Page 71 of The Diamond in the Rough

To… be aware of them and somehowalsobe aware of what was around me in the world.

I had the feeling it wasn’t going to be an easy thing to do—that it was going to be messier before it got better.

But, for the first time in a very, very,verylong time, I was actually looking forward to where this might eventually take me.

I had no idea how rocky the road there would be.

13

While she did love jewelry,she wished Simon were home more often rather than buy her jewelry. He knew that her tastes—guilty as that made her feel—ran to the flashier, chunkier pieces. Statement jewelry, her mother had always called it.

She lifted the top off the box, dark blue and a soft, leather-like feel, and sucked in a breath. Pearls, in several different colors and about three sizes, interspersed with gold charms shaped like seashells. She felt her lips curve into a smile.

Simon knew her so well.

I pulledmy focus away from the box and handed it back to Raj with a shake of my head. “This one’s for a different necklace,” I told him. “Pearls and gold charms.” Hart and Raj had come in to Beyond the Veil with a small stack of jewelry cases and boxes, wanting to know if I could get more off of one of the cases than I’d gotten off the necklace itself. I’d just touched the first one Raj had handed me.

Raj blinked. “That was quick,” he remarked.

I raised both eyebrows in question.

“No fucking shit,” Hart said from my other side, and I turned to look at him. “It was, what, like a week ago you were puking in a bucket after spending like ten minutes in la-la-land, and you just did that in about ten fucking seconds.”

“How very eloquent,” Raj muttered, and even I—who am not the best at detecting tone at the best of times—could tell he was being sarcastic.

I blinked. “Oh,” was all I managed to say. Hart wasn’t wrong—although it had been a month since the incident he mentioned rather than a week.

“It’s… surprising how you’ve developed your skills,” Raj said softly, his voice gentle. “And impressive.”

I felt my cheeks flush. “I—thank you.” I wasn’t really sure what else to say. I held out my hand for the second box, and Raj handed it to me.

She smiledas she pushed the Christmas tree wrapping paper from the box. Of course Simon had gotten her jewelry—he always did. Christmas, birthdays, their anniversary… and sometimes just because.

“I wanted to get you something suitable for a senator’s wife,” he said, smiling at her.

She couldn’t help laughing a little. “You only just announced your candidacy,” she reminded him.

“I know, but I like to be optimistic.” He grinned.

She loved his smile.

She opened the box, hinged black velvet that made that distinctive soft creak of expensive jewelry boxes. She let out a long breath upon seeing the very large single sapphire set in a heavy white gold filigree setting.

I cameout of the memory, shaking my head. “No, not that one, either. It had a sapphire necklace.”

I held out my hand again.

“You sure?” Raj asked me.

“Yes.”

She ranher fingers over the red velvet of the box, a small, melancholy smile slipped over her mouth. She’d rather have Simon than jewelry.

She opened the box, gasping a little at the necklace inside—it was far more expensive than the other pieces he’d gotten her, not that those had been cheap. A diamond that was bigger than it had any right to be. And, around it, emeralds, opals, and rubies, all set in gold.

She was almost afraid to touch it, it was so beautiful.

She lifted it out, looking for the note Simon always wrote—but there was no small piece of folded paper under the necklace, and nothing tucked behind the display pad, either. There had only been the card tucked under the bow, a simple white card that bore the name ‘Capital City Jewelers’ and the typed message, ‘With love.’