“I love the fact that Bobbie Jo is getting more lambs.”
He chuckled. “I love steak.”
She rolled her eyes. “If that’s your way of asking me to dinner at a nice steakhouse, then yes, I accept. If it’s just you making our fun game less fun, then lame.”
Tarr laughed, sending the sound up, up, up into the atmosphere. “A steakhouse date sounds awesome,” he said. “I love that God put me here on this farm at the same time as you.”
Briar beamed up at him, and Tarr felt like he’d just scored major victory points. “I love that, Tarr. I love that God brought you here to the farm while I was living here too.”
She hadn’t told him she loved him, but Tarr knew she would soon. Very, very soon.
forty-three
Briar gazed into the ring case, the diamonds all glinting back at her with such pretty faces. “I feel like this is way beyond me,” she said.
“Oh, come on, sweetheart,” Tarr said from a few paces down. “You’ve worn crowns before.” He flashed her a smile, and Briar tucked it away inside her heart.
“Okay.” The man who’d been helping them bustled up with a velvet-lined tray in his hand. “I’ve got the pink diamond, with the princess setting, in the white gold here.” He slid the tray onto the glass case as Tarr joined them.
“This won’t be the right size, and it’s more ornate than you want, but this will give you a good idea of what the cut looks like, in that color.” Grayson lifted the ring pinched between two fingers.
Briar pulled in a breath as the diamond caught the overhead light and flung it around the shop. “I really like that.” She leaned into Tarr as he put his arm around her. “The pink diamond and the cut.”
She did not like the extra diamonds all clustered around the large middle one, but this wasn’t her custom ring.
“And the white gold is nice,” Tarr said. “Since you don’t like yellow gold.”
Briar hadn’t known that until she’d walked into this shop that she didn’t want to wear anything shiny and gold on her finger. But she’d had a violent negative reaction to it, and she’d been listening to her gut and instincts more and more lately.
“How do you feel about the size of this diamond?” Grayson asked.
“It’s too big,” Briar said. “It makes sense on this ring, because it’s like…a whole garden of gems. But I just want one diamond.”
Grayson wore a dubious look. “Let me show you some of our simpler pieces, now that you know the shape of the princess cut.” He stepped over to another case and asked a woman there for several pieces.
She brought them over and Briar listened as he pointed out a simple cluster of diamonds that would look nice with the pink princess center gem. She tried to imagine how they’d look and couldn’t quite do it.
She pointed out her favorites, answered the questions, and an hour later, Grayson and his assistant had a digital mock-up of her potential wedding ring. It rotated in 3D on the computer screen, and Briar sighed and sat back.
“I love it,” she said. “Tarr?”
He looked up from his phone, a frown sitting between his eyes. “Sorry.” He stuffed his phone away and met Briar’s eyes. “Tuck’s already talking about me going to San Antonio ‘just for a couple of weeks’ to go to some training.”
He blew out his breath. “It’s nothing.”
Briar laced her fingers through his and squeezed. “I think this might be the ring.” She nodded to the screen, glad when Tarr’s expression cleared and he leaned forward to peer at it.
“Yeah, that’s real nice, sweetheart.”
Him and that drawl. Briar loved it, and she loved his patience with her, and she loved sitting here in this shop with him.
Then Grayson said the price, and, “We’re about seven weeks out right now.”
Tarr lifted up onto his left hip and pulled out his wallet without blinking, but Briar’s breath had caught in her throat. “Tarr,” she managed to say.
He paused in pulling out his credit card. His eyes narrowed slightly. “What’s wrong?”
“He said twelve thousand dollars,” she hissed. “I don’t need?—”
