PROLOGUE
Then
Ace
I sighed as I pulled into the parking lot of the jewelry store. I’d worked the overnight shift stacking shelves at my local retail job, and exhaustion weighed down my entire body. Yet I hustled my ass to the jeweler to pick up the ring I hadn’t seen in months.
My steps felt heavy as I walked toward the back entrance. It was early morning, but the owner was the uncle of my coworker and had promised to come in an hour before the store opened to meet with me.
“I hope this works,” I mumbled to myself right before I knocked on the back door of the shop.
“Ace,” Ricardo, a man at least thirty years my senior, called as he pulled open the door. Even though the massive grin on his face was in complete opposition to my mood, I smiled back.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d given anyone a genuine smile. It’d been months. Not since…
I shook my head, forcing myself not to think about all that. Right then, I was doing something I hoped would bring a smile to the face of the one person whose pain I felt deeper than my own.
“Let’s see here,” Ricardo said while I walked behind him into the central part of the store. “Here she is.” He handed me the refurbished ring.
The silver band shone. At the center sat a new stone—a one-carat cubic zirconia. My stomach plummeted. Savannah deserved better than this ring, which was only worth a couple hundred dollars.
But when I’d proposed, Savannah had looked at the ring like it was the most precious gem on Earth. She’d treasured it.
Months ago, when the damn stone had fallen out while we’d danced in the kitchen, she’d merely laughed.
I’d promised I would buy her the type of ring she deserved when we could afford it. Savannah had wrapped her arms around my neck and told me she didn’t care about the ring. She’d placed my hand against her belly and said, “This right here is all I need.”
Then we’d danced in our tiny kitchen while gazing into each other’s eyes as our son had kicked in her womb.
My vision blurred, with the ring still in my hand.
“Son, are you okay?” Ricardo asked.
I cringed at the concern in his voice. It pulled me out of that memory.
“Fine. How much?” I pulled out my wallet.
Ricardo’s lips pinched, and his bushy eyebrows lowered, causing the wrinkle in his already weathered forehead to deepen.
“For the ring. How much do I owe you?” I demanded, my voice growing impatient. I didn’t need anyone’s sympathy. I barely knew this guy, and he wasn’t about to get a sob story out of me. I didn’t care how much of a discount he’d given me to fix this ring.
“Fifty bucks.”
It wasn’t much money, but with all the medical bills we’d received in the mail over the past few weeks, fifty bucks was more than I should’ve been willing to spend.
She’s worth it.
My inner voice reminded me why I would fork over the money. I would beg, borrow, or steal a hell of a lot more if it would bring even a hint of a smile to Savannah’s face.
“Thank you,” I told Ricardo as I completed the purchase.
Across the street from the jeweler’s, I noticed a floral shop. An employee was opening the store for the day. Without a second thought, I jogged across the street to pick up a bouquet.
An array of pots with multicolored flowers lined the front of the stop. Flowers ranging from bright pink to red, blue, lilac, and more sat there waiting to be plucked and arranged into a bouquet. A bell chimed overhead as I entered the store.
A woman glanced up from behind the wooden counter and greeted me with a warm smile. The one I gave her was stiff, but at least I’d returned it.
“Good morning,” she said.
