“The funny thing is,” Ezra said slow, twirling a simple gold band on a chain between his hands. “I found her wedding ring in my coffee cup at a café we’d never visited together.”
His sister smiled from the perch on her barstool, catlike in her satisfaction. “Grams.”
“Yep.” He gave Sophia sad eyes and dangled the ring from its chain. It bobbed, gleaming, above the amber liquid in a heavy glass. “Grams. She popped in, dropped it in the cup, and asked what I was waiting for. It was her seal of approval.”
She leaned forward. “It matches yours. I never noticed.”
“I never figured out how Grams found me. I’d gone there to think, someplace different, to think it over and make sure Aliss was really the one.”
She thought he’d ignored her comment, but he continued after a too-careful sip of whiskey that belied how much he’d already had.
“However she found me, she had Gramps’ ring handy as well. That’s what she wore around her neck after he passed.” He swallowed, hard, and clenched the chain between white-knuckled fingers. “On this chain.”
Ezra drained the glass, then snapped his wrist. Glass shattered against the wall. Shards twinkled under the family bar’s string of fairy lights.
She found herself with a hand outstretched and absolutely no idea to say as he mangled her fingers.
His words were a whisper. “And now I’ve lost all three of them.”
***
Thanks to Parrish Baker for the prompt! He found her wedding ring in his coffee cup at a café they’d never visited together.
My prompt went to Leigh Kimmel: “It’s only an invasion if you don’t want to be inundated with puppies.”
Want to play along or read more? Head on over to More Odds Than Ends – and don’t forget to send in your prompt submission!
