Chapter Three
Danny
“What about that one? Hey…” Charlie’s elbow nudged into my side, digging right into my rib. “What about that one?”
“Which one? You’re pointing at about three,” I said, rubbing my ribs and trying to pretend I’d been looking at the engagement rings Charlie had been pointing at and not staring into space like a gormless muppet.
“That one at the back, with the round diamond in the middle. Do you think Amanda would like it?”
I looked at the ring and rolled my eyes so hard they nearly hit the back of my head.
Today was going to be painful as fuck if Charlie was going to keep making shit suggestions like that.
Did he even know his girlfriend? “Mate, are you even looking at it? That is the least Amanda ring I’ve ever seen. She’d fucking hate it.”
“You think so?” Charlie’s face fell, and I felt a sting of pain whip across my chest as I put my foot in my mouth. Again.
Shit, I shouldn’t have been so harsh. Poor Charlie looked about ready to pass out from nerves, and we were only looking at engagement rings. At this rate, he wouldn’t even make it to the asking part.
I wondered if I could be there when he finally proposed so I could catch him if he fainted or maybe throw a bottle of water at him if he threw up. If it wouldn’t ruin the whole surprise, I’d have told Amanda he was thinking about asking her so she was prepared for shit to go sideways.
Charlie had always been one of the most confident people I’d known, but right now it was like he was falling apart at the seams. It was a little unnerving, and once upon a time I’d have ripped the shit out of him for it.
But I was trying to be less of an arse, especially since I was going through a crisis of my own. And I wasn’t going to become a bully to make myself feel better. That would be the biggest dick move ever.
“Yeah,” I said, putting my hand on his shoulder and squeezing as I offered him what I hoped was a comforting smile. “You’re overthinking it. Why don’t we go inside and have a look? You don’t have to buy anything, just get some ideas. And you guys talked about what she wanted, right?”
“Yeah, yeah, that’s true. We can just look.” Charlie nodded. He exhaled deeply and looked across the rest of the display, his mouth screwing up as he thought. “I think… she said she wanted something simple, right? Like not too fancy. But I still want it to be nice.”
“Makes sense. Bit difficult to wear a huge ring when you’re trying to operate on a horse. Can she even wear jewellery in surgery?”
“That’s a good point. I don’t know if she can,” Charlie said. “Maybe I need to get her two rings? Like a day one and a nice one for when she’s not at work. Do you think she’d like that?”
“Probably, but I don’t think she’d want something like that.” I pointed at the enormous diamond ring Charlie had been looking at. “Amanda’s got taste. So I dunno why she picked you.”
Charlie snorted. “Cheers, mate.”
“I’m just being honest with you. She is way out of your league. Like so far out of your league she’s like the sun and you’re, I don’t know, a rock.”
“A rock?” Charlie stared at me in bewilderment. “Thanks, Danny, I’ll remember that.”
“Could have been worse.”
“Yeah? How?”
“I don’t know. She’s the sun and you’re a worm?”
“Shut up!” Charlie said, but he was laughing and the anxiety in his face had eased, which meant annoying him had worked. I might have a reputation as an annoying dickhead, but it had its uses. I just had to walk the line between useful annoying and annoying annoying.
“What? It’s the truth. She’s a fucking veterinary surgeon who stops horses from dying, and you get paid to run fast with a ball. There is no competition there.”
“So do you! Does that make you a rock too?”
“Mate, I am king of rocks and I know it.” I grinned and pushed my hair back dramatically.
I’d had it in a mullet for nearly two years now and I was starting to get bored of it, but at this point I was keeping it on principle because it annoyed the shit out of my teammates.
They kept telling me I’d regret it, but I didn’t. The mullet was cool.
Anyway, I’d seen their hair at twenty-four and none of them had a leg to stand on.
Charlie laughed again, looking so much more relaxed. “I can’t take you anywhere.”
“Yeah, you can. I know how to behave when it matters. Remember that dinner party with Amanda’s posh mates from uni? Jessica said I was fucking charming and an utter delight.”
“I don’t know why. You’re a wanker most of the time,” Charlie said as he rang the bell for the jewellers, asking someone to come and let us in.
“Hey! I can be a charming, delightful wanker.”
“I guess, but it’s not normally your style. Did you even end up with her number?”
“Er, yeah,” I said, glancing into the window and suddenly hoping Charlie didn’t notice I was flustered.
“Did you go out with her? Only, Amanda didn’t say anything. And I’m pretty sure if it was bad, then Jessica would have said.”
I froze, wondering if I should tell him the truth or quickly make some shit up.
There was a really good chance Charlie would discover my lie if he talked to Amanda about it or the next time Jessica came over.
But on the other hand, how the fuck did I tell him I didn’t go out with her because I was worried I might be gay?
And even though I had a reputation as a womanising dickhead, I wasn’t so much of a fuckboy that I was going to string women along to cover for me. My internalised issues weren’t their problem to deal with, which I was quite proud of myself for realising.
Even if it had been a recent discovery after watching my sister, Jade, be strung along by her knobhead ex-boyfriend.
I probably shouldn’t have needed to see my sister suffer to figure out women had feelings about this shit, but I had.
Although maybe if the girl in this situation hadn’t been so close to my best mate’s girlfriend, it would have been different, and I’d still have strung her along because there was less chance I’d get caught.
And that was only because I didn’t want Amanda to be pissed at me for treating her mate like shit.
I’d never be invited for dinner again.
And I’d miss that.
“Er, we messaged a bit but never actually went out.” I shrugged, like it was no big deal. “She’s a vet, she’s really busy and shit, and then we were off for the summer.”
Charlie frowned slightly. “You should set something up. She’s really nice. I think you’d be good together. She’s coming for dinner in a couple of weeks. You should come too.”
Fucknuggets.
Usually I’d be all over Charlie setting me up with his girlfriend’s hot best mate, but now…
“You don’t have to do that,” I said as the jewellery shop door swung open and a handsome, well-dressed man let us in. Shit, no, I shouldn’t be thinking of men as handsome. That was… bad? Wasn’t it? Fuck me, I was so in my own head.
“I know,” Charlie said. “And usually I wouldn’t, because I know you too well to inflict you on someone, but I think you and Jessica might be perfect for each other.”
“Yeah, maybe.” I smiled at him. “But today’s not about me. You need to focus on Amanda, so tell the man what you’re looking for, and I’ll tell you if you’re wrong.”
Charlie and the well-dressed man began chatting about ring styles and cuts and gemstones and other stuff that I had no clue about, leaving me to wander over to a nearby cabinet which had a selection of jewellery.
Jade’s birthday was coming up and I wanted to make sure I got her something nice.
She’d had a shit couple of months and deserved to be spoilt rotten.
At least then she’d know not all the men in her life were complete knobheads.
Okay, maybe I was still a knobhead.
But I was a knobhead who cared.
There was a nice pair of diamond earrings in the shape of flowers and a matching necklace in the cabinet, which I thought she’d like.
I didn’t know if she’d be able to wear them to work since she worked with little kids who had a tendency to grab stuff and pull, but they’d be nice for nights out and special occasions.
“Danny, come here a second,” Charlie said, and I turned to see him beckoning me over to a counter where the sales guy had laid out several boxes.
“Yeah, what’s up?”
“What about this one?” Charlie pointed at one of the rings in front of him, which had a round sapphire in the middle and diamonds on each side. The sapphire was slightly raised but the diamonds were set into the band so they wouldn’t catch on anything. “Do you think she’d like that?”
“Yeah, that’s really pretty.”
“I think so but it’s kind of… I don’t know. Do you think it’s enough?”
“What? Like fancy enough?”
“Yeah. I don’t want her to think I’m cheap or something.” He looked genuinely worried, and I almost wanted to smack him around the back of the head to knock some sense into him. If picking out an engagement ring was this complicated, I was never going to get married.
“She’s not going to think that, and if she does, then you’ve got bigger problems.”
“But like…”
“If you’re that worried, let her pick her own ring,” I said with a shrug. I glanced at the guy helping him. “People do that, right? Get the ring together or let her choose it?”
“Yes, it’s not unusual,” the man said. “We’d recommend booking an appointment, and we can always put a selection together for you to look at based on budget.”
“He doesn’t have a budget,” I said.
“Danny!”
“What? I thought you didn’t want Amanda to think you’re cheap?”
“Well, yeah, but I’m not made of money.”
“No offence, but I doubt you’ll find something in Lincoln you won’t be able to afford. This isn’t London.” I looked at the guy again and smiled. “No offence, your stuff is lovely, but what’s the most expensive piece you’ve got in stock?”
“Some of our larger diamond engagement rings are priced up to thirty to thirty-five thousand pounds.”
“See,” I said to Charlie. “You can afford that. Maybe get a placeholder to ask the question, then let her choose her own. I bet she’d find it all romantic. She likes choosing her own shit.”
“That’s true,” Charlie said with a nod, a little colour returning to his cheeks. “Thanks. And, er, yeah, maybe I could make an appointment? I think I know when I’m going to ask her. Maybe. Or should I do that afterwards? How much notice do you need?”
I left Charlie talking to the guy and walked back over to the other case to look at the flower set. I was definitely going to get it for Jade. Maybe they’d even gift wrap it for me. It’d save me trying to do it myself. Otherwise it’d look like a toddler had gotten hold of it.
“Excuse me,” I said to another salesperson who walked through the room as soon as I turned to look for someone. “Can I get these, please?”
Twenty minutes later, I left with the set in a nice gift bag and my bank account several grand lighter. But it’d be worth it to remind Jade there were people in the world who cared about her.
Charlie was still muttering about engagement rings, but I’d mostly switched off because he wasn’t really talking to me anyway.
I just nodded and added the occasional “yeah” and “sounds good” when I thought it was needed.
He hadn’t called me out, so I assumed I was doing an all right job or at least not agreeing to something ridiculous.
My eyes roamed over the people on the streets, casually having a nosy at everyone who walked by.
I’d always liked watching people because they always did and said the strangest things out of nowhere, and I liked knowing other people’s secrets or what was going on in their lives.
Maybe I got it from my grandad, who was the nosiest man I’d ever met.
He knew everything about everyone, even the boring stuff like who’d been to the dentist or what brand of cat food people used.
A man a little further ahead of me caught my eye, and I stumbled slightly as I registered who it was: Ezra, the Knights hot-as-fuck marketing and social media manager. Wait, could I say hot as fuck?
Yeah, I could. That wasn’t gay; that was objective. Ezra was hot. Really hot.
Like, the sort of guy you’d fantasise about hot.
I’d never seen him outside of the club before, though, and I really wanted to know what he was doing, especially since he was wearing a proper shirt…
on a Saturday. He had to be going somewhere.
He was with two other men too, who were holding hands.
But Ezra didn’t seem to be with them, not like romantically anyway. More like he was friends with them.
“Hey, er, I just remembered, I need to get Jade a birthday card,” I said to Charlie without taking my eyes off Ezra, who was heading up towards the bottom of Steep Hill. “And I need some stuff from Boots.”
“Oh, no worries, want me to come with you?”
“No, it’s okay. I’ll see you later.”
“You’re still coming for lunch tomorrow, right?”
“Yeah, I’ll be there.” I glanced over my shoulder and shot him a smile, then turned on my heels and began to head up the hill after Ezra.
It was away from where I’d told Charlie I’d be going, but I was too intrigued by the sight of Ezra to care.