good morning, beautiful. I’ll see you later.” He tells me as I smile in the dark.
