He shrugged, and turned my hand in his to focus on the lines of my palm. "I'll admit, it's a striking ring. I just don't think it fits you."
"What are you talking about? It fits perfectly, we had it resized and everything."
"You know that's not what I meant. The stone and design itself. A circle shows a road of ease, free of problems and that's not all that life is. A square cut stone shows the bumps in life. The roads we travel and each side of that square represents the next phase of your lives together."
I gulped back the nerves as his words and delicate traces inside my palm shook my center. "Some believe the circle represents forever, you know. It isn't showing the things people go through, just that they always come back around."
His fingers ceased as he met my eyes. "Doesn't the square do the same thing? It isn't perfect in its fluidity, but neither are the real problems in life. A circle connects, sure." He drew my hand forward giving him better access to the rest of my arm. Pressing a finger tenderly against the inside of my elbow he began outlining a square. "But the square does to. The four corners don't mean the road ends just that it changes. It represents the end of one chapter and the start of the next. Do you remember what kind of ring I gave you?"
I nodded, even though his attention was on the drawing on my skin.
"It was a wedding band that was silver on either side of a beautiful line of white and pink diamonds that ran down the middle."
Stefan nodded in approval. "I refused to ask my parents for money, because I didn't believe that getting you the most expensive ring was going to prove my love. It was more important for me to get the right ring that symbolized far more than an engagement. I had two requirements when I picked it out. There had to be more than one color, because you are a multidimensional woman. And the second was that it needed to have square diamonds. The ones in the middle were small, but they were square."
My eyes darted from his face, to my ring, and to the invisible square on my arm. That had been the single most incredible piece of jewelry I had ever seen. I would spend hours just staring at it, but never did it hit me that those diamonds were square.
"I loved that ring so much, Stefan."
Releasing my arm he looked into my eyes. "That was the plan. What ever happened to it?" I caught the way his Adam's apple tensed as he waited for my reply.
"I still have it."
"You do?" The astonishment wasn't held back from his voice.
I narrowed my eyes at him. "Did you assume I pawned it, or something?"
"Well isn't that just sort of what ex-wives do when they get divorced?"
"Maybe some, but I refused to let some other person get their hands on my ring. It didn't matter if I never wore it again, it was a part of me for years. I wasn't going to get rid of it."
"I wore mine for at least a year after we signed the papers."
"Did you??"
He shrugged his shoulders, as if we were having the most casual conversation. "Yeah, it was the only thing I had that kept me from completely losing myself."
My mind was running wild and if I didn't gain control I would … actually no. I didn't even want to know what. I searched for a quick escape and found one when the clock over the break room door showed there was less than two minutes of my break.
Pushing back and jumping to my feet I brushed my hands down the front of my pants awkwardly, trying to hide the accelerating beat of my heart.
"Well, I'm glad you had it. That's … good." Stefan picked up on the unease in my attitude instantly. His lips smirked up and I turned away from him; escaping to the trash can at the other side of the room with our food bags in hand.
"So, thanks for bringing lunch. I promise one of these days I'll treat us. It's about time I get back in there though, hair to cut and all that." The entire time my mouth rambled, my mind could not process what was happening. I focused my attention on straightening our little counter space. It was where we kept straws, plastic silverware, napkins and it somehow always managed to look horribly unorderly.
Not that those reasons contributed to my sudden interest in cleaning. There was a slight possibility I was busying myself with menial tasks to get my heightened sensations back down. My blood raced, my heart pounded and my skin burned for the feather light touches that Stefan made. A minute passed and I realized Stefan never responded, and I could only avoid eye contact for so long before it became suspicious. Okay, more suspicious.