Page 84 of Choose Us
How did I get so lucky?
Iwas engaged.
I had a fiancée.
*
I held my arm outstretched in front of my body with my palm open and my fingers spread. The second finger in from the left took all my attention. The shine from the disco ball in the lounge reflected off the diamond and caused it to twinkle like a star in the night’s sky. I’d been ready for over an hour, which was remarkably early by my standards, so there was nothing for me to do other than admire it.
“Hey you,” Brooke purred in my ear. “Have you just been sat staring at your ring?” She chuckled.
“You’re damn right I have.”
She came around the other side of the chair to face me from the front. “Are you ready to do this?” Her faceturned cold.
“I think so.” I nodded. “Things went well last time, right? I think he’ll be okay.”
“I hope so.”
I lifted Brooke’s hand and kissed each finger with a full-lipped peck. “I will make sure you have a shiny diamond on this finger soon;I promise.”
“There’s no rush.” Brooke smized.
“There is! I want people to know you’re taken. Done. Completely off the market. Forever.” I winked.
“Sounds like a dream,” she whispered against my lips. The doorbell interrupted our moment. It was showtime.
“Here we go.” Brooke tucked her hair behind her left ear and patted down her silver sparkling dress. Shewas poised.
I heard the door close and Brooke walked in followed by her brother, Tom, and her father, Robert. His presence put me on edge, but we’d made progress in recent months. He’d returned to the UK on a surprise visit a year prior with an air of regret. He told Brooke he would try to accept her “lifestyle”—I hated it when people called it a lifestyle, but it wasn’t my place. He was back for a week over New Year’s. He’d arrived in London theday before.
Robert held out his hand. “Holly, it’s nice to see you again.” He smiled, and it seemed genuinely sincere.
“You too, Robert. How wasthe flight?”
“Long.” He sighed. “However, it gave me the opportunity to pre-order something for my arrival.” He pulled two small thin black boxes from the inside of his jacket pocket. “I don’t know what you kids are into these days, but I hope youlike them.”
Is he pranking me? I half expected to find a basic biro pen in the box, or a twig. There was no way Robert Jacobs was buying me a gift from Frost of London. I cautiously opened the box. Inside was a gold tennis bracelet.
Is this real?It would be rude to ask, but it didn’tlook cheap.
“Dad, this isbeautiful.”
Brooke had the same but in silver.
“It’s so nice, thank you so much, but you didn’t haveto.” I said.
Robert put his hand up in protest. “I don’t want to hear it. It’s Christmas, and I wanted to treat my daughter, and her...girlfriend.”
He’d already sent Brooke a substantial amount of money for her Christmas present, but this gesture was all together unbelievable. It was the first time I’d heard him refer to me as her girlfriend, and it felt like the biggest step in the right direction.
Tom didn’t say much at all. He was, according to Brooke, pissed off he’d had to leave his girlfriend in Tokyo to fly back and see his sister. I can imagine his dad left him with no choice, which was rather funny to watch now that Brooke was no longer under thesame spell.
“Actually Dad...”
I glared at her. Alarm and panic spread across my face top to bottom.
What are you doing?
