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“Absolutely she will,” Isabelle agreed.
Kaylee sighed deeply. “How about a plain band?”
“Again, this is about Gran’s expectations,” he cut in.
“In that case,darling,”—there was a bite in Kaylee’s voice—”why don’t you and Isabelle select something you both think your grandmother will find suitable?”
“You’ll be the one wearing it.” Frost attempted not to let his annoyance drip from his words.
“Jewelry is very personal.” Isabelle kept her tone neutral, and he couldn’t tell if she was trying to soothe him or Kaylee. But she looked at Kaylee directly. “I think you should have something you like.”
“I had it, once.” Pain ghosted in her eyes, turning them to dark gold. “This time it doesn’t matter.”
Another glimpse of her past, one he had no idea about. Had Kaylee been engaged? Maybe even married?Shit.This was something he should know about her.
“Why don’t you come with me?” Isabelle suggested.
At that moment, Jean Claude rolled out a cart. The top shelf held bottled water, porcelain cups, cream, sugar, and sweeteners. There was also a three-tiered platter filled with small pastries and every kind of cookie imaginable.
“If you’ll excuse us, Evan?”
While Isabelle guided Kaylee to the far side of the shop, he shrugged helplessly and plucked a cranberry scone from the platter and accepted a coffee that Jean Claude poured from a silver carafe.
Across the store, the two ladies conversed before browsing through several cases of empty settings. Then maybe ten minutes later, Kaylee slipped on a metal ring to check her size.
Eventually Isabelle nodded. Then they rejoined him. Thank God because curiosity about their private conversation had been driving him mad, and he was about to devour a petit four.
“I think we have an idea of what to consider.”
He’d had no doubts as to Isabelle’s skill in handling Kaylee’s objections. And maybe fears? What the hell had happened in her past?
“But she’d like your input.”
That surprised—and delighted—him. “Of course.” At least he wasn’t completely useless, mere window dressing, while the ladies made all the decisions.
Such a different experience from shopping with Greta who’d asked for the stones first, zeroed in on the most expensive, then decided she wanted additional diamonds on the sides and dozens more on the two bands that would wrap her engagement ring.
Jean Claude poured two more coffees, and Kaylee moved a chocolate chip cookie onto a plate. She broke it in half, then into quarters. And she only ate one.
“Since Kaylee is petite, we’re thinking about an oval stone, a classic solitaire, with a knife-edge, platinum band.”
“Excellent.”
“And I’m sure you’d like a choice in the diamond, Evan?”
“I would.”
After they finished their coffee, and Kaylee had another chunk of her cookie, Isabelle crossed into the back room. A few moments later, she emerged with a tray of radiant jewels.
Kaylee shook her head frantically. “These are all too big.”
“They are completely appropriate,” Frost corrected.
Ignoring him, Kaylee looked at Isabelle. “He can return it next week, right?”
Jesus.This confounding, argumentative woman. “It won’t be returned.”
Mutinously she set her jaw and looked at him. “In that case, I insist on a smaller stone.”
