“Life’s too short not to be a little crazy once in a while. Besides, it’s not like I’m proposing. I just want to give it back to her.” Everett signed the credit card receipt and accepted the ring in a box. Saluting his friends, he said, “I’ll be right back!”
He bolted out of Vandevelde’s and headed the direction the woman had turned, eyes searching for the red parka and blonde hair. The slushy sidewalks kept him from sprinting, so he took the opportunity to glance through storefront windows. Given the apparently dire state of her finances, Everett didn’t figure she’d have been stopping in any of them to shop, but he didn’t want to risk missing her. It should’ve been easy, even with the crowd, but he didn’t see her.
She had a five minute head start. How far could she have gotten?
Everett went all the way to the parking area, but there was no sign of the woman who’d sold the ring.
I’ll just get her name from the jeweler. He’ll have a record from the sale, he thought.
Back at Vandevelde’s, Brandon and Travis had narrowed it down to three choices.
“Find her?” asked Travis.
“No,” Everett admitted. He looked to the man behind the counter. “Can I get her name and number to arrange a meeting to give the ring back to her?”
“I’m afraid I have a policy of strict confidentiality of my client’s information.”
Everett tried a smile. “But surely you could make an exception this one time. In the name of a good cause.”
“Young man, you may be as well intentioned as you seem. Or you could just as easily be a potential thief or worse. That young lady has had enough trouble in her life. I won’t be the cause of more.”
Everett tamped down on his disappointment. “No, it’s all right. I understand.”
“So what are you going to do?” asked Brandon.
“Keep looking. It’s doubtful she’d have had any knowledge of the store’s reputation if she wasn’t a local. Town’s just not that big. I’ll run into her eventually.” Everett moved over to the counter. “Now, let’s see those contenders.”
~*~
“The groundhog lied,” declared Brenna, plunking down into a chair. “There is absotively no evidence of spring out there.”
Sylvie smiled at her new roommate and speared a chip into the bowl of queso. “You do realize that Punxsutawney Phil has absolutely no bearing on whether we’re getting spring early or having more winter, right?”
“Spare me the lecture and gimme some of that cheese dip. God, it’s freezing.”
Sylvie shoved the basket of chips closer. “There’s something wrong when the southerner isn’t the one bitching about the cold.”
“I am from Tucson,” Brenna protested.
“Fair enough. At least we do get a little snow in Huntsville.”
“I rest my case.” She paused when the waiter arrived to take her drink order and asked for a margarita. “How were things at the gallery today?”
“Good. I’m nearly finished setting up for the Baudelaire showing that starts next week. And while I was uncrating his paintings, somebody wandered in and bought a sculpture by Lily Birdsong.”
“Oh yeah? Which one?”
“The steampunk pygmy owl.”
“I loved that one!” exclaimed Brenna. “He reminded me of Pigwidgeon from Harry Potter.”
“A small piece, but a really nice sale,” said Sylvie. “And the buyer absolutely had his eye on her copper hawk. I think there’s a good chance he may be back.”
The server returned with Brenna’s margarita, which she immediately lifted in a toast. “This calls for celebration!”
Sylvie clinked her glass to Brenna’s.
Things were better. So much better than she could have anticipated at Christmas, when everything seemed to be falling apart. She’d moved out of her apartment and into the stock room at the gallery. Sylvie hadn’t slept much during those weeks, constantly worried her landlord would find out and she’d be booted from that space too. Then Brenna, one of the Western artists Sylvie featured in her gallery, had found out about her plight and immediately offered up her spare room. With the sale of the ring and the padding of some post Christmas sales at the gallery, she’d been able to keep her head above water. As a special bonus, Sylvie ended up making a new BFF, something she hadn’t managed during her first two backbreaking years in Colorado. She’d always liked Brenna, but living in close quarters had showed her a soul sister.