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‘Cologne is flammable, you psycho,’ River scolds her, like she’s a child.
‘Ah, really? I was hoping that was my curse manifesting. Damn. Somebody go.’
‘I’ve got one thing left,’ I say, glancing at River. ‘You?’
‘Also, one thing,’ he says.
‘I’ll go.’ I pull out the magazine ad, full of gorgeous engagement rings I’d consider wearing.
‘The dream ring list?’ Laney gasps. ‘Are you finally giving up on him?’
River looks my way.
‘Wow, suddenly this is heavy.’ Laney keeps talking. ‘Which one did you want again?’
‘This one.’ I point to one near the center of the page. Even River pays attention. A simple emerald-cut diamond solitaire. Not quite a carat, but so beautiful I’ve had dreams about the perfect man giving it to me. Would he go big? Or intimate? I guess I’ll never know.
‘I realize you two think I’m an idiot, but I swear I’m not. I know I need to dump Conner. Everyone is right; he’s not the one. It’s just so hard to do because I’ve lost so many people recently, and I thought he was the real deal.’ I sigh, tossing the ad into the now-growing fire, flames lapping over the edge of the metal can. ‘Never say yes to a man who proposes after two months, gets your name wrong, and doesn’t have a ring.’
‘Fuck Conner,’ Laney cheers.
River quietly rests his hand on my back. ‘You alright?’ he asks, speaking softly into my ear.
‘I will be. Go ahead, your turn.’
He looks into his box with a frown. ‘This, uh.’ He swallows hard, rubbing his hand over his chin. ‘Well, I won’t get into the story, but don’t fall in love with a woman who’s only looking out for herself,’ he says, reading silently through the words on the card in his hand.
‘Can I see it?’ I ask, wondering if this is what I suspect it may be. I read it aloud. ‘Together, with their parents, Mrs & Mr Ken Schiller and Mrs & Mr John Matthews, Caitlin Elaine Schiller and River Jonathon Matthews request your presence as they celebrate their marriage.’ I gasp.
‘You were engaged?’ Laney asks with shock.
‘Don’t act so surprised; I’m a hell of a good guy when you get to know me,’ he says. ‘But yeah. When I was young and stupid, I was engaged and didn’t see the forest through the trees.’ He takes back the invitation. ‘She called it off the day of our wedding.’ After one more look, he tosses the invite into the burning can.
He was left at the altar? That is heartbreaking.
‘I’m so sorry,’ I say, unsure what else to say. I thought Caitlin was just an ex-girlfriend, not his almost-wife.
He lifts a shoulder as if it’s no big deal, but I witnessed him around her, and it is a big deal. That woman truly hurt him. For a second, we all stare at the fire burning our memories and, hopefully, the ties that connect these people to our souls. But instead of it fizzling out, as we expect, it grows, setting off the fire alarms.
‘Shit!’ Despite being sick, River jumps up, steadies himself, then grabs the extinguisher before we burn the place down. Once the fire is out, he stares at the ceiling, perplexed. ‘Nice to know the sprinkler system doesn’t work.’
We see the front door swing open through the haze of the extinguisher and smoke.
‘Riv! There’s a fire.’ Dylan stops midway into the room, a nice enough guy that he ran over to save his friend from a fiery death. He glances around at the three of us. ‘This is what you wanted to do? Burn down the building?’
‘The fire is out,’ River assures him.
Suddenly we hear sirens racing towards the building.
‘They don’t know that, so come on,’ Dylan says, ushering us out of the apartment. But I notice last minute that River’s shoeless and shirtless, so I grab my coat and shove it his way as we walk out the door.
‘Put this on. You don’t need to get sicker.’
‘The squirrel-skin rug?’ he argues, moving the slowest of everyone in the building now headed outside. ‘These things’ souls are probably following you, hoping to get back into their skin.’
‘Disturbing image, thank you. Now wear it,’ I command, helping him get it on. It’s a tad tight, but it works for now.
‘You really should consider the nursing thing,’ he says, an arm thrown over my neck as I lead him downstairs behind the rest of the building.
