Masculine and elegance. This was very “Russell.”
“The inside is platinum, and the dark metal outside is titanium. Many men seem to like the dark exterior opposed to the traditional gold or silver.”
“It’s very nice.”
I could hear April and Kim chastising me for calling a Tiffany ring with a comma in the price “nice.”
“Does the gift recipient do rigorous work with his hands?”
I flashed on Russell flogging me.
“No. He has his own software company. So he isn’t in the dirt or doing manual labor.”
“Either way, this ring will hold up. This ring is so popular that we have it in multiple metals,” Erica began.
She stepped to her right and pointed to a banner that had two guys on it. One had his arm draped over the other man’s shoulder and his hand resting against his chest. The second man had his hand on the first guy’s forearm. Both of them had this ring on.
“This is the ring you’re holding.” She pointed to one of the men’s hands. “And this one is the yellow gold version,” she explained.
Yellow gold. I looked down in the case and spotted the yellow gold. I was sure it was nice, but this platinum one was definitely more Russell’s style.
I looked up at the banner again and thought about those guys. It just showed them from the bridge of their noses down, and they both had smiles on their faces. In the background were other people. Probably family and friends. For a moment, I wondered what it would be like to be able to really feel that free. What would it be like to be at a social event and not worry or give another thought about what anyone else might be thinking about me?
I swallowed hard and dragged my eyes away from the banner and to the ring between my fingers. I gave it back to Erica.
“All the rings look great, but this is the one. I’d like to purchase this one,” I said confidently. Russell would love this one.
“It’s a wonderful choice. Do you know what size you need it?” she asked.
Oh fuck. Seriously?
“Um,” I mumbled and looked down at the jewelry case, as if Russell’s ring size would spontaneously jump out at me. I felt sweat forming on my forehead. I was fucking this up. “I don’t know the right size,” I admitted as I rubbed on the back of my neck.
“That’s not a problem. I can wrap it up for you and then he can bring it in and we can size it for him. We can also engrave it at that time if you’d like.”
“Engrave it?”
“Yes, this ring can be engraved on the inside.” Erica showed me the smooth surface inside the ring. I thought about the collar tag he had given me and how much that meant to me. Maybe Russell would like that too.
“Okay, the engraving sounds good. How much is that?”
“It’s complimentary.”
Oh. Well, that sounded perfect.
“Okay. Do I have to decide now what to have engraved in it?”
“No, not at all. You can let us know when it comes back to be sized.”
I watched Erica polish the ring and use extra care in setting it between the white pillow of the teal box. She closed the lid, set it in the gift bag, and put some white tissue paper in the bag. I was amazed watching her make a few quick movements with her hand to make the tissue paper look great in the bag. That would have taken me hours to do, plus it would have been creased and jacked up from me attempting to make it look good.
“Here’s the gift card. I’ll stick it on the side of the bag so you can fill it out.”
“Okay, thank you.”
Even though the bag was right in front of me, I didn’t dare touch it until the transaction was done. She was at the register entering my info, and I retrieved my wallet. I pulled out my driver’s license and credit card, preparing for the damage.
“The total is one thousand six hun—”
