“There ya go! Easy-peasy!” Anna said.
“Holy cow, that was fast. Thank you so much! What do I owe you?”
Anna laughed. “Nothing! It’s on the house. ”
“Thank you so much. That’s so sweet of you. I really appreciate your help. ”
“Sure, no problem,” Anna said.
“So, you know Layton?” Whitley asked.
Fuck. I knew she would catch that.
“Uh…yeah, we went to high school together. So, y’all are dating, huh?”
“Oh, really?”
“Yep, I’m going to safely guess from that picture that you’ve stolen his heart. ”
I heard Whitley giggle, and my whole body was covered in goose bumps just from that sound.
“I hope so. He’s certainly stolen mine. Well, I guess I should be…oh my God!”
I perked my head up and wondered why she had just let out a gasp.
“What? What is it?” Anna said with a panicked voice.
“That ring! Oh my God…it looks just like my grandmother’s ring,” Whitley said with so much excitement in her voice.
I noticed Anna did a little hop as she quickly looked down at me and then back up at Whitley.
Okay…is this really happening? Is Whitley going to pick out her own engagement ring and not even know it?
I couldn’t help but smile.
This is perfect. Everything happens for a reason.
There was a reason she’d walked into this store while I was here.
I poked Anna in the leg, and she kicked me again. I was going to walk out of here, broken and bruised.
“Which one, Whitley? I’ll show you it!” Anna said with a little too much excitement in her voice.
I rolled my eyes and shook my head. Way to play it cool, Anna.
“Oh no, I couldn’t ask you to waste your time doing that. ”
“Please…I have nothing important to do. Is this the one?”
“Yep, that’s it,” Whitley said with a giggle.
I looked up and watched as Anna unlocked the cabinet. She reached in and pulled out a ring.
“Whitley, you have very good taste. This is a Tacori platinum ring. It’s from their Heirloom collection. Rather fitting since you said it reminded you of your grandmother’s ring, wouldn’t you say?”
Whitley started laughing. “Yes, that is funny. Oh my God. It’s breathtaking. I can’t believe how much it looks like her ring. It’s almost unreal. ”
“The princess cut center diamond is one-point-two-five carats. The channel set diamonds and crescent diamond details keep it contemporary, yet it has that heirloom look to it. Total carats of the engagement ring, minus the center stone, are about one-point-one-seven carats. ”