Page 35 of Bronson
“Peter.” He smiles at her—a bigger grin than he gave me? He takes her hand.
Alice just stares up at him. Not letting go.
“Alice?”
“Oh! Sorry.” She quickly drops his hand.
Peter laughs. “No harm done.”
For one strange second, I’m wondering if those two should be the ones going on the date tonight.
A customer walks in. It’s Alice’s turn. “Sorry, Peter,” she says. “Back to work!”
“I should get back, too,” I say.
Peter leaves us with a quick goodbye. “See you tonight.”
Alice watches him walk away. “Nice one, Paige. He’s a cutie.” She goes to greet the couple at the counter.
As Alice leads them toward the engagement rings, something glitters near the edge of the counter.
A bracelet. Not one of ours.
It must belong to the woman who had been browsing before them—the one in the camel coat who spent twenty minutes complaining that nothing in the store looked expensive enough.
I pick it up. Diamonds circle the entire band, each stone catching the light. Real. Old. Probably worth more than I’ll earn in several years.
The familiar sensation awakens in my palms.
The itch.
Why?
Because Bronson isn’t out here, paying me attention? Because Alice acts more naturally with Peter than I do?
That emptiness starts creeping in, the dark hole inside me growing.
No one is watching. Alice is bent over a display. Bronson remains behind his closed office door. The bracelet would disappear into my pocket as easily as the butterfly disappeared into my purse.
My fingers close around it.
I picture the woman reaching home and discovering it missing. I tell myself she probably owns a dozen more. That her insurance will replace it. That someone like her won’t truly suffer.
The excuses arrive as quickly as ever.
But now Alice has a face. Bronson has a face.
And I can no longer pretend expensive things exist without people attached to them.
It’s wrong. So wrong.
I open my hand.
“Excuse me,” I call toward the door.
The woman in the camel coat turns from the sidewalk.
I hurry after her and hold up the bracelet. “You dropped this.”
