Page 101 of Tickled Pink

Not so much anymore.

“So, how’s Max?” he asks when I don’t respond.

“Max is fine,” I say into my glass.

“You know, I ran into Keith a few weeks back.”

I hold my breath. “Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah, he went on and on about how the two of you are shacked up out here in a ménage à trois with some redhead.” He chuckles. “I guess that’s her I saw before?”

“Don’t,” I say.

“Don’t what?”

“Just don’t.”

“Hey.” He shakes his head. “It’s none of my business. In fact, you can wave that rainbow flag as high as you like. I don’t give a shit.”

“Thanks for the permission,” I say, already ready to leave. “Why are you here, Dad?”

“Well, if you had answered my email, I would have told you.” He reaches into his blazer pocket. “I brought something that belongs to you.”

He sets it on the bar in front of me. I stare at it for a moment before picking it up, the same stupid curiosity ultimately winning out. It’s a small black velvet box, the edges wrapped with silver metal.

“What is it?” I ask.

He doesn’t answer.

I open it. Doing so is like opening the gate on a dam, causing a flood of memories I thought long forgotten.

“It was your mother’s,” he says.

I stare at the ring. A flawless, shiny rock on a silver band. Princess cut.

“Yeah, I know,” I say.

“She asked me to give it to you. Said it’d be nice if you gave it to the woman you marry.”

“When?”

“Whenever you settle down, I guess.”

“No, when did she give this to you?”

He leers at me; the question admittedly stupid. “Before she passed,” he answers.

I close the box with an audible snap. “And you didn’t think to give it to me until now?” I ask.

“I forgot,” he says. “Found it in a box a few months ago. Figured I’d give it to you the next time I passed through the city.”

My chest clenches. “You tossed your dead wife’s ring into a box and forgot about it for twenty years?”

“Come on, kid. I’m a busy guy. I moved on.”

“Oh, I remember,” I say. “Don’t have to remind me how busy you always were to be a decent husband and father.”

“You want the thing or not, kid?”

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