AllFreeNovel
Share Us
And then she’s gone.
I stare at the glowing phone screen, held aloft in Dorene’s hand.
My mom and my sister are living in a villa in the French Riviera. Max married me seven years ago today. Somehow I made a wish that shifted reality. Somehow I’m married to Max Barone.
I ... I ...
I erased my past? I rewrote the world?
“You look like you just got hit by a bus,” Dorene says. “Is your husband cheating on you?”
I shake my head. I don’t know. I don’t know anything about our marriage.
She scoffs and drops the phone into her bathrobe pocket. She looks me up and down. “Or perhaps you’re cheating on him. Is that your boyfriend’s shirt?”
I stare at her.
She takes another long sip of coffee, considering me. “If you want to keep a man, you should always sleep naked. If that fails, steal his car. Naked.”
And there’s the Dorene I know. I knew she was in there somewhere. At least that part of reality hasn’t shifted.
I give her a wobbly smile and take a step back. “Thank you. I have to go. But thanks for everything you’ve done for me. I really mean it.”
Her frown lines deepen. “It was only a phone call.”
I nod and then hurry outside.
There’s only one place I can go now. There’s only one person left to see.
7
The Barone showroomis in a classically elegant six-story sandstone building on the water. The French influence is obvious. The building could easily be transported to old Paris and no one would question its right to sit near the Seine.
It captures the understated elegance of the 1800s, where beauty was found in symmetry, smooth stone, and softly capped rooflines. The sandstone has a soft-buffed glow that sparkles in the late morning sunlight when the rays catch on the glittering quartz. It has the unique effect of making every person on the street turn toward it as they pass. I imagine the light urges them to wander inside the showroom to see more sparkly, beautiful things.
Or maybe that’s the giant gold and crystal engagement ring above the door, or the elegantly scripted six-foot-tall gold “Barone” prominent on the façade, and glistening in the sunlight.
Either way, when people walk past, they don’t turn toward the water, where white swans swim past curving their slender necks. The people don’t pause and lean over the railing to squint at the Jet D’eau spraying mist high into the air. They don’t turn toward the bridges spanning the Rhone, point to the flowering gardens, or marvel at the panorama of stone city, smooth water, and low-slung mountains. No. They turn, like flowers to the sun, toward the Barone building.
It’s in the jewel-cluster of showrooms situated near the Jardin Anglais, overlooking the bridges, the Jet D’eau, and the regal stone buildings on the opposite bank. Every jeweler worth its diamonds is within spitting distance of this congregation. I’ve never been inside Max’s building, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know where it is.
Everyoneknows.
The crystal and gold engagement ring on the building is practically a city icon. No matter the hour of the day, you can bet someone will be taking a selfie in front of the ring. Usually, it’s an ecstatic couple, newly engaged. Although once I saw two chihuahuas having their doggie wedding photos taken in front of the building.
On a windless day you can hear the carrying notes of the tour guides on the boats pointing out the Barone building to all the tourists snapping photos as they glide past.
Once, years ago, when Emme was still a baby, my mom and I went for a picnic with her in the Jardin Anglais. Afterward we wandered along the bank pointing out the swans to Emme. They swam after us as we meandered along, hoping for a crumbled handful of our leftover baguette. We were about to toss a few crumbs into the sunlit water when Emme saw the giant shining ring. Her arm shot out, her chubby finger pointed at the glittering facets, and she squealed with pure baby delight. She was mesmerized by that giant ring.
I’d seen it a thousand times before, but that day I saw it differently. My mom grabbed a man in a leather jacket and sunglasses passing by, shoved her camera in his hands, and asked him to take our picture. We stood under that giant ring and the gold Barone logo, grinning like fools.
Three years later, I met Max for the first time.
But that day, when a stranger took our picture under his building, I didn’t know who Max was. I only knew there was a large, beautiful jewelry store on the bank of the river, and when I stood under the ring I felt happy.
Six years ago I didn’t have the money to buy the diamond, sapphire, and ruby creations displayed in the windows. Three years ago, after I met Max, it didn’t feel right to wander through his store.
So today is the first time in my life that I’ve marched into this glamorous showroom. It’s entirely the same, and infinitely different than I imagined it would be.
