Page 27 of Acting on Instinct
Kira peered toward the back. “Is Nu’ma here today?”
“No, no. I am all alone until after lunch.” He turned to Ty. “My daughter has a dress rehearsal for her dance class.” He pulled out his phone. “Here, Kira, I show you Lateefa in her little outfit.” He extended his arm over the counter to hand the phone to Kira.
She looked down to see a picture of a tiny girl in a blackbird costume. The hat on her head had enormous googly eyes and a gold sequined beak.
“Such a cutie. Bye-bye, Black Bird?” Kira asked, handing the phone back while Ty walked from case to case, looking at the possibilities.
“Yes, this is the song.” Abdul grinned. “A very good guess.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that. I had a similar costume and the same song when I was about her age.”
“And you turned into a confident and graceful lady. Your parents did well to give you this gift.”
“Speaking of Lateefa, I brought her some chocolates and a thank-you note for the beautiful picture she drew for me.” Kira held up the little bag. “Would you tell her I said hi?”
“She’ll be sad she missed you.” Abdul set the bag down by the cash register. “You’re looking for a gift?”
She lifted her voice. “Ty, can you let Abdul know what you’re thinking about?”
“Kira suggested a ring as a birthday gift for my mom, perhaps in my birthstone.”
“He was born in November. Topaz?” she asked.
“Or citrine.” Abdul nodded.
“Yellows and oranges,” Kira sent a wrinkled brow Ty’s way. “I think that suits your mom’s wardrobe palette, don’t you?”
“I think so.”
“And her style?” Abdul asked.
“She likes retro. Mid-century or earlier,” Kira said.
“Say something from the thirties or forties?” Abdul bent over his ring case as he scanned.
“She likes those styles, yes,” Ty said, wandering over to stand next to Kira.
Rory twisted around behind Ty, sitting between Ty’s booted feet, facing the door, keeping watch over Ty’s six, as his tongue hung long. He panted. Stressed?
Was Rory picking up something from Ty?
Ty always said stress ran down the lead, so he always had to keep a check on his emotional energy. Maybe Ty thought the price tags in here were too steep?
“My budget is a hundred and fifty dollars,” Kira quoted the number Ty had mentioned to her on their way over. “Do you have anything at the price point?”
“I’m sure I do. I’ll have to look. Gold.” Abdul wagged a finger in the air. “Gold is up to five thousand dollars an ounce. So maybe something in 10 karats. I just bought jewelry from the estate, and I will look through the pieces. You have come before I began to remove the stones.”
“Why would you do that?” Kira asked.
“The gold for one. Also, this estate is mostly from the 1970s, which is a style that is not selling.”
“It’s popular in furniture,” Kira said while Ty turned his focus to the case of engagement rings.
Kira was afraid Ty would ask her what shaped stone she liked. She hoped Ty didn’t think that because she’d suggested a ring for his mother that she was hinting that she wanted that for herself, especially an engagement ring.
She also hoped Abdul wouldn’t jump to conclusions and ask her what she liked about the case.
“Last year,” Abdul said, “it was popular in furniture, and then it didn’t sell. Now other ideas are being seen in furniture. Fantasy furniture—like you would see in a hobbit’s hut, I think—is coming into designs I see. Dark, brooding. In jewelry, my wife says the seventies fashions were a mistake the first time, and they didn’t improve in retrospect. So I will remove the stones and melt the gold. Then I will design something new.”
