fountain pen and a Walker lamp, both of which I recognized from the school store. “This is from everyone here,” J.J. said, his voice turning formal. “To thank you for two decades of diligent service.”
“Two decades?” I said. “It hasn’t been that long.”
J.J. reminded me of the volunteer work I had done as a kid, detailing some of the more mundane tasks. I smiled, as Roxann Moody, our equipment manager, cupped her hand around her mouth and yelled, “Speech! Speech!”
Flanked by Lucy and Ryan, I bit the bullet and thanked everyone for coming, telling them how much I appreciated the gifts, then giving a special thanks to J.J. and Mary Ann, followed by a reminder that I’d still see everyone often. I closed by raising my glass and saying, “Go Broncos.” Everyone clapped and whistled, and I thought I was in the clear. But then Ryan quieted the crowd again and said, “I’d like to say something.”
I had no idea what he had up his sleeve, but I thought of what Coach had told me in the driveway. He definitely knew his former quarterback well. The room was absolutely silent, pure adoration on everyone’s face as Ryan continued. “I’d like to thank J.J. and Mary Ann as well for including me tonight,” he said, expertly pausing. “As always, it’s great to be back home, especially now that I’m with Shea. I just wanted to thank her for being the girl she is. And all of you for being so good to her. It makes me proud as hell to be a Bronco.”
Everyone swooned while I sweated, fanning myself with my hand, making desperate eye contact with Lucy, who knew exactly what I was thinking. Make it all end. Then, just when I thought it couldn’t get more uncomfortable, Ryan reached into his pocket and handed me a small wrapped box.
“Open it!” Lucy demanded, and I knew there was no stopping the tide now, so I tore off the wrapping paper as quickly as I could, discovering a gray velvet box, the kind that houses expensive jewelry. Holding my breath, I opened the hinged lid, the room now completely silent as we all gazed down at two huge sparkling diamond studs.
“Congratulations, Shea,” he said, a cue for feverish applause and a few whistles.
“Holy shit,” Lucy gasped.
“These are … way too much,” I said to Ryan.
He shook his head. “No. They’re not.”
“Put them on,” Lucy said.
I froze. All I wanted to do was give them back to Ryan, but I knew that wasn’t an option, at least not now, so I took off my ordinary gold hoops and replaced them with the only real diamonds I’d ever owned.
Speechless, I looked at Ryan and shook my head, while everyone kept grinning and gawking. At me, at him, at the huge rocks now adorning my lobes. I made myself smile, trying to piece together how this had happened, how we got to this so fast, from sex to jealousy to diamonds.
I reached up to touch one of the stones, almost hoping that they weren’t real. Or maybe they were real, but Ryan was so wealthy that it was like a regular guy giving a girl flowers. Then again, maybe things really were getting serious.
Whatever was happening, I had no idea what to say or how to act or, most important, how to extricate myself from the spotlight. So I just kept my eyes down, staring at Coach’s framed article lying on the coffee table, and his sloppy, half-printed, half-cursive message: We love you, too, girl.
That night, I tried to give back the earrings. Ryan refused, then got agitated. “They were a gift,” he said. “Do you always try to return gifts?”
“They’re too expensive,” I said for the third time.
“Not for me,” he said. “I can afford them.”
“But—”
He cut me off with a kiss and said, “Seriously, Shea. You’re going to piss me off if you keep this up. I bought them for you. I want you to have them. Now shut up.”
“Okay,” I said, nodding and kissing him back. Then I pulled my hair into a makeshift bun, turning my head from side to side. “How do they look?”
“Gorgeous,” he said. “Like you.”
“So are we really together … like this?” I blurted out.
“Like what?”
“Like diamond-stud-earring together?”
He laughed and said, “It’s looking that way, yeah.”
“Don’t you think it feels … fast?” I said.
“Yeah. A little,” he said, which made me feel better. At least he wasn’t pretending that this pace was normal. “But if you