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“Rain? Please, let’s talk about this. I know you’re angry with me, but I did it because I love you and wanted you to have what you needed to get going. Just call me back. Call me back.”
I tossed the phone on the sofa beside me and leaned forward, planting my head in my hands. The sound of the phone ringing jolted me from my misery, and I yanked it up without looking at the screen.
“Rain?”
“No, Jon. It’s Betty Sue. Your ring is ready if you want to come and pick it up.”
Just when I thought my day couldn’t possibly get any worse. I told her I’d be along later to grab it and hung up the phone with a quick goodbye. I wasn’t sure there was anything I wanted to do less than go get the ring I had designed for a woman who wouldn’t even answer my calls, but I didn’t have a choice. I decided to bite the bullet and just go ahead and get it.
“It turned out beautifully,” Tommy told me when I arrived at the jewelry shop, removing it from its small velvet box and holding it up for me to see.
He was right about that. I had stopped by to see him a few days after my original trip to the shop, and he had sketched out what he had in mind for it. It had been hard to see exactly what it would be like from the rough sketch, but I had trusted him with it, and the results were perfect. Two smaller stones sat on either side of my mother’s original solitaire. The plain band she had worn was replaced with an ornate filigree in bright silver. It was gorgeous. Not that it mattered.
I paid for it and returned home, setting the box on my coffee table and looking at it for the longest time, as if it were going to transform into something else or dance for me. Atticus and Scout sniffed around it a bit and then jumped onto the sofa to lay beside me in an awkward-looking pile of fur with tails.
“You two are strange creatures. I wish I had your life. Nothing to do but roam around the yard, turn up in the kitchen for meals, and sleep on the sofa. What an existence.”
Atticus raised his head to look at me in his usual disinterested way and then lay back down again, stretching out to sleep. Typical. I reached for the box and opened it, taking another look at the ring. It was a stunning ring. I had imagined myself proposing in the old cabin, someplace I had yet to even take Rain to visit. Unless she had walked down that way, she most likely thought it was still the rundown old shack we used to sneak away to sometimes at night, using candles to light the electricity-free house.
I finally decided that going to Rain’s house was the only way I was going to get her to see me. Grabbing my keys, I marched out the door and went to her place, only to find she wasn’t home. I walked across the span of yard that separated the two houses to check on things. Maybe if I busied myself with what I needed to still get done over here, she would turn up, and I could talk to her. After spending an entire day and the following morning waiting for her, there was no sign that she had even been home, and I was sick with worry. I couldn’t imagine where she might be and considered that she might have left for Los Angeles again. It felt like the end of the world to think she was just gone with no idea when she might return. I called Becky to see if she had heard from her.
“She’s fine, Jon.”
“Do you know where she is?”
“I’m not supposed to tell you that.”
“She told you not to tell me where she is?”
“Maybe.”
“I need to talk to her, Becky.”
“Don’t make this awkward. She just needs some space to sort out her head. She’ll be home in a few days, and you can stalk her there. I’ve already had to make my apologies for telling you about the problem with the loan in the first place, so I don’t want to get in more trouble with her over telling you where she has gone.
“Did she say I’m stalking her?” I gasped.
“No, I’m joking. Sorry. I guess you’re not in the mood for humor. Listen, I know this is rough, but just let her get her shit together and then try to talk to her. OK?”
“OK,” I sighed, knowing there was nothing else I could say or do.
My own house was done. The next thing I had to focus on was the property beside Rain’s. Whether I worked out things with Rain or not, I still needed to get it flipped and off my plate. For two more days, there was no sign of her, but on the third day, I walked out to see a strange car in the driveway. I didn’t see anyone at the door and decided they must be inside. I thought it best to wait until they left to try to approach her.
