The second jewelry store had a line at the door.
Grim let his head hang down. He was ready to go to a pawn shop and try his luck there, but then he watched the direction of the line; it was heading to the Italian bakery across the street.
Good, he thought, and fought his way through the crowd into the jewelry store.
A woman and two men stood behind the counter. Three people were in the store, murmuring to each other and pointing things out. Grim walked the length of one counter when he heard the woman ask, “Help you find something?”
“Wedding rings,” he said. “Two men’s wedding rings.”
“Right on the other side.” She brought him down the counter, and across to the front counter, just behind the window. “How fancy do you want to go?”
His eye was caught by a gold band, with diamond chips set in a row above and one below it.
“Maybe like this one.”
“Oh, our Tennis Band. This is gold plated titanium, with a half-carat’s worth of diamonds.”
He shook his head. “Too fancy. He could lose the diamonds. Something simpler.”
“Black, Silver, Yellow gold, white gold, titanium – ?”
“Yellow gold.”
“If you want diamonds, here’s this,” she pulled out a gold band with three small diamonds in the middle set on the diagonal.
“Got that in with a single diamond?”
“Similar,” and she brought out a silver ring with a huge diamond in the middle. The band was thick, thinning on the inner part of the hand. Grim nodded. “Got that in yellow gold?”
“Let me check the inventory. If not, I’ll get it from one of the other stores. What size?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, bring your significant other and we can measure him when we get them in.”
“You don’t have to. I can make it fit.”
She went to a binder, flipped through the pages, then nodded. “One moment.” Grim looked at the other jewelry, and waited until she returned with a velvet box. “Is he bigger or smaller than you?” she asked.
“Smaller, but take my size. Like I said, I can make it fit.”
“If you have any trouble with it, we stand behind our items.” She opened the velvet box and inside were four rings similar to what he was looking at. She took out one, and took Grim’s hand, trying it on. It was too big.
“I’ll take it,” he said.
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.”
The woman took off a small sticker that was around it, and dropped it into a black velvet bag. “Let me get the price for you.” She took the velvet box away and did some entry into the computer. She put the box back in a vault against the wall, and picked up the invoice.
Grim almost went into shock at the price there. It took not only the money he had on him, but probably the money over the next year. “All I have on me is a thousand dollars.”
The woman looked coldly at him.
“Can’t we negotiate?”
“I can’t let this go at a thousand dollars.”
“I’ll get another five hundred.”
Again, that cold look. “You might want something a little simpler.” She pulled out a simple gold band.
“How much is that one?”
“A thousand dollars. Plus tax.”
He grumbled and pulled out all his money. The tax was five dollars short, but she let it go.
He was disappointed, but then, he could engrave what he wanted on it without fear of cracking the diamond. And maybe he’d get the other one next year.