Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 156029 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 156029 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Spencer
I’m staring at the diamond rings beneath the glass cabinet in Tiffany.
Nothing stands out to me.
This is the fifteenth jewellery store I’ve been to.
How could a diamond set in gold possibly show how I feel about her?
There aren’t enough words in the dictionary to describe it.
This woman, this perfect angel, has swooped into my life and changed everything I thought I knew about myself.
I thought I was happy. I thought I had life all figured out, but I was fucking miserable before I met her. I just didn’t know it because I had nothing to compare it to.
I couldn’t bring Masters or Seb shopping with me. This is just so deeply personal and something I never thought I would be doing.
I need to do it alone.
“Can I help you, sir?” the shop attendant asks.
“Uh.” I frown, still looking at all the rings on display. “I’m just trying to get some ideas, although I’ve no idea what I am looking for.”
“You’re getting engaged?”
“Hopefully.” I smirk to myself.
“Soon?”
“I plan to ask her on Christmas Eve.”
“What a wonderful time of the year. Does she know?”
I shake my head. “No, it’s a surprise.”
“How wonderful. I’ll leave you in peace, but please call me if you see anything that catches your eye. We also have a jeweller who can help you design the ring of your dreams.”
“Okay, great. Thank you. If he has a moment to spare, I’d like to speak to him, please?”
“I’ll see if he’s around.” She disappears out of sight.
I keep looking through the cabinets. I wish I could ask Sheridan for her opinion. She’s always been my confidant.
I miss her.
Not the sex, I don’t miss sleeping with her. I miss her friendship but I know that one comes with the other and it’s not possible to have her in my life anymore.
But at moments like this, when normally she would be the first person I would call for an opinion, her absence is all around me.
It makes me sad, if I’m honest.
Ten years is a long time.
“Hello, sir.” A man smiles, appearing behind the counter. He holds his hand out to shake my hand. “I’m Cyrus, the designer.”
“Hello.” I smile.
“Stephanie tells me that you’re looking for an engagement ring.”
“Yes. It has to be a perfect diamond and extremely feminine, not chunky. It can’t be too big, she hates flashy. It needs to be understated and classically beautiful… just like she is.”
He smiles brighter. “She sounds special.”
“She is.” I smirk, my heart swelling with pride. “How she loves me, I’ll never know.”
* * *
Six hours later, I walk out of the elevator on my floor and see the ever-present guards by my door. I passed another two on the bottom floor, and there is someone with our cars in the basement parking bay at all times now.
“Hello, Spencer,” they greet me.
“How long has she been home?” I ask just to make conversation.
“She left work early today, so she’s been home for a few hours now.”
I frown, that’s strange. “Have a good night,” I say to them before I walk into my apartment.
The television is on, the lights are off, the apartment in darkness. A feeling of unease fills me.
“Angel?” I call.
No answer.
I walk out into the living room to see her sitting on the floor, tears streaming down her face. My face falls.
“What’s wrong?” I crouch beside her and notice that there are boxes of Christmas decorations sitting next to the Christmas tree box I got out of storage yesterday.
I pull Charlotte onto my lap and hold her tight, listening as her quiet sadness turns to loud sobs.
“Baby?” I whisper as I rock her.
After a moment, she speaks quietly. “I just don’t think I can do it.”
“What?”
“Can we go to Santorini now?”
“What… why? What’s happened?”
“How can it possibly be Christmas without your family?” she whispers through her tears. “Can we just skip it this year? I promise, next year I’ll make it up to you.”
My heart drops. She can’t stand the thought of having a Christmas with her family not talking to her. “What did you do today?” I ask, looking around helplessly.
“I bought Christmas decorations.”
“Do you want to put the tree up?”
She shakes her head. “No.”
I watch her for a moment. I remember how hard this time of year used to be for me, too. “Do you want me to put the tree up naked?” I tease. “You can drink wine and watch.”
“No.” She wipes her eyes. “I just don’t want to have Christmas this year, Spence. Let’s just leave it.”
She doesn’t want to have Christmas?
We remain silent, both of us lost in our own thoughts until I can’t stand the quiet a moment longer.
“Why don’t you go home to Nottingham for Christmas, babe?”
She frowns up at me in question.
“Go home for Christmas and spend it with your family. I’ll see you after,” I offer.