Chapter 27
TWENTY-SEVEN
NATE
I press enter.
The confirmation screen appears on the screen, listing the supply items I just ordered for next week. I screenshot the number and then exhale.
Life is good.
I sit back in my chair and stretch my arms overhead. Paige’s perfume still lingers somehow. It crosses my mind that it might be on me and not still embedded into a piece of fabric in the room—and that makes me smile.
Knock! Knock!
“Yeah?” I call out.
The door opens, and Shaye and Kira walk in. They’re both grinning suspiciously.
“What?” I ask. “What happened?”
“Nothing,” Shaye says. “We need a favor.”
“I kind of need a favor.” The last time someone asked me for a favor, it changed my entire life.
“What do you want?” I ask.
Kira sighs. “You’ll tell us this is stupid and to use our phone, and we did. But the screens aren’t big enough.”
What?
“You’re just going to have to understand that we’re women, and this is important to us,” Shaye says. “Okay?”
“I’m not okaying anything until I know what you want.”
“We need to borrow your computer,” Kira says.
I look at her like she’s crazy. “No.”
“Come on,” Kira says. “Please?”
“No.” I roll my chair back so I can square up to them.
“The last time someone used my computer, they looked at porn. I got a virus—the computer got a virus—and I had to get a new one. Then I had to reload all my shit, and that took forever, and I didn’t know any of my passwords. So the answer is no.”
Shaye scoffs. “You should always use your pet’s name followed by your birthday. If you need a special character, use the one above the six and nine.”
“That’s complicated,” I say.
“How is that complicated? It’s all the things you should know already. It’s the simplest formula in the world,” she says.
I lean forward, resting my arms on my knees. “What if I don’t have a dog?”
“You’ve never had a dog? Ever?”
“No. Never had a dog. I went from having a fighting problem to a son. Skipped the whole dog thing.”
Kira sticks out her bottom lip. “Well, that’s sad.”
“What’s sad is that the bar is now apparently a free-for-all because my employees are back here wanting to use my computer for some ridiculous thing.” I raise a brow. “Am I right?”
“No,” Kira says, mocking me. “Murray is taking care of it for a second. There’s no one out there. It’s dead.”
I sigh. “The next employee that I hire, I’m gonna be a dick so they don’t bother me.”
Shaye laughs. “You’re already a dick. You’ll need to level up.”
I roll my eyes.
I’m not going to get out of this. And, really, I don’t even care. I just have to give them a hard time so they don’t think I’ve lost it.
Can’t have them think they can steamroll me now that I’m getting soft.
“Fine,” I say, motioning to the computer. “But be quick about it.”
They waste no time waking the screen out of sleep mode. Then surprisingly, Shaye unlocks it with my passcode.
“Hey,” I say, rolling my chair closer. “How did you do that?”
She rolls her eyes. “Everyone knows your passcode is Ryder with a six and a nine.”
They do? I better change that.
I watch as they pull up a page full of girly shit.
“Just search it by the item number,” Kira says before rattling off a long series of numbers.
Shaye’s fingers fly across the keyboard and hit enter with a flourish.
“That’s it,” Kira says, pointing at the screen.
I lean closer to see what they’re talking about. But it’s not necessary. Shaye hits some keys, and then visibility is not an issue.
A ring with a purple stone takes up the entire screen.
“What’s that?” I ask.
Kira looks at me over her shoulder and beams. “My boyfriend told me last night that he wants to propose to me and asked me to find a ring.”
“I don’t know a lot about this, but doesn’t that take the fun out of it?” I ask. “Aren’t you supposed to be surprised and cry and all that gooey shit?”
“Nate, I can play the hell out of acting surprised.” She steps away from the computer and then jumps up in the air with her hands on her face. “Oh, my gosh! You didn’t! This is the best day of my life!” Then she drops her hands and smoothens her features. “See? Easy.”
“You know, it’s scary how well you just did that,” I say.
But I don’t think she hears me. She’s focused on Shaye.
“Okay, I love this,” Shaye says. Amethyst with rose gold is so gorgeous. But if you want something different …”
Another set of rings pops up on the screen. Shaye clicks around again and brings up a diamond with a blue and white band.
“Oh, I love that too,” Kira gushes. “What is it?”
“A sapphire and diamond band with white gold. But the ring head under the diamond stone is rose gold.” Shaye points at the screen. “It just has so much dimension.”
I bury my head in my hands.
“You could go with a ruby,” Shaye says.
“I don’t like rubies. I think they look weird on my hand. My grandmother had a ruby ring that my aunt ended up with—long story, and I remember trying it on once, and it makes me look too yellow or something,” Kira says.
I lift my head. “I love all the girl talk, but can you do it somewhere else?”
“What do you think?” Shaye asks me. “Amethyst, sapphire, or ruby?”
“I think I don’t care.”
“Pick.”
“She should get whatever makes her happy or,” I say, looking at Kira, “whatever your boyfriend gets you.”
She puts a hand on her hip. “Think about it. He’s going to spend thousands of dollars on a ring that I’m going to wear for the rest of my life. I’m going to give this ring to my daughter someday, hopefully. Isn’t it smarter to make sure I like it before buying it?”
“I don’t know. What are you going to say—I hate it?”
“He wants me to be happy, Nate.”
“Cool. Be happy. Go to the kitchen, pick a ring, text it to him, and then finish washing the bar glasses for tonight. Please.”
“Fine. But we’re here when you want to talk rings.” Shaye winks at me. “You can call me anytime, and I’ll help. I’ll even go shopping with you.”
My stomach flip-flops. “Off you go.”
Shaye makes a mean face—or what I think she wants to be a mean face—and they walk out.
I wave as they shut the door.
The room seems quiet without the racket of the two of them. I turn back to my desk and see the rings on the screen.
I sit back in my chair and look at the sapphire. I wonder what kind of ring Paige would want?
I make a fist and then cover it with my other hand. Then I bring them to my lips.
I’m aware of how I feel—I’d marry her tomorrow. There isn’t a scenario in my life that I can imagine without her. That I want to imagine without her.
Greeting her when I come home from work.
Grocery shopping for dinner.
Parent-teacher conferences.
Buying a house to fit a growing family.
Having a child.
Sitting in matching recliners with the television up entirely too loud and yelling at each other over top of it.
Everything from the mundane to the exciting is better with Paige Carmichael. Paige Hughes, if I have my way.
I stand and mosey around my office, looking for a distraction.
We have to go slow. Tap the brakes just a bit and let her get acclimated to coupling and living together before I push any farther.
“I don’t know if I believe in forever.” Her words from before sweep through my brain.
“I really think that you don’t know if you deserve forever,” I say to the empty room. “But I will show you that you do. No matter how long it takes.”