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Jamie
Therewasnopointin going back uptown, so I suggested to Eric that we get coffee somewhere and discuss what happened this morning.
“Get coffee?” he said slyly.
“For a work meeting,” I replied. At least we had a sense of humor about things now. But my stomach was still fluttering from this morning. My heart raced as Eric put on the ring, and he gently held my hand in his. After I took the photo and we left the jewelry store, I found that my palms were sweaty.
The photo looked incredible, though. As we sat in the private room of a restaurant in a hotel on the Common, I stared at the beautiful view of the green grass and the trees in the window. Then I looked back down at my phone.
“This is like the best photo that’s ever been taken,” I said.
“Oh, yeah?” said Eric. “Can I see?”
I was hesitant to hand it over—we both knew that there had been more than a little tension when I tried the ring on. But I gave him the benefit of the doubt, and eventually, I showed him the picture. He looked at it, and his eyes widened.
“Wow,” I said. “That’s really good.”
“I know, right?” I replied excitedly. “I mean, it’ll look better with a professional hand model and everything, but—”
“Are you kidding? You can put one of your things on and post it right now?”
“Sure,” I said. With a couple of filters and a little resizing, the photo could make a great teaser. I added the logo of Slade Metals and Development that we were using to brand the rings, and then I saved it to my phone.
“Not going to post it?” said Eric.
“I’ll do it at a peak time for tonight,” I said. “Maybe 6 p.m.?”
“That sounds good,” said Eric.
Then we sat in silence. The truth was, there wasn’t all that much to discuss. Had ‘business meeting’ just been a pretext to hang out together? I didn’t know anymore.
I was full of questions.
“Hey,” I said as Eric sipped his espresso. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure,” he said.
“Are you married?”
Eric looked at me with eyes full of concern. I took a sip of my coffee like it wasn’t a big deal.
“Am Imarried?” he said.
“I just always wondered,” I said. “And the other day—”
“What?”
I thought about telling him what Julia had said, then thought better of it.
“Nothing,” I said. “So, it’s not true.”
“Don’t you think your dad would have told you if I was?”
“No,” I said. “He’s surprisingly tight-lipped about it.”
Eric looked at me. “Do you think that’s why I’m…”
He waited as if I knew what he was going to say.
