Deanna
I closed the card and turned the tiny piece of paper over. Deanna had actually taken the time to type up a voucher for her and me to do dinner and a movie, her treat. I leaned over and hugged her. She didn’t know it, but she was beginning to fill the void that Leslie left behind. “Thanks Deanna,” I whispered trying to control my emotions.
When I sat back, Angel was holding out AJ’s gift – the tiny silver bag. I looked up to find him smiling as I reached inside. My fingers grazed a smooth tiny box. When I removed it from the bag I felt my heart stop. Angel and Deanna both gasped aloud and seemed to have had the same reaction I did. The tiny box was light turquoise and tied with a white ribbon. The bold black lettering on top readTiffany & Co. I couldn’t even move my hands to open it right away. I fumbled with the ribbon and shoved it in the bag when I was finally able to remove it. I gently pulled the lid off and all three of us girls gasped again. Inside, on a white cushion rested a silver chain with a heart pendent attached.
I couldn’t even speak to thank AJ. Words escaped me at that moment. With my forefinger I traced the heart as I admired it. The room was silent while everyone watched, anticipating my response. “It’s so beautiful,” I whispered, still staring at the necklace.
“I had to go all out to get you to retire that one,” AJ said, pointing at the necklace Antonio bought me. “There’s just one more thing though.” He stood briefly to pass me another small envelope. My hands were trembling as I reached out for it. All eyes were still on me as I pulled two small pieces of paper from inside. He was watching for my reaction to the two plane tickets dated for this August. The expression on my face must’ve reflected my confusion. I heard him laugh under his breath as he explained. “I wanted to take you to see the Italian Renaissance exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York when it comes next summer. I don’t know much about that kind of stuff, but I hoped you wouldn’t mind being my tour guide.”
I was flooded with emotion when I realized what he’d done. Everything fell to the floor as I leapt from my seat to hug him. I squeezed him as tightly as I possibly could. “I can’t believe you did this.”
*****
By twelve a.m. I felt myself getting tired, but I tried to fight it. We were having so much fun that I hated for it to come to an end. When Karl got up to take Deanna home, I finally gave in and decided to go upstairs to lie down. “Goodnight. I can barely keep my eyes open,” I said as I leaned in to kiss AJ
“I’ll be up in a while,” he replied. After saying goodnight to everyone else and gathering up my presents, I started toward the stairs with Angel at my side.
“Wait up. Did you have fun?” she asked.
“Yeah. I actually did. I wasn’t sure I was in the mood at first, but I did.”
“Good. Your 18th should be memorable. I guess that necklace AJ got you will make it hard to forget too. You do know that necklace cost like over $1, 000, right? Trust me, I know. I saw it a couple months ago and tried to talk the sales lady into letting me put it on layaway or set up a payment plan or something!” Angel blurted out.
A laugh broke free. “You’re crazy. You know that?” I turned to walk into the room. “Night.”
“Night, Sammy,” she replied.