Page 38

Story: Ill Will

He smiled. “Exactly.”
I blew out a breath.
“By the way, you’ll need to get used to referring to yourself as mywife. Not my fake one. We have to make sure it looks real.”
“And what does that entail?”
“Spending time together.”
“You could ignore me.”
“I won’t do that.”
“So this means I have to deal with you all the time? Great.” I rolled my eyes, wondering if sarcasm would get me out of this odd dream I’d found myself in.
“You’ll adjust.”
I bit my lip. That was exactly what I was afraid of.
We rode in silence the rest of the way to the jewelry store. I expected to go to a big chain and get the cheapest sparkly thing we could find.
But when we pulled up to a jeweler in the fanciest part of town, I realized I’d miscalculated.
“Levi?” I asked slowly. “Why are we here?”
“To find a ring.”
“What about something middle of the line? Fancy, but not so fancy that I’d have to sell my soul to get it.”
“You keep forgetting that money buys things.”
“Money that I don’t have. So for me, it would be either selling my soul or my body.”
With a laugh, he got out of the car and once again opened the door for me.
“I have functioning arms, you know.”
“And yet I’ll still open the door for you.”
Damn it. That was such a good line that I didn’t have anything to say back.
He was too good at this.
The rings inside were worth more than Gram’s and my life savings, if I had to guess.
They didn’t have a price, but the number of glittery diamonds told me they couldn’t be cheap.
I was careful to avoid any vases that I could knock over and put me in a lifetime of debt.
Some of the diamonds were so big one could skate on them and were attached to a white-gold ring. It hurt if I looked at them for too long.
I didn’t realize Levi had been talking to an employee until both of them were looking at me expectantly.
“I’m sorry, what did you say?” I asked.
“What’s your style, hun?” the saleswoman asked.
That was a loaded question. My style was fickle, brought in by either the season or whatever mood I was in. Sometimes, I had a floral phase that lasted for weeks. Other times, I lived in leggings and T-shirts until the inspiration to dress nicer hit me.

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