The Ring

She laughed, and dragged me in to see Matt. It was nice that she never left me out. She always tried to make some effort to make me get to know her boyfriends, instead of letting me feel left out. Of course, look what happened with Tom! Well, maybe that was just meant to be. Time would tell.

Tom and I have started dating, and even though it is too early to know for sure, it seems very right. But we both intend to move slowly. Although I do not understand all his complexities, and will probably never understand them completely, he just seems right for me, and I for him.

I am so glad that Colleen understands. She seems to be happy with her new man, and I hope it works out for her. And if it's meant to be, it will.

"I did something, and I hope you won't be mad about it," Colleen said as we entered the store. "But I really think it's great. It's so exciting!"

I was puzzled. We did that to each other sometimes-rambled on without explaining ourselves.

Sometimes I could read her mind. This time, I could only stare at her blankly.

"You know it's real, don't you?" she remarked.

"What!" I exclaimed, not sure whether to be confused or excited. Was she talking about the ring, or something else?

"Well, you know Matt does this for a livinglooking at jewels," she said, waving an arm at the store, as if to remind me of all the jewelry so carefully laid out. "You know, though, all this time, you've been doing all this work...saving the house, and bringing that couple back together. I thought to myself...something good has to happen to you. So, I was kind of curious, wondering, what if that ring was really something special, and no one really knew it. But, who I am to know? I couldn't tell cubic Zirconium from diamonds. But, Matt noticed it right away. Don't you recall him commenting that he didn't think you should be wearing a nice ring like that around your neck?"