Page 40 of Rush
“The last bucket list item,” Ryan said after a while. “Have you decided what it is yet?”
Frowning, I thought about it. I thought about it so hard I almost popped a vein in my forehead.
“No,” I replied after a while. “I have no idea.”
“Seriously? There’s nothing you want to see or do or taste or…”
“I suppose I’ve always wanted to go to Paris, but that’s a different and more costly kind of adventure,” I said with a smile.
“Maybe you can do that one day.”
“Hmm…maybe.”
We had two days left. Sunday and Monday. I rubbed my thumb against my ring finger absently, thinking over my options. That’s when I realized I wasn’t wearing my engagement ring.
“Shit,” I cursed, my heart flip-flopping in my chest.
“What?” Ryan asked, straightening up in his chair.
“My ring,” I replied, patting my pockets like it would be in there. Fat chance. “It’s gone.”
Ryan watched me as I began to have a full-on meltdown. It was a twenty-thousand-dollar ring. Diamonds, rose gold, the works. It was motherfucking Tiffany & Co! Trying to remember the last time I’d seen it, I couldn’t pinpoint it.
“When was the last time you saw it?” he asked, watching me closely.
“I was at work on Monday, I took it off…but I put it back on.” I flapped my hands, fanning my face.
It must’ve dropped off someplace. Scraping the chair back, I pushed into the bathroom and dumped out the contents of my makeup case. Placing everything back inside, one by one, I soon saw it wasn’t there. Getting down on my hands and knees, I searched the floor under Ryan’s sopping wet towels but still came up empty handed.
Rushing out into the lounge room, Ryan watched me with a scowl as I upended my suitcase and shook out every item of clothing, even flapping my underwear all over the place.
“It’s not here… It’s not anywhere…” I was becoming hysterical, my head spinning.
“Jade, settle down. I’m sure you’ll find it.”
“You don’t understand…” I cried, on the verge of tears.
We’d been a million places. It could’ve fallen off anywhere. Over the edge of a hot air balloon, for instance. Fuck, it could be in the stomach of a giraffe for all I knew. It had probably been stewing in its stomach acid, then went on a gondola ride through its bowel, glided through its intestines before passing through its giant asshole. My diamond Tiffany ring was probably lying in a big steaming pile of giraffe shit right now.
“Yeah, looks like I don’t,” Ryan shot at me. “It’s a fucking engagement ring that asshole gave to you.”
I stared up at him from the middle of my pile of clothes. “What the fuck?”
“I know it hasn’t been very long, Jade, but the way you’re acting…” He shook his head, his scowl intensifying. “I’m beginning to think you’re gearing up for a boomerang maneuver.”
“A what?”
“It was the same all through high school, you know. One minute, you were on, the next, you were off. It’s only a matter of time before the circle completes itself again.”
My mouth fell open, and I rose to my feet, my hands balling into tight fists.
“You take that back!” I shouted. “This isn’t the same! We weren’t broken up when I found him with that woman! He was the one who cheated! I saw him, Ryan! I saw him fucking her!”
Ryan didn’t break eye contact when he said, “You’re broken up now.”
“We are! And this time it’s for good!”
His lip curled, and he nodded toward the chaos I’d created in my search. “Then why do you care so much about his ring?”
