Page 44 of The Four Engagement Rings of Sybil Rain

THE FOURTH RING…THE FIRST TIME

I T FEELS STRANGE TO SAY, BUT I DON’T ACTUALLY REMEMBER THE VERY first time I met Jamie.

He was friends with some of Nikki’s friends, and apparently when I first moved out to LA, we found ourselves at some of the same parties.

But the first time I took note of Jamie, the first time I had an inkling of just how important he would become to me, was at an art gallery in Downtown Los Angeles.

It was a few months after Tokyo, and Sebastian and I had broken up, officially, for the last time.

Still, that itch to text him was constantly niggling beneath my skin.

I knew I was playing with fire, trying to maintain a friendship with him, but I couldn’t help myself.

I kept looking for excuses to reach out just so I could feel the thrill and terror of sending off a text and waiting for a response.

Sometimes, he’d get back to me in seconds.

Other times, hours would go by. Sometimes, he wouldn’t respond at all.

One night, when I was finally starting to emerge from the rot-in-bed phase of my heartbreak, my friend Chloe had her first solo show.

Normally, I would’ve dragged Nikki along with me, but she’d been cloistered away for her first season of LovedBy .

So, I’d gone to the gallery by myself. It felt good to be out in the world again.

The crisp white walls held a dozen of Chloe’s paintings, each a different arrangement of bright, juicy jewel tones splashed across a wet canvas.

After taking a heavy pour of free champagne, I came to a stop in front of one with gentle swashes of marigold and periwinkle and one ominous splotch of bloodred that cut through the prettiness of the colors.

A deep voice came from beside me. “You’re Sybil, right?”

He looked familiar. Tall and rangy and handsome in a way that most men in LA weren’t, but I couldn’t place him, so I decided to bluff my way through. “Right! And you’re… Tim?”

“Jamie,” he corrected, but he didn’t seem upset. “I have some mutual friends with your friend Nikki.”

The realization of who he was clicked into place. I had seen him at a few parties, but I’d been so tangled up about Sebastian, other men hadn’t really registered for me. “I was so close to saying ‘Jamie.’”

“Were you?” He smiled down at me in genuine curiosity.

“Absolutely. It was my next guess.”

I expected him to come at me with a line— come here often?

—but he just turned back to the painting.

I wasn’t sure if I should fill the silence, but Jamie seemed content just to stand beside me and look at the piece.

With most art, I usually felt a zing of recognition immediately or not at all.

I hadn’t felt that initial sizzle with this painting, but still, something about it made me want to keep standing here.

Like maybe if I took my time, gave it a second look, I’d uncover something magical about it I’d missed at first glance.

I took another sip of champagne and let my eyes rove over the painting.

The rhythm of the pigments exploding across the canvas tugged at something within me.

I stood beside Jamie, letting the tendril of sensation dig deeper until I felt the work unfurling.

“It’s really quite lovely,” I said softly.

“It really is,” Jamie agreed quietly, not taking his eyes from the piece. I pulled my attention away from the painting and let myself look at him, feeling another tendril begin to work itself through my chest. But before it could grow any further, a warm arm came around my shoulder.

Chloe, whose chic bob of straight black hair made me, with my pale blond frizz, look like a dandelion, pulled me into a hug. “Thanks for coming, Sybil.”

“I wouldn’t miss it. I’m so proud of you!

” I returned her hug. It was amazing to see all of my friends’ potential start to get realized.

Emma had just gotten a promotion at her design firm back in New York, Willow had eloped with her boyfriend the year before, and Nikki was going to be on national TV!

Chloe and I pulled apart, and I turned to introduce her to Jamie.

“Oh, this is your piece?” He gestured with his wine glass. “It reminds me of one my dentist has.”

I watched Chloe’s face shut down. “Gee, thanks,” she said tightly. “Sybil, I’ll catch you after, okay?” She gave my hand a quick squeeze and pivoted away from us to begin talking to someone else.

Jamie looked horrified as his eyes darted from me to the painting to Chloe’s disappearing back. “I feel like an ass. I meant— oh god .” He ran a hand down his face. “My dentist is a big collector.”

“You probably should have led with that.”

“Her piece reminded me of a Frankenthaler he has. God, why did I say that? I just… panicked.” He took another long pull of champagne.

“Chloe loves Frankenthaler. She’s definitely an influence. You should have just said that.”

“I know. I know.” He dragged his fingers through his hair. “I always get nervous talking to strangers.”

“I’m basically a stranger, and you don’t seem nervous with me,” I countered.

“Maybe you’re just special, Sybil Rain.” Something about the way he said my full name made me feel fizzy, like the champagne bubbles in our glasses.

Then Jamie’s smile grew wider as he added, “Plus, I’d hardly say we’re strangers.

Just last weekend at Lizzie’s twenty-fifth, you used my lap as a step stool to climb on the kitchen counter and perform that Sabrina Carpenter song. ”

“I did?”

“I don’t think you even noticed there was someone sitting in the chair.”

Clearly, I hadn’t. But Jamie didn’t seem offended, more just amused. “Chloe is a very sweet person,” I said, turning back to look at her painting, which Jamie had accidentally likened to dentist office art. “I’ll tell her what you meant to say, and that you were devastated to have offended her.”

Jamie downed the rest of his champagne in one go. “Thanks. You know, the nice thing about art is that it—usually—doesn’t talk back to you. So you don’t have to worry about sounding like an idiot.”

“A great cure for feeling like an idiot is more champagne.” Maybe it was that this was my first night out and about as a single person since Sebastian, or maybe it was the easiness I felt being around Jamie, but I had a sudden compulsive urge to keep the night going, to add a little excitement to it.

“Do you want to swipe a bottle of champagne and sneak up to the roof?”

He tilted his head like he wasn’t sure if I was being serious.

“Come on, live a little, Jamie…” I paused. I had no idea what his last name was.

“Kauffman,” he supplied.

“Thank you. So? What do you say?”

Now it was Jamie’s turn to hesitate. I took in his crisp blue suit, the briefcase in his left hand.

Clearly this guy had some kind of corporate job.

He was polished, clean-cut. A little awkward, in an adorable way.

Basically, he was the exact opposite of Sebastian.

There was no way this guy was going to jump on board with my spontaneous plan.

Sure enough, when Jamie spoke, he said, “Wouldn’t that be stealing? And, you know, trespassing?”

“Probably.” I shrugged.

A palpable silence descended upon us. I could just picture Jamie calling his friends on the way home, telling them about running into Nikki’s crazy friend, who used him as human furniture and then tried to get him to commit a felony.

I put down my empty champagne glass on a high-top table and made to leave. “Okay, well, I think I’m gonna—”

“Wait,” Jamie said suddenly, his hand shooting out to grab mine. His hand was warm and soft. “Come with me.”

I was so surprised, I let Jamie lead me toward the front door of the gallery, and nearly tripped when he stopped short a few feet shy of the entrance.

“Oh, sorry. Did you want to say bye to your friend?”

I shrugged. “I’ll text her.”

And with that, Jamie led me outside and over to a tall glass building a block away.

“So… you want to break into a totally different building?” I asked.

“You’ll see,” Jamie said, ushering me through the revolving door.

The lobby was empty except for a security guard sitting behind the desk who waved at us. “Burning the midnight oil again, Mr. Kauffman?”

“Just popping up to grab something, Henry.” The security guard, Henry, nodded and turned back to a crossword.

In the elevator, Jamie swiped his key card and pressed the button for the top floor.

The doors closed, wrapping us in that particular intimacy of being alone in an elevator with only one other person.

I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck prickle as we rode up the thirty-five floors in silence.

Should I say something? Ask him about his job—because clearly this was his office building that we were not-breaking into?

For his part, Jamie seemed completely at ease.

That bashful awkwardness he’d displayed at the art gallery was nowhere in sight.

When we reached the top floor, the elevator deposited us into a little corporate lobby, with the words The Kauffman Group in steel letters on the wall.

He swiped his key card to unlock the glass doors, and I followed him down a long hallway. “Give me one sec. You can wait in here.”

It was a large, extremely tidy office. The only thing on the desk beyond screens and a keyboard was a photo of an older woman with a dark brown bob beside a clearly recently graduated Jamie.

She was a good foot shorter than him, her arm wrapped proudly around his waist. I picked up the picture to get a closer look, noticing how the ruby and diamond of her ring matched Jamie’s cap and gown.

Then, Jamie was back. I put down the photo and met him in the hallway. He was holding a dark green champagne bottle in one hand and then moved over to a bar cart that I hadn’t noticed in the corner of the room, grabbing two wine glasses. “The roof is this way.”

He led me to the left, and we walked up a narrow, short flight of stairs.

The intimacy from the elevator settled around me again.

Jamie tripped a little on his way up the final step.

So maybe he wasn’t immune to the slight awkwardness of the situation after all.

“Whoopsie,” he muttered to himself, and then, seeming to realize that he’d just said this adorable thing out loud, he coughed and said, “Here we are.”

All of LA opened up before us. It was glorious. Far better than the view we would have gotten from the art gallery across the street, which was only two stories tall. The last rays of sun shimmered across the high-rises of downtown, and the lights from their windows were just beginning to twinkle.

“Wow. This is stunning. I bet you bring all the girls up here.” I said, stepping toward the edge of the roof.

Jamie barked out a laugh. “This is the first time I’ve been up here, outside of company parties.” Jamie came up beside me, setting the wine and glasses between us. “But I’m thrilled you think I have that kind of game. I guess it would be a good move. I’ll have to keep that in mind.”

His honesty was so refreshing. He wasn’t posturing like Liam used to do, or even playfully showing off like Sebastian. He was just himself.

“Okay, Mr. No-Game, if you’ve never brought a girl up here before, how come you just happen to have a bottle of champagne at the ready in your office?”

“What if I need to urgently celebrate a great fiscal quarter?” His eyes were playful.

“Or, you know, what if I need something to drown my sorrows when I’m working late on a Friday night?

Again.” He twisted the cork off with a small pop, pouring a glass for each of us.

“The truth is, I swiped it from my dad’s office.

He’s the one who keeps the good stuff on hand. ”

“Jamie Kauffman!” I let my face contort with mock outrage. “You are a thief after all!”

“I guess I am,” he said with a small smile, handing me a glass.

“So your dad works here too?” I asked, taking a sip of the champagne. The bubbles burst along my tongue. I was hardly a champagne expert, but even I could tell that it was remarkably better than what they’d been serving at Chloe’s show.

“Yeah, it’s kind of a family thing.”

“Are you guys close? I saw that photo of you and your mom on your desk.”

He cocked an eyebrow at me. “That’s not my mother. That’s my grandmother.”

“Okay, that’s even cuter.”

“She’s the greatest,” he agreed.

“I mean, seriously, you guys even had matching red-and-white outfits!” Jamie looked confused, so I clarified. “Her ring matched your graduation robes. What a cool piece of jewelry.”

Jamie smiled. “My grandfather gave her that ring. It’s called a ‘Toi et Moi.’”

“You and me,” I translated.

“Oui,” Jamie said with a flawless French accent that sent a zing straight to my lower belly.

“The ruby and diamond represented their birthstones,” he told me.

“My granddad died before I was born, but Grandma G tells me plenty of stories. They were one of those rare ‘opposites attract’ couples that actually worked.”

I sighed, leaning back and letting the warmth of Jamie’s affection for his grandparents wash over me. “It must be nice to work with your family.”

“It is. Usually.” Jamie turned toward me, one elbow still resting on the ledge of the building. His face was thoughtful and open.

Something in my chest blossomed, an unfurling.

I’d kept myself so tightly wrapped up since Sebastian, but it felt good to just open myself up to a new…

friend? Jamie turned back toward the view, his arm grazing mine, but neither of us moved away.

We lapsed back into silence, and I realized in that moment that I wanted him to kiss me.

“What are you thinking about?” I whispered with a slight toss of my hair. I was giving him the perfect excuse to lean in and show me what he was thinking about, like many a guy had done before.

But Jamie surprised me again. “How beautiful LA looks from up here. And how I never stop to appreciate it. I was thinking that I should look at the view more often.” He turned to look at me, and in his gaze, I just knew somewhere deep down that this was the start of something .

“Maybe I just need someone to remind me.”