Love Is Gone, So Am I novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: Who Kept It

The shop wasn't empty.

A young couple stood at the far end of the counter with a tray of wedding bands between them.

The girl had one on and was holding her hand out to look at it.

An old man in a fishing vest waited by the register for a watch battery.

All three of them turned to look at Celia.

People always did.

"Mrs. Merriam," I said. "You drove four hours."

"Davis's driver drove. I made calls." She pulled off the second glove. "I don't do scenes, Willa. Let's be civilized."

"You told me I was a placeholder over soup."

"I was being honest. I'm going to be honest again."

She looked past me at the case by the register.

At the navy velvet. At the ring.

Her eyes stopped on it.

"There it is," she said.

Vanessa took her sunglasses off and leaned over the glass.

"Oh, thank God. I thought she'd pawned it somewhere awful."

"She sold it," Avis said from her stool. "To me. I have the slip."

Celia turned to Avis for the first time. She looked at the white hair, the cardigan, the reading glasses, and decided Avis didn't count.

"Then I'll buy it from you," she said. "Whatever she got, I'll give you more. Sixty thousand dollars."

The girl at the end of the counter said, "Whoa," very softly.

Her fiancé elbowed her.

Gus put down the watch he'd been working on.

"It's not for sale," he said.

"Everything is for sale," Celia said. "That's what a shop is."

"Read the tag," I said.

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