Page 9 of More Than Meets the Eye

She almost dropped the gem; she sat abruptly. “Oh, my word. It must be priceless. I always forget you and Tess are friends with them, and after that nice priest healed my cataracts, too. Did he ever say if he wants me to get him in touch with my friend about raising champion hogs?”

I had to fight to keep a straight face at the idea of reminding Alaric, former high priest of Atlantis and the scariest and most powerful wizard the lost continent had ever known, if he wanted to talk about becoming a pig farmer.

“I think he’s pretty busy these days. But what about the sapphire? Is it okay? Will she like it?”

Her entire face lit up, and suddenly I could see how incredibly beautiful she must have been when she was younger.

How beautiful she still was today.

“She’ll love it, Jack. If I were twenty years younger and didn’t have Mr. Frost, I’d be tempted to steal you away for myself, just to get my hands on the ring this goes into.” She grinned at me with her new “weather girl” white teeth, and I fell a little in love.

When she handed the sapphire back to me, I leaned over and kissed her cheek. “I hope he knows how lucky he was to catch a beauty like you, Mrs. Frost.”

Her cheeks turned pink, and she swatted me with a dishtowel. “You go on with your charm, young man. Take a plate of those cookies with you, now. Just bring me back the plate when you get a chance.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And choose a simple, elegant setting. Tess likes classic things. She won’t appreciate something gaudy. This gem is just barely small enough for her to wear without being overwhelmed by it.”

I had to choose the setting? I thought Tess would help me pick out the one she wanted.

Mrs. Frost must have recognized the confusion and dismay I was feeling, because she laughed. “I’d be happy to go with you, but I think you’d be better off to ask Ruby what she thinks Tess would want. These modern girls sometimes like to design their own rings. Ruby will know.”

I groaned. “I still haven’t told Ruby and Mike.”

She looked scandalized, but also a little smugger. “What are you waiting for? Get out of here and go talk to them right now!”

I thanked her again—for the cookies and the advice—and said goodbye to Mr. Rogers. When I was almost out the door, she called me back.

“How are you planning to propose?”

“What? Just ask, I guess.”

“Well, I know you’re going to ask. But where? It should be something exciting and someplace fancy!”

Oh, boy. This was getting more complicated all the time.

“Do you have any ideas?”

“Yes! We can fasten the ring to an arrow, stand Tess up against a tree with an apple on her head, and then I’ll use my crossbow and shoot the apple! When she gets over the excitement, she’ll find the ring, and you can fall to one knee right there!”

“Wow. That certainly would be exciting. I’ll keep it in mind. Thanks again, Mrs. Frost.”

I alternated laughing with eating cookies all the way to the house I shared with Grandpa Jed, imagining the look on Tess’s face if I let Mrs. Frost, cured cataracts or not, shoot an arrow at her head.

Then I imagined the look on Mike’s face when I told him I wanted to propose and choked on my cookie.

When I arrived, it was after six. I waved at Jed and then took the cookies inside, only mildly mortified to see there were only three left. I said hi to Millie, who looked down at the plate in confusion.

“Ah …”

“Sorry. I had a lot to think about on the way here. There were two dozen, but …”

She laughed. “Enough said. I’ve been traveling with Jed for quite a while, so I’m familiar with the appetite of a tiger shifter. We bought twenty steaks, plus veggie burgers for Shelley.”

I grinned at her and took another cookie. “Only twenty? What are the rest of you going to eat?”

I headed out to the side yard after she told me she didn’t need any help and found my ancestor messing around with the grill.

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