Caleb 73 - Engaged
Sarah sat and stared at her ring in the car all the way back to the hotel. It was slightly too large for her but we could go get it resized easily enough. I knew where he'd bought it. I was also sure that they'd resize it without charge, not that that would be an issue if not.
"I don't understand," she said, eventually. "He got robbed. How did he still have the ring?"
"Do you really want to know?" I asked.
She nodded.
"He swallowed it," I said. "I took his memories of the attack. I think they followed him from the jewellers and they must have known he'd bought something. Maybe they were watching through the window. When he wouldn't give it to them, they attacked him. He swallowed it to keep it safe.
"I got it back for him," I added before she could start down the route of thinking it had had to go all the way through him. That might have kind of spoiled it for her, but I doubted it.
"You knew?" she said. I smiled at her.
"I saw it when I was scanning his body for injuries," I said. "I realised what must have happened, so I retrieved it, cleaned it, and gave it back to him."
"What about the box," she said. "Surely he can't have swallowed that too."
"That was on the floor in the parking lot. I spotted it and picked it up while we were waiting for the EMTs."
"So, you DID know!" she said, with a slightly accusatory tone in her voice.
"I suspected," I said. "Then when I retrieved the ring and gave it back to him, I promised I wouldn't spoil his surprise."
Sarah sighed happily and went back to examining her ring.
"It's beautiful," said Melanie.
"It's perfect," said Sarah, still smiling.
It was close to three thirty by the time we arrived back at the hotel. Once more I decided to forgo my morning exercise, although this was becoming a bit of a habit that I needed not to allow to take hold.
Instead, we all got up around seven thirty, giving us just enough time to get ready and head into campus to grab some breakfast in the cafeteria before we went to class. I arranged with Sarah that we would meet at lunchtime and take a quick trip to the jewellers to see about getting her ring resized. Despite her reluctance, I persuaded her to keep it in her bag rather than on her finger, as it could easily have slipped off and been lost.
I noticed on my phone that Danny had sent a text at around four thirty.
Β
_Arnie's out of surgery - everything went well. He's sleeping on the ward now. Thanks again.
I started my day with my usual hypnotherapy clients. I had to go to the range for the second since it was my singing star. When he came into the room, he looked pensive.
"I know you said three months," he said. "But my plans have changed, and we are starting a new tour sooner than we thought."
"Oh?" I said. "When?"
"Our first gig is weekend after next." he said, "But it's in Portland, so that's not the problem. We'll be leaving town directly after the Sunday night show."
"That's a whole month before you said," I told him pretending to be concerned. Obviously, I didn't care. I'd stopped his habit with the first session. I didn't want him to know that though.
"I know," he said. "Will that affect the results?"
"Well, how do you feel at the moment?" I asked.
"Truthfully," he said, "I've never felt better. I haven't even thought about using again since about the third session. Once I got rid of my dealer, it was just out of sight and out of mind. Obviously, I'll pay you the full fee. You really have helped me. If I could refer my friends to you without letting them know I'd had to use your services, you'd be inundated."
"Obviously I can't guarantee anything," I hedged, "but I think you'll be alright. It would be ideal for you to finish the course of treatment, but if you can't then we'll just have to do the best we can."
He nodded. "Okay then. We have three more sessions before I have to leave."
"We'll plan for that then," I said, getting ready to send him off to sleep."
"Oh, one more thing," he said before counting back. "I brought you some tickets for the show on Sunday. They include backstage passes." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a sheaf of tickets. "You said you had a big family?" he said handing me what looked to be about ten tickets.
"Not that big," I said to him.
"Then bring some friends," he smiled. "Can't have empty seats after all."
"Thank you," I said tucking the tickets away. I continued with the session.
Lunchtime came and I met up with Sarah in the parking lot by my truck. We drove to the parking lot where we'd found Arnie and from there walked to the jewellers on the corner of Yamill and 4
th
.
"Good afternoon," said a youngish man as we walked through the door. "How can I help you?"
Sarah handed over her ring. "My boyfriend bought this here yesterday. He said we could get it resized?"
The young man looked at the ring. "Ah yes," he said. "I remember. Let me get my gauges."
He walked over to a counter, opened a drawer, and pulled out a set of ring sizing gauges. "May I?" he asked holding out his hand. Sarah placed her hand in his, and he placed a sizing ring on her finger. His experience allowed him to get it right first time.
"How does that feel?" he asked. Sarah nodded and he looked at the size on the ring he'd used.
Then he placed the engagement ring onto a tapered rod, which told him the current size of the ring.
"We need to go down a half size," he said. "I can have it ready for you for tomorrow. The resize fee is included in the price of the ring."
"That would be great," Sarah said. "Thank you."
A receipt was issued, Sarah took it and placed it in her purse. We left the shop and I returned Sarah to the school for her afternoon classes.
I took a ride to the old house to see how things were getting on there. Marcia had built a fence around the entire plot and there were warning signs about entering and wearing protective gear. I went to the gate and looked through. Marcia spotted me immediately and jumped off the excavator she'd been driving. She walked over.
"Another couple of days," she said, "and this will all be finished. Any news on the plans?"
"We're meeting with the architect on Thursday," I said. "He's angling to project manage the build."
"Let him," she said. "It will be much better if he does it than me."