“You said you wouldn’t interrupt!”
“Sorry.” My dad pantomimed zipping his lips.
“And then we went back to his place. He didn’t seem to think that I was a spy anymore. I met his brother, who is a huge cocaine addict, and I freaked out. We went home. When I woke up, he had an engagement ring.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that,” I said, confirming it. “I told you, I fell in love like a ton of bricks. It was as if I couldn’t imagine my life without him. I don’t know, Dad. It was the strangest thing, but it felt so right.”
I was still holding my ring.
“I know I have to send it back.”
“Is that the whole story?”
“No.” I sighed and looked out the window.
“I made our engagement conditional. I said that he had to meet my family before I really agreed to marry him, but he gave me the ring anyway.”
“You’re definitely sending it back. Now that he’s met your family, there’s no way that the two of you can get married. Hell, if I were really doing my job, I’d use your information to nab this guy.”
“I don’t think he knew who I was early on,” I protested. “He didn’t hurt me, even when he thought that I’d been sent to spy on him. Don’t go after him.”
My dad just shook his head.
“How about this? You go down to the DHL Store and I make some calls, okay?”
“Okay.”
I went to get my purse and walked to the nearest DHL Store.
When I got there, I headed straight for the free envelopes and a piece of paper. I used one of the DHL pens, the kind that are attached to the countertop. It only took a little while for me to send it back to Ecuador. I didn’t really know Emilio’s address, but I did know the nearest intersection. In Ecuador, the address system wasn’t as exact as the American one. Often, the best you could do was the nearest intersection, so it would have to be enough.
I nearly cried when I handed over my beautiful engagement ring. All of those dreams were gone. I felt like I had a hole in my heart, even though we’d known each other for such a short period.
Easy come, easy go.
Part II
Ring Return
Emilio
“Packa
ge for you, sir.”
I nodded in thanks before grabbing an envelope from my doorman. Most mail wasn’t sent directly to me.
I opened the envelope and then dropped it like it was on fire.
It was a DHL package that contained something I didn’t want at all.
Naelle’s engagement ring had fallen out of the envelope. It sat there, twinkling innocently on the ground, as if there weren’t a steel knife plunged into my heart at the sight of it here and now.
I sank to my knees. I stared at it. I couldn’t pick it up.
I couldn’t even breathe.