Mid Life Love: At Last (Mid Life Love #2)(26)

I sat still at my desk—stunned. Angry. Annoyed. I couldn’t believe her ex-husband’s nerve after all this time, couldn’t believe he would even attempt to contact Claire—my Claire.

I was about to cancel all my meetings for the day and go down to Corey’s office to do another round of investigating, but the special ringtone I had for Claire began to sound.

I pulled out my phone and read her text message: “I still can’t believe that you send me flowers EVERY. SINGLE. DAY! You are completely over the top, but I enjoy every second of it. The bouquets you sent today are absolutely amazing and I LOVE them. I love you so much, Jonathan...Your last, Claire. :-)”

And just like that, my blood temperature began to cool and the ache in my chest slowly gave way.

I’ll deal with Ryan later...

“How about this one?” Corey held a mannequin’s hand in front of me, slowly waving it so I could see how the diamonds sparkled in the light.

We were standing in the only jewelry store I trusted—Valenti’s, and the store owner had shut it down so I could shop for Claire’s wedding band in private.

I slipped the ring off the plastic finger and held it in front of my face, shaking my head. “Claire wouldn’t like it.”

“Any woman would appreciate a band with rare pink diamonds—any woman. Trust me, I’ve been with enough of them to know.” He smiled.

“Speaking of any woman, didn’t you mention a threesome recently? It was with two actresses, right? You never told me if it worked in your favor or not.”

“Couldn’t do it...” He shrugged. “Wait a minute. Why are you getting Claire another diamond ring? Her engagement ring is already eighteen carats. Isn’t that enough?”

“I want to do something special for her since she’s doing something special with mine.”

“Right.” He rolled his eyes. “I should’ve known that you would end up proposing. You were a goner the minute you told me about her.”

“That’s not true.”

“Of course it isn’t. You’ve always called me at one o’ clock in the morning to tell me about some random woman you saw at a party, some woman you’ve never even spoken to. And you’ve always made me track her down four hours later.”

“It was six hours later.”

“That makes it far less stalkerish doesn’t it?” He pulled out his phone. “When exactly is the wedding? I need to make sure I don’t make any plans that week.”

“We haven’t set the date yet.” I spotted two diamond bands in the case that spoke to me; separately they were appealing, but together they could be stunning.

As if he’d read my mind, he picked up the two rings and placed them on another mannequin’s finger. “You’re getting married in less than three months and you haven’t set the date yet? You had the IPO ball planned six months in advance and you didn’t even want to go.”

“We’re meeting with the wedding planner next week.”

He raised his eyebrow but he didn’t say anything.

“Is everything alright, Mr. Statham? Mr. Walters?” The store owner walked over to us. “Have you found something that you like?”

I slid the plastic hand across the counter. “I want the ring to be a mix of these two designs—not welded together though, it’ll be too thick. And I want the same engravings that we discussed before.”

“Of course, Mr. Statham. This should be easy.”

“Shit, I’ve got to go...” Corey’s eyes widened as he looked at his phone and started walking backwards. “Firewall breach for the second time today. I’ll call you later.”

I watched as the guards let him out of the store before refocusing my attention on the rings.

“What were you saying, Miss Valenti?”

“That this should be an easy fix, but it’s going to take me at least two to three weeks to perfect it—That’s a lot of tiny diamonds and they need time to set. But as usual, your engraved messages to Claire make me cry.” She smiled. “She’s very lucky to have you.”

“Since you’re designing my ring with her, will my band match hers?”

She raised her eyebrow. “What?”

“Will my band match hers?”

She slid her glasses down from her forehead and pulled out her sTablet, scrolling down the screen. “It might match yours, but since she hasn’t asked me to design it...I’m not sure.”

What? “She didn’t book a session with you?”

She shook her head and showed me the tablet. “You’re my best customer. I always push your appointments to the top of the list. My staff knows that Miss Gracen is to receive the same treatment. She’s never called me. Ever.”

I narrowed my eyes at the screen—hoping that her vision was the problem and that Claire had indeed scheduled an appointment like she promised to, but there was nothing there. All the purchases and appointments were things I’d made: the Harry Winston bracelet, the anchor necklace, the vintage charm necklace and matching ring, the engagement ring, various things for Caroline and Ashley, and now this—her wedding band.

“She may be using someone else, Mr. Statham.” She offered.

She doesn’t ‘know’ anyone else...