Page 49 of Can't Help Falling

For a moment he looked pleased, then skeptical, then uncomfortable. “I’m...not exactly a jewelry kind of guy.”

She couldn’t help but roll her eyes and laugh. “Don’t you think I know that? It’s not going to be jewelry.” She jiggled her hand a bit. “Come on. Pick one.”

“What’s it for?”

“Your energy is a mess. It’s distracting. And whether or not you believe it, it’s making it harder for you to connect with Kylie. So suspend your disbelief, pick one of these, whichever one draws you, and let me help you out a little bit.”

He looked for a moment like he was going to argue, but then he merely shrugged and bent over a little to look at the selection in her hand. Before she could stop him, he reached down and plucked the small, clearish pink rose quartz from her hand.

She felt its weight leave her palm as she gaped. She’d forgotten to tell him to point and not pick up. It hadn’t occurred to her that he’d pluck one right out of her hand.

It was the first time in almost a decade that someone else had touched the quartz. She’d carried it with her for years, using it, loving it, cleansing it, depending on it. And now, there it was, perfectly pressed between his thumb and forefinger as he held it up to the light.

She felt like he’d just plucked a loose tooth from her mouth.

“Does it mean something? Or protect against anything in particular?”

Still she gaped at him, trying to get her breath back.

“Fin?”

“Uh,” she said, gravel in her throat. “Rose quartz helps transform negative energy into positive energy. It promotes healing.”

“Oh. Cool.” He tossed the stone in the air and caught it, her eyes following the path the entire way. “What’ll you make out of it?”

“A key chain,” she said hoarsely, and cleared her throat. What was done was done. She knew better than to take it back now. She slipped her other stones back into her pocket, feeling the absence of the rose quartz, yet still aware of its glowing heat in Tyler’s hand. “So that whenever you have your keys with you, you’ll have the crystal with you as well.”

He frowned. “Can’t I just carry it in my pocket? The way you do?”

She still couldn’t take her eyes off the familiar planes and corners of her crystal in his hand. His hand was so much larger than hers that when he let the quartz roll to his palm, it looked minuscule.

“...Sure.”

“Great. Thanks for the gift. Not sure I totally understand it. But, uh, the gesture means a lot.” With that, he effortlessly slipped the stone in his pocket, and again Fin followed the movement with her eyes.

She could practically feel the warm safety of his pocket surrounding the crystal. Her crystal. His crystal. He nodded to her and walked out of the room, and she couldn’t escape the feeling that he was taking a part of her with him.

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