bed. It was a foggy San Francisco summer day, and she had promised her grandparents she would help them in the shop. She’d been doing that a lot since she’d finished school a few weeks before.
“No, this was my idea,” Zack said about the job he had in mind for her. “I’ll come over and tell you about it later.”
“I’m working in the shop today.”
“I have to get something and then I’ll come over.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” she said, and then they hung up, and she got up a little while later. They didn’t open the shop until eleven, and she was going to work with Tim Avery and a young woman who worked for them now too, and helped her grandmother with her decorating business. Her grandparents were taking the day off. They were going to a museum exhibit that her grandmother wanted to see.
Ruby was helping a customer who was interested in an English partner’s desk when Zack came in just before lunchtime. He sprawled in a chair and smiled at her, while she gave the customer all the details, and a photograph of the desk to think about and show her husband. She left and Ruby came over to talk to him. He was wearing a pair of ancient shorts and his new white high-top Converse. He looked excited, and she smiled at him.
“So what’s the job for me?”
“Easy. I should have thought of it before, but you had to graduate anyway.”
“Big company or start-up?” She looked intrigued.
“More the latter. You’re perfect for it. You’re brilliant, Ruby Moon. You can do anything. You understand everything I talk to you about.” He was smiling at her, and as he said it, he slipped down on one knee in his shorts and new high-top white Converse that made him look like a little kid, which he almost was anyway. He was twenty-four years old and looked about fifteen. “Will you marry me, Ruby?” he asked her, with a hopeful look as she stared at him in disbelief, looking irritated.
“Will you stop making fun of me. I thought you had a real job for me. That’s not funny. I need a job. I can’t live off my grandparents forever.”
“I’m serious,” he said, remaining on one knee in front of her, as Tim and his assistant watched them with interest, wondering what he was doing. Tim had been reading about Zack’s new windfall. The whole world had been. As he spoke, Zack pulled something out of the pocket of his baggy shorts that had had too many washings and were clean but faded and torn. He pulled out a small gray leather box with a white satin ribbon around it and handed it to her.
“What’s that?” She looked confused as she took it from him.
“It’s for you. Open it.” She pulled off the ribbon cautiously and opened the box, and an enormous round object sparkled at her with such vehemence that it almost blinded her.
“Holy crap, Zack, what is that?” He stood up then, took it out of the box, and put it on her finger.
“It’s an engagement ring, you dummy. Haven’t you ever seen one before?”
“Not like that.” She looked at him then and could see that he was serious, and her eyes opened even wider.
“I realized last night that I love you. You’re the most fantastic woman I’ve ever met, and I want to marry you. That’s the job I meant. I want you to be my wife. It’s full-time.” He grinned at her and she laughed. “And the ring is thirty carats by the way. It was the biggest one they had in the store. I thought bigger might be too showy, but they can get a bigger one if you want.” He talked about it like a skateboard, or a television he had bought for her. But he looked pleased when he saw it on her finger. She was staring at it. It looked like a headlight from someone’s car. She was wearing a denim skirt and a sweater, and he looked like he was going to the park to walk his dog. They looked like kids, as she stared at the incredible stone on her hand.
“Aren’t we too young to get married? I’m twenty-two and you’re twenty-four.”
“I love you, Ruby,” he said simply, and then he kissed her for the first time, as the two shopkeepers smiled, and Ruby smiled when he stopped.
“I love you too. I’ve always loved you, Zack. I thought we