the door with me. Ares picks up a pencil from the dinette table and gets closer to the box. “Are you sure this isn’t your mom’s box? What’s different?” Ares questions, taking measured steps near the box.
Wringing my hands together, I watch as he uses the pencil eraser to open the lid of the box. “I know it’s not the same box. Hers was round with a little gold bow painted on top. Is there anything inside?”
The lid swings back on tiny gold hinges, but I can’t see inside. Ares’s shoulders fall and he turns to face us. “It’s empty.”
I take a few steps toward him and look around him. It’s not that I doubt him, but how could a small marble box be causing this feeling of dread in me? Dante wraps his hand around my fingers. I look back at him, and there’s a small part of me that wants to shun his comforting touch, but a bigger part of me wants to grab onto him with both hands and not let go.
Keeping my hand in his, I make my way over to Ares where he stands to the side so I can get a better look. True enough, the box is empty. The smooth bottom is lined with thin grey veins, the fake marble giving off an iridescent sheen.
“You said your mom had a box like this. Where is it?” Ares asks after giving me a few seconds to look over the trinket. There’s no way I’m touching it though.
“I think it’s in the bathroom or maybe my room. I can’t remember if I put it away or not after I took it from her hiding spot.” Glad to have a reason to get away from the box, I turn and head into the minuscule bathroom. I have to lie on the floor halfway into the hall so I can check the underside of the sink cabinet. Mom’s box isn’t wedged back into the usual spot. Getting to my feet, I slide the thin curtain aside so I can see the bedroom area. I glance around the room quickly, there isn’t much to see other than a few odd pieces of clothing that I never took, still piled on the bed, and a couple sheets of loose paper. Dismissing all that, I head over to the built-in shelves and drawer. This is the only other place I would have put it. Digging into the back of the drawer I feel around expecting to find it. Eventually I pull the entire drawer out, there isn’t any box, just a few mismatched socks.
Spinning, I pull the covers off the bed and turn the pillows over. I close my eyes, thinking back to the moment I took the box out from under the cabinet. I remember thinking if the ring was gone, then so was she. Asking myself how long it had been gone. But I don’t remember what I did with it later. Did I put it away or leave it lying on the bed, the counter?
I search through the room, coming up empty-handed. “I can’t find it,” I finally admit.
Dante has been helping me sort through everything, and he drops the blanket back on the bed, bracing his hands on his hips. “When was the last time you remember seeing it?”
Dropping to the bed in defeat, I mumble, “Right after Mom left, a day or so later. She kept a ring in there. I secretly always thought it was from my dad. She loved that ring, but it was gone, so I figured she took it with her. No one else would have known where to look, she’d stopped wearing it years ago and hid it under the sink.”
Dante sits next to me, his thigh touching mine. His nearness reminding me that nothing between us has been resolved. “Why did you kiss her?” I surprise myself when the question comes out. Dante peeks down at me, his face already in a grimace.
His eyes dart away from mine almost immediately. “I didn’t kiss her,” he says with little conviction. “She kissed me.”
I scoff. “Does it really matter at this point who initiated it? You kissed. Why?”
Dante hangs his hands between his thighs and sighs. “I turned to look up when the principal came into the room. I saw the photographer come in behind him. As soon as he made the announcement, Delaney…”
I growl when I hear him utter her name, Dante looks over at me and his mouth droops