Page 20 of Five Stolen Rings

“Hi,” I say, placing the last can of chickpeas on the shelf and then standing up. “It’s been a long time. How are you guys?” I give myself a mental pat on the back for how normal my voice sounds.

“We’re amazing,” Lucretia says, tightening her arm around Jack’s. “We thought we’d visit some of our old stomping grounds while we’re here.” She gestures around the market. “And look who we ran into on the way!”

Jack gives me a pained grimace, and I force myself not to smile.

“I see that,” I say. “I didn’t know you guys knew each other so well.”

“We don’t,” Jack mutters, but the twins just laugh.

“We remember you from school,” Lucretia says, giving Jack’s arm a fond pat. “We wanted to catch up!”

My guess is that if Jack didn’t look like he does—undeniably attractive, even when he’s wearing a sour expression—they’d be less interested in reconnecting. I keep this thought to myself.

“Enough about us,” Sophronia says, her eyes shining as she looks me over. “What are you doing here? Are you visiting for the holidays?”

“Nope,” I say, still keeping my voice normal—fake it til you make it—and smiling as genuinely as possible. “I moved back. I’m working here until I can find something else. What about you guys—how long are you visiting?”

“Oh,” the twins say in unison, their eyes widening identically, their mouths forming littleos of surprise. They look at each other, so quickly I almost miss it, and then look back at me.

“Why—what—” Lucretia says.

“The management at my old job was very difficult to get along with,” I say, mostly to save her the trouble of formulating a question that comes off as polite. It’s not a lie—not technically.

I’m tempted to cover my jaw anyway, just in case it twitches and gives me away.

“Oh,” they say again, drawing the word out this time. But my gaze isn’t on them; it’s been pulled, against my will, to Jack.

I shouldn’t care what he thinks. I really shouldn’t. But…I do. And it’s hard to tell what’s going through his mind—it always has been—but I don’t think I’m imagining the same flash of curiosity I saw the other night.

Curiosity, and maybe even…concern?

“Well, that’s—” Sophronia starts, but she breaks off awkwardly.

“Great!” Lucretia cuts in, her smile forced uncomfortably now. She tries to nudge Sophronia, only she seems toforget that Jack is in between them, because she elbows him in the ribs instead of her twin sister. “That’s great. Good for you for getting out of there, then.”

Sophronia nods vigorously. “Absolutely. Workplace environment is so important, isn’t it?”

And it’s this—the way they pick the thread of the conversation back up—that reminds me of why I liked them. They’re a little silly, a little shallow, but ultimately kindhearted.

“And we’re just here until New Year’s, and then we fly out, back to Boston,” Lucretia says.

“It’s nice to be back during the holidays, isn’t it?” Sophronia continues. “There’s just something different about Colorado snow.”

“There is,” I agree, even though I’m not sure Colorado snow is any different from other snow. “And the air is so crisp.”

All right, this is fine. We’re talking about the weather.

“We were just telling Jack—there’s a get-together scheduled during break, if you guys want to come!” Lucretia’s voice is back to being bright and natural, her smile no longer forced. “A Windsor reunion while people are in town. Not for any specific class—just all alum! Are you still at the same phone number? I can text you the deets!”

I will not be going to any Windsor reunion, probably ever, but I nod. “Sure, text me.” Then I thumb over my shoulder. Maybe I’ll just leave Jack that note after all, rather than talking to him about it now. “I need to get back to work, but it was good to see you both!”

“And Jack,” Sophronia says, squeezing his arm.

“And Jack,” I make myself say; this time IknowI’m not imagining the flicker of smughumor in his eyes.

He can laugh all he wants; I’m not the introvert being forced into small talk with the very extroverted Lucretia and Sophronia.

I wave over my shoulder and head gratefully down the aisle. It’s nice to see old friends, I guess, but I don’t have the mental or emotional energy to keep those encounters up for long.

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