“Yes, ma’am. I was thinking a heart necklace,” he said.
“Sold the last one a few minutes ago. This year, folks are going in for infinity symbols more than hearts, so we didn’t order many of those. Want to see what we’ve got left?”
“Yes, thank you. Yellow gold.”
“That limits it. White gold is still the rage with the young girls. Yellow gold hasn’t been in vogue in years. In my opinion, it’s far classier. We have one double infinity bracelet in yellow gold. It’s all the way to the end of the display case beside the collection of antique rings we just got from an estate sale.” She motioned for him to follow her.
She brought out the bracelet, and he nodded.
“I like that better than hearts. I’ll take it.”
“Wrapped? We have some lovely red-rose wrapping paper.”
“Yes, but nothing with roses,” he said.
“Pink hearts?” she asked.
“Or yellow daisies,” he answered.
“For Valentine’s? We do have some yellow daisy paper that we got for Easter, but…” She paused.
“That’s what I’d like.”
“Be right back then,” she said.
He leaned on the counter and looked inside at display after display of diamond rings. It was way too early to think about that, but he wondered what Jill would choose. Then his eye settled on the small black velvet ring case with the antique rings. Six in all, and every one of them yellow gold.
The last one in the case was Jill. No doubt about it. That was what she’d choose, and it wouldn’t be just an engagement ring. It would be her wedding band as well. One emerald, half the size of a dime, graced the middle. Diamonds were scattered in the open scrollwork around it. The stone was the color of her eyes; the diamonds the twinkle in them when she was happy.
“Gorgeous, isn’t it?” The clerk set his wrapped present in front of him. “Cash or credit card?”
“Can I look at that ring?” he asked.
“The diamond one in the middle?”
“No, the emerald,” he said.
“It has a story behind it,” she said.
Remembering what Jill had said about liking things with a story behind them brought a smile to his face. “Written down?”
“No, just what the folks told my boss when he bought the rings. That one was the only one they knew much about. It was given to a lady in 1880 as a betrothal ring. She and her husband were married fifty years before he died, and although she was elderly, she was still healthy. Three days after he died, she joined him. They said it was from a broken heart. Her son inherited the jewelry and gave that particular ring to his grown son to give to his fiancée. They were married sixty years when she died, and he lived only a few days afterward. It was put in a lockbox and sold last week at a jewelry auction.”
“Third’s the charm.” He held the ring up to catch the light.
“I could hold it for you if you’d like to buy it,” she said.
“Thank you, but not now,” he said.
She put the ring back in the case and rang up the price of the bracelet. He handed her his credit card and started out of the store, but he couldn’t push the glass door open. His feet were glued to the welcome mat, and he couldn’t get the ring out of his mind or the voice that kept reminding him that he’d never find another one like it.
“Have you changed your mind about the bracelet?” the clerk asked.
“No, about the ring. I’ll take it. If you’ll put it in a box, I’d appreciate it, but I don’t need it wrapped,” he said.
* * *
At five minutes to opening, they finished getting the bar ready for a proper Valentine’s Day party. No one who brought their sweetheart out for the evening to the Burnt Boot Bar and Grill would be disappointed in the setting now. Heart-shaped paper coasters circled jar candles burning brightly in the middle of each table. The jukebox sported a huge foldout heart taped securely to the front and had already been filled with enough money to play all night.
Standing behind the bar and taking one more look, Jill nodded at Sawyer. “Turn off the lights except the ones behind the bar. I’m opening the chute. And look at who’s first.”
“I asked Callie where she wanted to go, and she said here,” Finn said. “We’ll need two cheeseburger baskets, two pitchers of beer, two red cups, and we’re going to claim a table. The parking lot is full. We’re lucky we got in first.”
In ten minutes there wasn’t a table to be begged, borrowed, or stolen. The bar stools were full, and folks milled about in tight little groups, waiting for their names to be called to pick up their beer and food.
Sawyer only had time to look up from the grill when he put baskets of food on the worktable. Cheeseburgers had red toothpicks. Hamburgers had pink ones. Jill yelled out names and filled pitchers as fast as she could.
Betsy showed up at seven thirty, with Tyrell right behind her. “Wow, Sawyer, you did this up really neat. I never thought this old run-down bar could look like a New York City nightclub.”
“Just needs a strobe light,” Tyrell said.
“It wasn’t all my doin’. Jill and I worked together on it,” Sawyer said.
Jill and Sawyer were swamped behind the bar until Callie and Finn took pity on them and pushed their way back behind the bar to help.
“Give me that list of folks waiting for food. I’ll call out names and take care of getting the money to the cash register,” Callie said.
“This is your night out,” Sawyer argued.
“And y’all are family. We’ll have fun,” Callie said.
“You two are lifesavers. We were about to drown,” Jill said.
“This is a huge crowd.” Callie went to work, drawing beer and putting empty pitchers into the dishwasher.
Finn pulled a white apron over his neck, wrapped the ties around his waist, and tied them in front. “I’ll help with cookin’, if you ladies can man the bar.”
“We can do that.” Callie was already busy pulling beer handles two at a time.
“No trouble with the feud this evening, I take it,” Finn said.
“There’s not room for them to feud. The dance floor is full, people are sitting in each other’s laps, and some folks are eating standing up,” Sawyer said.
“Romantic, ain’t it?” Jill laughed.
They thought things had slowed down fifteen minutes before midnight, but Betsy Gallagher yelled that she wanted ten burger baskets to go. “We’re takin’ the party to the river. You want to join us, Sawyer?”
“No, thank you.”
Tyrell pulled two cases of beer out from the refrigerated section at the end of the bar where Polly kept milk, beer, and juice. “Put this on Betsy’s bill. Is it buy one of these, get the other one free, Callie?”
“Not in your wildest dreams,” Callie said.
“Add a bottle of Jack Daniel’s to that bill.” Betsy handed Callie two bills. “I need to drown my sorrows over that long, tall cowboy. Seems I can’t entice him with anything, so I’ll have to move on and find another one. He’ll never know what he missed.”
“Truth is,” Callie said above the noise, “I think maybe he hasn’t missed anything at all. Good luck findin’ another one.”
“Poor old Rhett. Betsy is liable to set her cap for him next.” Jill laughed softly.
“We’ll have to warn him.” Sawyer finished the burgers at two minutes until the hour and turned off the grill.
“We’re not cleaning up tonight,” Jill said. “I’ll call Aunt Polly’s cleaning lady, and she can take care of all this Monday morning. I’ll put all the money and the register log in the bank bag. We’ll shove it in the safe and count it later too.”
Sawyer nodded. “Sounds good to me. And, Finn, you really saved my ass tonight. I couldn’t have kept up without you.”
Finn laid a hand on Sawyer’s shoulder. “It was fun, but don’t call me to do this every February. This bar stuff is hard work.”
Callie removed her apron and hugged Jill. “Women who work together on Valentine’s will be related by the next Valentine’s.”