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I reach my hand around his neck.“I like it simply because you gave it to me.”
Callan takes my coffee while I untie the pink ribbon around the jewelry box and open his gift.My breathing slows when I see what he’s given me.I look up and find him watching me intently with so much emotion in his eyes.This gift is not just something small.
I stare at the gold charm lying on the tiny silk pillow and my entire soul sighs.I stare at it for a long time before finding his eyes again.“I love it, Callan.”
He reaches for my wrist, for the gold bangle I always wear.Undoing the clasp, he slides the bangle off and replaces the one charm it holds with the one he just gave me.He then secures the bangle around my wrist again.
I watch him in silence while he does this, committing every second to memory.This is a moment I never want to forget.
After he places my old charm in the jewelry box, he puts the box in my hand, kisses me, and says, “That’s our first.”
As the elevator doors close between us, I try to calm my madly beating heart.
I collect charms to remember all my firsts.The special moments in my life.I buy them for myself and wear the newest one until I experience another first that must be celebrated.They’re never a gift from anyone else.Not even Callan has bought me one before.He knows I put great thought into the charms when I buy them; they each have their own special meaning that only I know.
The charm he selected for me is a star and I can’t stop swooning over it.
Callan has listened to me ramble about stars for years.About my interpretation of their meaning.Giving me this charm is significant on so many levels.
That’s our first.
I think he intends on starting a new charm collection with me forourfirsts.
I think this charm represents our first date.
And I think he’s telling me he feels hope for us because he knows that stars represent hope for me.
* * *
My day starts well.I meet with Slade and find out that his team are happy with the work we’re doing to fix his public image.After my meeting with him, I work on some contracts Hayden asked me to go over.And then I have a call with Mace who catches me up on the fact he and his wife are working toward a reconciliation.I stare at my phone for a while after I get off that call wondering if I could ever forgive a husband who cheated on me.I don’t know that I could.Hopefully, I’ll never have to find out.
Callan calls at eleven a.m.
“Tell me,” I say as I wedge my phone between my ear and my shoulder so I can continue typing an email while we talk.“Yes or no to a dramatic ceiling for a wedding?”
“A what?”
“You know, a dramatic ceiling installation for a wedding reception.Yes?No?Tell me all your thoughts.”
“If I knew what an installation was, I might be able to give you my thoughts.”
“We clearly need to get you out more.”
“We do not.We need to never go out ever again.”
“Picture extravagant lighting, or fabric draping, or flowers hanging from the ceiling.Big balls.Stars.That kind of thing.That’s a dramatic ceiling.”
“Fuck no.”
“Why not?”
“Because if this is for Harper’s wedding, you don’t need the stress of worrying that any of that will fall on someone and hurt them.”
This man knows me so well.“You’re absolutely right.I’m taking a dramatic ceiling off my list.”I finish typing my email.“How’s your day going?”
“Abigail has only threatened to serve me poison twice.I’d say it’s a good day.”
I laugh and lean back in my chair.“Did you tell me last night that you’re going out for drinks with Gage tonight?Or did I imagine that because I was in a sex coma?”
