Page 17 of Slipperless 5

Shaking my head, I exhaled an exhausted breath.

“But what if I make the wrong one? What happens then?”

A comforting smile spread across Cheri’s face as she looked at me.

“Then that only means you’re human, and life will go on.”

GABE

“Here, Holly, what do you think about this one?”

Holly raised her hand to her mouth, covering it as she gasped.

“Oh my God, Gabe. It’s breathtaking. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful in my entire life.”

I wrinkled my brow and with my index finger pointed in my direction, I asked, “Really? You’ve never seen anything so breathtaking, huh?”

Holly let loose with a delicate laugh, every bit as feminine and beautiful as she.

“I should’ve known you would say that.”

I winked at her and continued, “Are you sure? Is that the one?”

Holly broke her gaze on me and looked once more at the immense diamond on her finger. As if in a state of semi-hypnosis, she raised her hand in front of her face, looking at the massive engagement ring.

“It’s the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen, Gabe. I had no idea things like this even existed.”

“For the right price, Holly, you can have almost anything in this world.”

Holly leaned back and once again, her exquisite laughter filled the air.

“Almost…” she said.

I gestured towards the ring, nodding with my chin. “It suits you.”

Holly hesitated for a moment and moved her hand in front of her face once again, staring at it. She lingered there in appreciation of it for almost a minute before she spoke.

“Oh it’s breathtaking,” she began, as she shook her head back and forth. “But, no.”

As she finished, Holly reached for the ring and with a slow pull removed it from her finger and passed it back to me. I took the ring from her and smiled. Turning to my right, I looked at the jeweler, Mr. Barstow, the proprietor of the most expensive jewelry store for thousands of miles in any direction.

“What should I say to that?” I asked, as I looked at him. Brandishing the ring in front of his face, I said, “What would you do if you were me? Here I’ve got this ring that’s worth… What…”

Mr. Barstow stepped in with the value.

“One million, seven hundred ninety-one thousand dollars, sir.”

I nodded.

“Right, that. So, if you were me, and someone said no to a ring worth that much money and possessing that much beauty… What would you do?”

Without missing a beat, Mr. Barstow reached inside his case filled with rings and said, “Perhaps a more expensive one would change her mind?”

I paused for a moment and looked at Holly.

“Would it?”

Holly smiled as I finished my question and shook her head.

“For me? No.”

“Hmm,” I grumbled. I turned back towards Mr. Barstow again. “Have you ever encountered such a thing and all of your years? What kind of woman turns down millions of dollars in jewelry?”

Before I could get another word in, my longtime assistant interrupted me.

“The kind of woman that’s not actually marrying you.”

Feigning injury to my ego, I draped my hand across my chest.

“Holly, you really know how to hurt a man. How could you say that to me after all this time?”

Holly snapped her hands around her hips.

“Are we just about done here? I’ve got a lot of work to do.”

I shrugged.

“That depends. Which one do you like?”

As I finished speaking, I made a sweeping gesture across the spectacular collection of engagement rings Mr. Barstow brought with him to my office. The collection easily ran into the tens of millions of dollars. I’d never been one for jewelry myself, but certain occasions required it.

Asking a woman to marry you was a prime example…

Holly tilted forward at the waist, scanning the brilliant assortment of gemstones. I noticed the sparkling reflection from them in her eyes as she looked down. At last, she reached towards the only ring she hadn’t tried on yet. As luck would have it, it was the largest one of all.

“Of course. Why would I think you’d pick anything else?” I joked, as she aimed her stiff digit at it.

She tilted her head at me.

“Well, you are the one who asked me, so now you’re going to have to deal with the consequences.”

I turned back towards Mr. Barstow.

“All right, you heard the lady.”

Reaching for it, Mr. Barstow replied, “Yes, sir. Right away.”

And then, a few seconds later, Mr. Barstow slid the brilliant diamond down Holly’s elegant, slender finger. As before, she raised her hand towards her face, admiring it. She seemed transfixed in a way she hadn’t been with any of the ones before it. Without a word, she looked at me.

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