But why was she addressing her asAngelina?
‘I’m – I’m sorry?’ Beth muttered, looking at her in that confused and embarrassed way one gets when in an uncomfortable social situation.
‘What’s it gonna be, Angelina?’ the woman repeated, this time with a wry smile on her face.
Beth’s brow crinkled and she shook her head. ‘I’m sorry, my name isn’t Angelina. I think you must be looking for someone else.’
But the woman didn’t look at all deterred. In fact, her smile broadened. And her next question made Beth’s heart leap in her chest.
‘I assume you like Cracker Jack?’
This certainly got Beth’s attention, and she moved back towards the counter, placing her hands eagerly down on the glass. ‘Of course I do,’ she exclaimed, and then blushed at her obvious enthusiasm. ‘I mean, I haven’t had Cracker Jack in years. But… so you know about it, yes? The coffee cup and this meeting I’m supposed to be having here?’ she pressed, eager for answers.
The woman nodded and flashed a knowing smile at her, but remained maddeningly silent. Beth’s heart hammered and her mind raced, wondering what she should do next. Was this the person she was supposed to meet? But then, based on the salesperson’s expectant expression, she realised that the woman seemed to be waiting forherto say something.
Was there some kind of code word or…? But then something struck her, and the message written inside the coffee cup automatically popped into her mind.
Maybe we could have this engraved…Could the line from the movieBreakfast at Tiffany’sbe like a code, or a password of some sort? Was she supposed to repeat it out loud?
‘We could have this engraved, couldn’t we?’ Beth uttered slowly, feeling utterly surreal to be doing such a thing. The woman would think she was crazy. But no, the assistant’s grin grew wider, and Beth knew that she had struck gold.
The woman held up a finger as if to indicate for Beth to wait a moment, and then turned round, heading to somewhere out back.
Tapping her foot nervously, Beth felt relieved when eventually the salesperson re-emerged and approached her once again. The woman held a robin’s egg-blue box in her hand, wrapped with a white ribbon. The iconic Tiffany’s little blue box. Beth felt her heart almost stop.
What on earth…?
Was this for her? She was almost afraid to think about what would be in the box, for fear of ruining the moment. And she wondered if this was the intention all along: to indeed send her here for aSweet Home Alabamamoment.
Danny?
Her heart soaring, Beth glanced briefly around, wondering if her boyfriend, the love of her life, who was admittedly acting very secretive lately, might somehow materialise. But no, there was no sign of Danny or indeed anyone else who might want to take responsibility for this curious situation.
The salesperson placed the little blue box on top of the glass display counter in front of Beth. Then she took a step back, silently indicating that it was up to her to open the box.
With trembling hands, and her mind in an absolute tizzy, Beth reached out and pulled the box closer to her. She looked up and smiled nervously, looking for any indication of what was in the box, any clue at all as to what on earth was going on. Briefly she shot another glance around, but still no Patrick Dempsey-type suitor (Danny or otherwise) materialised, and she couldn’t help but wonder now if she’d been set up by a candid camera-style show – or at the very least, was being punked by Jodi or someone else.
This isn’t a proposal, she told herself, feeling more disappointed than she cared to admit. Just open the box.
As if understanding her nervousness and trepidation, the Tiffany’s saleswoman stepped forward and placed a calming hand on her wrist. ‘It’s OK, Beth, just open it.’
At first slightly worried that the woman could read her thoughts, Beth fumbled with the ribbon. But then another thought entered her brain. The woman knew her name. So why had she addressed her as ‘Angelina’ earlier?
What’s it gonna be, Angelina?
Trying and failing to make sense of the situation, Beth decided to carry on, hoping that some answer to this mystery would be contained in the box. She pulled the ribbon quickly and without further thought, took the lid off and placed it to the side.
Reaching inside, she extracted, not a piece of jewellery, as she’d expected, but a piece of paper.
A note.
We could have this engraved, couldn’t we?
The line from the movie echoing once again in her mind, Beth read the words on the paper. ‘Someday if I had the money, I’d take you… we’d sail away… around the world and back again. I promise you.’
Beth’s eyes opened wide with surprise.
Sail around the world?… I promise you?
