LITMIR.BIZ

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in the middle,” Julie told him.

      Dave paid closer attention as Kevin removed individual rings from the case—insurance regulations didn't permit him to exhibit more than one at a time—and quoted prices in the range of fifteen hundred dollars. They had entered the store committed to paying no more than a thousand, but their threshold seemed to have risen in the meantime.

      “I really like this one,” Julie said, referring to a round-cut sixty-pointer that would run in the neighborhood of sixteen hundred transferred to a plainer setting. “There's something about it.”

      “That's a quality stone,” Kevin said quickly. “You have a really good eye.”

      Julie spun her swivel chair to face Dave, the ring cupped like an offering in the palm of her hand, her expression a complicated blend of excitement and apology.

      “What do you think?”

      Dave took the ring and held it up to the light. The diamond was small but radiant, shooting off pinprick flares of brilliance.

      “I know it's expensive,” she said. “Maybe we shouldn't rush into anything.”

      He could've told her to hold off, to shop around and compare prices, but that would've just been prolonging the ordeal. She had found a ring she would be proud to show off to her friends, a ring that would reflect well on him as part of the union it symbolized. Compared to that, a few hundred dollars didn't seem worth quibbling over, even if it meant he'd have to kiss good-bye any hope of buying the vintage Telecaster he'd been eyeing over at Riccio's Music.

      “Get it,” he told her.

      “Really?” She seemed almost disappointed by the ease of his surrender. “You mean it?”

      She started to smile, but something happened to her face before she got there. She made a sudden gulping noise, and the next thing he knew she was sobbing against his face, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. Pinned against his chair, Dave realized he was choked up as well. If making her happy were so easy, why had he gone out of his way to disappoint her for so long? Why had they wasted all those years?

      “Oh, sweetie,” she said. “It's so beautiful.”

      “Jules.” His fist closed around the ring as he rubbed his knuckles up and down the back of her neck.

      “Congratulations.” Kevin reached across the display case to give him a friendly squeeze on the shoulder. “You made an excellent choice.”

      “So tell me,” Kevin said, making salesman's small talk as he wrote up their order, “how long have you two been going out?”

      Dave groaned to himself. This wasn't a subject he felt comfortable discussing with strangers.

      “A long time,” he said.

      “How long is long?”

      He shot a quick warning glance at Julie, but it was too late.

      “Fifteen years,” she said.

      Kevin looked up from the paperwork, smirking like a guy who appreciated a little good-natured kidding around.

      “Come on,” he said.

      “It's true,” Julie insisted. “We've been going out since our sophomore year of high school.”

      Kevin turned to Dave for confirmation, looking at him for the first time as though he were an actual human being, rather than a Visa card with legs.

      “On and off,” Dave told him. “Fifteen years on and off.”

      “That's amazing,” said Kevin.

      Julie put her arm around Dave's waist and planted a quick kiss on his cheek.

      “We didn't want to rush into anything,” she explained.

      Dave took Julie's hand as they stepped off the escalator, something he almost never did in public, especially since they'd had a fight about it a few years earlier. (“Would it kill you to hold my hand once in a while?” she'd asked. “Yes,” he'd replied, after devoting some serious consideration to the matter. “I think it would.”) She seemed so grateful for the gesture that she passed up the opportunity to comment upon his courage in the face of near-certain death.

      “I'm really happy about the ring,” she told him. “I know you think it's silly, but it means a lot to me.”

      “I'm happy too,” he said, and was pretty sure that he meant it. “You deserve something nice after putting up with me for fifteen years.”

      “On and off,” she said, cheerfully supplying his favorite disclaimer. “Fifteen years on and off.”

      He never meant for the phrase to sound as grudging and nitpicky as it apparently did; it just seemed important to remind people that they hadn't actually been seeing each other for fifteen years without interruption. Some of the gaps in their relationship were minor and forgettable, but others were of a different order of magnitude—-Julie's last two years of college, for example, which she'd spent practically living with this jerk who dumped her when he got accepted to law school, and the ten-month affair Dave had had a few years back with a married woman whose husband traveled a lot. In Dave's mind, these two episodes divided up his history with Julie into three separate eras —in effect, three separate relationships: Young Love, The Post-Brendan Reconciliation, and Everything after Maryanne. That was what he meant by on and off.

      They were halfway to the exit when someone called his name. He turned toward the line of Trekkies—it had nearly doubled in size during their time in the jewelry store—unsuccessfully scanning the crowd for a familiar face.

      “Over here.” A hand waved through the air. “Dave.”

      Once he spotted Ian, Dave wondered how he'd missed him. Surrounded by people not particularly distinguished by their good looks or the care they'd devoted to choosing their clothes that morning, he stood out like a swan among the pigeons. Tall and always well dressed, Ian had the kind of physical presence that often led strangers to mistake him for some kind of minor celebrity—a bit player on soap operas, or maybe a second-string professional athlete.

      “Hey,” he said. “Talk about coincidences. What are you guys doing here?”

      “Engagement ring,” said Dave.

      Ian looked at Julie's hand. Julie shook her head.

      “We just picked out the stone. The actual ring won't be ready for a week or so.”

      “Well, congratulations,” he told her. “You're marrying one of the finest rock trivia minds in the Tri-State area.”

      “I know,” Julie said. “All the other girls are jealous.”

      “What about you?” asked Dave. “Since when are you such a big Star Trek fan?”

      “I'm not. I was just shopping for some summer clothes. But then I saw the line and thought, what the hell? Might as well meet Scotty.”

      “He's not showing up for another couple of hours,” Julie warned him. “That's a long time to wait.”

      Ian shrugged. “I didn't really have anything planned for this afternoon anyway. It's either this or help my dad clean out the gutters.”

      “It's a beautiful day,” she told him. “We're thinking of having a picnic up at Watchung.”

      She said this as though extending a tacit, no-pressure invitation for Ian to tag along, but he didn't seem to notice the offer.

      “I've got to get out of that house,” he said, more to himself than to Dave or Julie. “My parents are driving me nuts.”

      “Join the club,” said Dave.

      “Tell me about it,” said Julie.

      “Yeah,” said Ian, “but you guys can at least see the light at the end of the tunnel. I don't even think I'm inside the tunnel yet.”

      Dave

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