Nate drives me to the bakery and we almost make it to town, the car passing the welcome to Pelican Bay sign with a wooden pelican sitting atop, when he asks.
“You think Emma will care if I spend the night tonight?”
He spent last night with me, but again we didn’t do much sleeping. It’s not Emma who gets a say. It’s me. Do I want Nate to spend the night again?
I debate for less than a minute before I answer. “No, I don’t think Emma would care if you spent the night. In fact, I think she’d like it.”
Let’s hope he picks up that I’m Emma. She’s two. Unless he sprouted red hair all over his body and started talking like Elmo, she won’t notice anything.
He slows the car when the speed limit lowers. “Do you want me to spend the night?”
I fight the smile that threatens to break, but lose. “Yes. I think I do.”
“Once you decide if that’s a yes or no, let me know.” He smiles, pulling into a parking spot in front of the bakery.
He has to know I want him to stay, but just in case, I play along for longer. Not to string him along meanly but to build up the anticipation.
As soon as I open the door to the bakery, it’s obvious something is off. Not only is there a charge in the atmosphere, but three girls behind the bakery counter jumping up and down and squealing in delight isn’t something you see every day. Even at the bakery.
“Josie, look!” Winnie yells, grabbing ahold of Tabitha’s hand and holding it up in the air like she just won a boxing match.
A hefty square diamond sparkles in the light from the bakery. It’s not the size of the ring that catches my attention, but what finger she wears it on.
“You got engaged?” The next thing I want to ask is to who, but everyone knows she’s dating Ridge. There’s no way he’d let anyone else close to her. Let alone with a ring.
“He did it last night, and I said yes.”
“How did he ask you?” I walk over and inspect the ring closer. It’s what you do when a friend gets engaged. I may not know her well, but I consider Tabitha a friend.
She reddens. “Um, that part is private.”
My eyes widen and I look back at Nate, but he is sharing a moment with another tall guy wearing the same matching black polo shirt as him. They look at one another as if exchanging private communication, one that says “girls are crazy.”
“You next, Nate?” his friend asks.
Nate widens his eyes and then narrows them on his friend. “Shut up, Crispin.”
I slap him on the shoulder, but his friends only laugh.
“You wait, buddy. One day it will happen to you.”
Crispin scoffs at the idea and crosses his arms as if he can protect himself in the women’s presence. “The last thing I’m gonna do is put a ring on some girl’s finger.”
I step back and watch the excitement as Tabitha continues to show each of her friends the ring and each woman takes the time to admire the jewel. Just as friends should.
Memories cloud the moments as I remember what it was like getting engaged to my ex. There wasn’t anything fancy about it. I knew he planned to pop the question. Barry wasn’t ever very smooth. He asked my ring size, and when I didn’t know, he took me to a store to get fitted. I suppose in the grand scheme of things it’s what every girl should want. He proposed at a big family dinner with four generations in attendance. His mother, his grandmother, and even a great-grandmother. She died three months later but was there to watch him pass down the family heirloom — a ring each generation of woman before her had worn. As her son married, she picked out a bigger prettier ring as a condolence prize.
Barry and I were the first people in his family to divorce. I often find myself wondering at night if he’ll propose to his new bimbo girlfriend with the same ring or if our situation has tainted it and they’ll have to start over with something new. Most of those thoughts stopped the day after his mother called me and explained that Lancaster men have a tendency for wandering hands, but you just have to suck it up and deal. In her opinion three generations of them didn’t stay married for so long by getting divorced over the smallest indiscretion.
That conversation put a lot of things into perspective for me.
“Once you’re married, he’ll end up strapping a body camera to you.” Winnie laughs at her joke, but Tabitha scowls thinking on it for a second and wondering if it’s true.
“No, he’s already bugged her phone with GPS. What more does he need?” Nate says, laughing as Tabitha rolls her eyes.
She shrugs, not denying the fact Ridge is tracking her cell phone. “He asked at the right time. And people around here have a tendency to get kidnapped.”
Kidnapped? I look to Nate with her words, but he shakes his head.
