She’s even more excited about rings for me than herself. When she finds the one she likes and I need to try it on for size, she takes my hand and slides it on my finger herself, eyes sparkling with pleasure like we’re getting married here at this damned jewelry counter.
It does something to my insides, her excitement about marrying me. The way her pretty eyes sparkle as she slides the band over my knuckle, not letting go of my hand once it’s on.
“What do you think?” she asks eagerly.
I don’t even look at the ring. “I think it’s perfect.”
Alyssa lights up and turns back to the saleslady. “Let’s go with this one for him.”
Alyssa picks out a band with diamonds all around it for herself, and it’s not as pricey as the engagement ring so she doesn’t balk as much. Once all the rings are finally picked out, we move on to the easy part—paying the bill. I’m more than happy to do it since it means we get to leave. The tiny bag the saleslady hands me doesn’t seem big enough to hold so many thousands of dollars’ worth of merchandise, but the way Alyssa beams down at her engagement ring as we leave makes it all worth it.
“Thank you so much, Brant.” She hugs my arm and leans her head on my bicep.
Reaching my arm around her and pulling her a little closer as we walk, I tell her, “You’re welcome.”
“I didn’t expect you to spend that much on me.”
“I could tell,” I offer dryly.
She hesitates, seeming to debate what she wants to say next, then she says, “I feel like it’s crass to bring this up since we haven’t technically known each other for very long, but I also feel like it would be kind of stupid not to since we’re getting married and all…”
“I’m not worried about polite manners,” I assure her. “What do you want to know?”
“Can we—you—” She stops again, frowning uncertainly. “This is weird, I don’t know how to refer to…” She pauses, then settles on, “Can you afford that bill?”
“If I couldn’t, I don’t imagine they’d have let us leave with the rings,” I point out.
“You know what I mean,” she says, shooting me a look. “You know what I’m trying to ask—why are you torturing me?”
It’s somewhat amusing how awkward she feels asking me how much money I have. I never really thought about needing to discuss it, but I guess since we’re getting married, it is her business now. “Wedding jewelry is a once-in-a-lifetime expense,” I explain. “It didn’t matter how much it cost. I wanted you to have exactly what you wanted.”
“And I appreciate that, but I don’t want you to sink yourself into debt buying me jewelry.”
“I’m not sinking myself into any debt,” I assure her. “I’ve spent many years as a single man who works a lot, Alyssa. I have a healthy savings and I make a decent living. We’re not rich by any means, but you won’t need to worry about money like you’re used to, either.”
“When you say I won’t have to worry…”
“I mean you won’t have to worry,” I state. “Buy what you want, when you want it. Whatever you need, I’ll take care of it.”
Cracking a smile, she says, “So you don’t need me to pitch in for the bills once I start getting paid from the yoga studio?”
I shake my head. “Once the baby comes, you don’t have to work at all unless you want to. That’s up to you. I’d be happy to have you at home.”
“Wow,” she murmurs, looking ahead distractedly as we walk toward the car.
“You’re surprised?” I ask her, cocking an eyebrow. I tend toward the traditional in just about every other way, so I can’t imagine she thought I’d make her work instead of taking care of our kid if that’s what she wanted to do.
“I guess I just hadn’t considered it. That was obviously never an option for my mom or Amber.”
“Yeah, well, they got knocked up by shitty men.”
“So did I,” she offers back dryly.
I look over at her, slightly bothered that she’s not accepting our revisions to reality herself. How is she gonna pull it off in front of Bri when she’s not even fully buying into it?
“Not anymore you didn’t,” I remind her. “Like I told you, it has to be like this is my baby in every way. I knocked you up. That’s the truth now.”
Nodding her head, she says, “I know, but you know what I mean. Anyway, that’s really sweet, but I think it would feel weird not to have any of my own money.”
“You’d have your own money, I’d just be the one giving it to you instead of an employer.”
“Like an allowance?” she teases, looking up at me.