“Dude, this is for Daisy? You’re not going too hard with trying to win her over.”
“She doesn’t want me for my diamonds.”
“You have no diamonds.”
“Exactly. Besides, this has special meaning for us. Trust me. You think that place can do it? In like,” I checked the time on the phone, “Seventy-two hours or so? I can give him like another day or two if necessary.”
“Oh, jeez, can you? He’ll be overjoyed. Craftsmen need time, Osmond.” I named a figure, and Nick cleared his throat. “I bet he can work you into the schedule. Let me make a call.”
He hung up.
I waited for almost an hour, sitting in exactly that same spot. This idea was the cornerstone of my plan. Well, one of the cornerstones. The biggest one, since the plan was kind of flimsy.
My knowledge of romantic gestures sat at exactly zero. Cooper had given me a list of rom coms from his sister to watch, stuff with titles like chocolate in French. Supposedly, they would up my romance IQ.
She’d mentioned Daisy’s Pretty in Pink, but even the title scared me off that one. I’d tried Dirty Dancing, because dirty, and I knew Swayze was a good actor. But the dirty parts were moderate and there was far too much stuff about pickles on plates and putting Baby in a corner.
I still didn’t feel any more up on this crap, so, I was winging it. Maybe Daisy would want to watch some of those movies at a later time. I could probably tolerate them if I got to grope her during snack breaks.
He finally called back. “You’re in. Get over there in fifteen. Ask for Lance.” He rattled off an address.
I jumped up. “That’s crosstown from me. Do you know this city? Do you know how long it takes to get anywhere?”
“Better get moving. Also, thanks for being so generous. I get a ten percent commission. Good luck.” Yet again, he hung up without saying goodbye.
His wife did the same thing. No wonder they’d found each other.
I went into the kitchen. Sarah was paging through a magazine, looking bored senseless.
“Want to go on a recon mission?” It wasn’t, but I figured the term would make her happy.
She leaped up. “Sure. Wait, what kind of recon are you doing?”
“Well, not exactly any.” I tossed her the keys to Priscilla. I
couldn’t let her drive Jenny. That honor belonged solely to Daisy, when I wasn’t behind the wheel. But in this case, I was willing to test Sarah’s supposed super skills. “This is for Daisy.”
“Okay, I’m listening.”
I filled her in on the way over, once we’d yet again sneaked out of a side exit. The traffic took far more than fifteen minutes, as predicted, but Sarah’s skills truly were something to behold.
Once we arrived at the small, unobtrusive jewelry shop, I took a deep breath. “I’ll be out soon.”
I hoped.
The consultation took under fifteen minutes. Lance promised to have the piece couriered over to me by Monday, which was a couple days past when I’d hoped but still better than I probably deserved. I thanked him profusely and left the store to ask Sarah to drive me to a place where I was guaranteed to receive a much cooler reception.
Ever opened her apartment door and immediately started to shut it again. “No.”
“C’mon, Ever. Hear me out.”
“How do you know my sister isn’t here?”
“I don’t. I was hoping.”
“Hoping for which?”
I mopped my brow. I was actually sweating, and it wasn’t only from the ten flights of stairs I’d just run up to burn off some energy. “I want to see her. I need to. But not yet. Where is she?”