Dominic

The man’s grin widened. He gestured for us to follow him, and led us to a counter in the back of the shop. “This is where we keep our particularly fine pieces. Any one of them should make your lovely lady’s heart stop with excitement. Do you know what style of ring she prefers?”

No, no I didn’t. I tried to picture the kind of jewelry she usually wore, only to realize that I never paid any attention to that kind of thing. Thankfully, Enzo came to my rescue. 

“Mr. Voss is useless at questions like that. But luckily for him, he brought me! She usually wears yellow gold and seems to favor smaller stones.” He stepped up to the counter and began examining the offerings, wincing slightly at the price tags. “What’s your budget, D?”

“I’m not worried about the price tag. Nothing in this store would break the bank even ten times over.” I waved my hand at the cabinet and turned to look at a display of watches. “I trust you to pick out the best one without getting swindled into buying the most expensive one just because of a hard sell.” 

The salesman’s eyes brightened further, and I left the two men to their work. I couldn’t care less what decision they came to. Anything with the name Tiffany attached would give the ring plenty of clout. 

I did my best to tune out their discussion and instead focused on making a mental list of anything else I might have forgotten. We’d need a cake and a caterer, but that was easy. I had an army of caterers in my contact book. The dress and tux were taken care of, the venue…did I need a DJ? Did they call themselves DJs for weddings? 

The rest would be Annie’s problem. That’s why I was willing to spend the money on a wedding planner. She’d done a good job on my sister’s wedding and had only gotten more famous in the following years. 

“I think we’ve got the perfect ring, D!” Enzo broke me out of my thoughts and waved me over to the counter. “Take a look at this beauty!” 

He showed me a ring with a band of intricately-carved vines in yellow gold, crusted with white diamonds and accented with white gold. In the center was a blue diamond the same color as Vivianne’s eyes. When I pictured it on her finger, I felt myself stir. Which was…odd. And unwanted. 

I stifled him and gave a nonchalant shrug. “Sure. Looks good to me. Can you package it up for me? I’ll meet you at the counter to pay.” The salesman nodded and presented a variety of ring boxes. I looked them over and selected a blue one that matched the diamond. 

“Very good, sir. I’ll get this polished up to remove any traces of fingerprints, and we can take care of the payment in about fifteen minutes.” 

I waved him on and took a seat on an overly floral chair near the front of the store. Enzo sat in the second one beside me, beaming. “She’s gonna love it. Even the ice queen will melt when her lover gives her something that nice.” 

Lover? As if that would ever happen. But I nodded and flipped through my emails to pass the time. Not that Enzo was inclined to let time pass quietly. “I’m still offended that you didn’t even give me a clue that you were dating Vivianne. But I should have known! The two of you spend way too much time locked in your office. In hindsight, it’s obvious that your ‘meetings’ have always been way too long.” 

The insinuation was offensive. I opened my mouth to tell him off, but thought better of it. All the better to keep him convinced this was real, I supposed. “Don’t think too much about it.” 

“Oh, I won’t,” he replied, and pulled a disgusted face. 

Twenty minutes and $120,000 later, I stepped back out into the muggy New York air. “She better like this for 120 grand.” I waved the little box at Enzo before slipping it into my pocket. Yes, I had the money. But spending money on useless things like jewelry was painful nonetheless. I had to remind myself that this was an investment. I’d be getting back every penny I spent on this fake wedding tenfold when I signed the contract with Kingsley.

“Still want to go golfing? Or do you want to go give Viv the ring?” Enzo buckled his seatbelt and looked at me expectantly. 

I’m sure he was looking for excitement. But damn, I still wanted to golf. “I’ll give it to her later. Let’s get at least 18 holes in, since that’s what we came out to do in the first place.” I backed out of the parking spot and managed to catch a lucky break onto the main road. A round of golf would do me some good, after the morning I’d had. Perhaps I’d be able to process how I managed to land myself a fiance.

Our destination was my favorite country club on the outskirts of the Bronx. I had a designated parking spot there, and a fresh set of clothes to change into in my locker. The lot was nearly empty when I arrived, which brought a smile to my face. Fewer people to fight for holes was always a benefit.

“Hey, Mr. Voss! Good to see you! You here for some golf, or just drinking today?” Rebecca, my favorite hostess, greeted me the moment I stepped out of the sun and into the air conditioned lobby. 

“Just a quick 18 holes. Get my cart ready while Enzo and I change, yeah?” 

She smiled and nodded, her acrylic nails tapping on the keyboard. I patted the countertop, accepted the key to my favorite golf cart, and headed for the locker room. Enzo followed behind like a puppy, winking at Rebecca as he passed. She blushed like she always did. I elbowed him in the side and waggled my eyebrows. 

“One of these days you need to just ask her out, chicken,” I teased as we stepped into the locker room. “I can almost guarantee that she’d say yes.” 

Enzo shook his head and unlocked his locker. “Unlike you, I’m still not the relationship type. Once I ask her out, flirting stops being a hobby. She’d start to expect it, and when things inevitably ended, I’d be out someone to flirt with at the club.” 

“Or maybe you’d decide you like sticking to one woman. You don’t have to put an expiration date on it before you even start.”