“Right over here,” the woman said, standing next to an old wooden bucket on a newer wooden box. Within were oysters stacked in a heap, just waiting for their shells to be ripped open and their prizes taken. The whole thing was a little barbaric in a civilized sort of way. Welcome to tourism.
“So what you are looking for is a crusty, hairy, worse-for-wear type of shell,” the woman said, bending over to analyze the contents. “The worse it looks, the more valuable the pearl inside.” The woman picked a pair of tongs off the box and moved an oyster aside. “That one is pretty, see that? Kind of nice looking. I wouldn’t advise on choosing that one. And that one is okay. Not bad. Oh, here’s an ugly one. That one might be good…” She continued muttering as she nudged oysters around.
I glanced up at Brad with a smile, barely managing to wipe my face clear as she straightened up, eyes still on the bucket, and held out the tongs. “Why don’t you have a look and see what you think.”
“Oh, uh…” I pushed an oyster to the side and then moved a couple of others. “What do you think?”
“Look at that one!” She pointed at the oyster I’d just uncovered. “That’s a good one. See the stuff on the shell? It’s really hideous. I’d probably go for that one.”
“Horribly ugly oyster, coming right up.” I fished it out and handed it off.
“Okay, now we just need to hit the gong three times—” She gestured toward the small metal disk off to the side.
“No, thank you,” I said, glancing around in embarrassment.
“I’ll do it,” Brad said, laughing. His arm was around me, so I had no choice but to step up with him as he alerted everyone to the fact that we were ridiculous tourists. Once done, and with my face burning, the lady walked us over to a seat at the counter.
“You’ll towel-hop across a beach, but you’re embarrassed to ring a gong?” he asked as he gestured to the one open seat.
“I’m sorry, was that a question? Because it seems obvious…”
“Now I’ll shuck it, and we need to loudly say, Aloha!” She beamed.
“No, thank you,” I said again. I got a squeeze, but he didn’t push this time. Apparently there were limits to his desire to embarrass himself.
The lady said it for us as she opened the shell. “Oh yes! Now this is a good one. One in a hundred come out like this. Have a look!”
It was a gorgeous, bluish-grey pearl. All four of the necklaces I’d admired had pearls of a similar color nestled within them. “Meant to be,” I said with a smile, leaning against Brad.
“Yes, it is,” he said, and rubbed my back.
“Did you want to pick out a setting to put this fabulous pearl into?” the woman asked with an excited gleam. She was a great seller, that much was clear.
“What do you think, Delilah?” Brad asked, taking my hand and helping me off the stool. “What’s your taste? A necklace, a ring?”
His mention of a ring gave me a thrill and a nervous pinch in my gut at the same time. I veered toward the safety of a necklace. After looking in all the cases with him patiently following me around, I finally settled on a teardrop design.
“Oh yes, that one is just beautiful,” the woman said, taking it out of the case.
She set it on the velvet for my viewing pleasure, and I glimpsed the price.
Over two grand!
I gulped and leaned away. Yes, Brad had a ton of money, but I wasn’t the sort of girl who was comfortable with someone spending that kind of money on her. I wished to hell I was, but some things couldn’t be changed with glitter and gongs.
“You know what, just the pearl is fine,” I said, backing away.
“You don’t like it?” Brad asked, his eyes fixed on the necklace. He shrugged. “Then find another. There must be something here you like.”
“How about this one—” The lady brought out another gorgeous setting of roughly the same price.
“Oh, no. It’s okay. Honestly, Brad, just the pearl is fine. That was fun. Let’s stick with that.”
He glanced at me with an argument at the ready, but he saw something on my face that made him straighten up and step away from the glass case. “Sure. Let’s just head to the beach. Let me do the paperwork for the pearl, and then we’ll be all set.”
“Okay.” Feeling relieved but strangely guilty, I took another step back to give him room. A weight settled on my chest as the woman put away the beautiful necklace. I turned away, reminding myself it was my choice. I wouldn’t feel comfortable with him spending that much money—and that would tarnish the pretty thing around my neck.
I wandered over to look at shot glasses, which were more my speed, while he spoke with the saleswoman.
“Ready?” he asked a few minutes later, curling his arm around my waste. “I’ll hold on to this.” He slipped my pearl into his pocket. “Remind me to take it out if I go swimming, though.”
“If?”
“You’re going to make me get in?”
“You can swim, right?”
“Yes, but I’m lazy. I’d much rather sit all day.”
I grinned. “You have to go to the bathroom sometime.”
His grimace turned into a smile. “Remind me not to swim next to you.”