In the meantime…
“Help!” I screamed as I ran back into the gym. “Someone stole my necklace!”
* * *
I held my breath as the principal’s door opened. I knew it would be him. Not because I had hope, but because I had done my research. This plan hadn’t just happened. It was carefully crafted. I knew his shift at the department. Knew that a low-level emergency would warrant the least senior deputy.
When he walked in, I tried not to suck in my breath. He hadn’t changed at all. Same dark hair that was never quite tamed. Same build, maybe bigger, only now decked out in a deputy’s uniform. He was a cowboy in a cop’s attire, and my mouth nearly went dry at the sight of him.
“Thank you for coming, Garrett,” Mrs. Rugger greeted him. She was in charge of the matter since she’d been chaperoning the prom.
“No problem, Mrs. Rugger. Good you see you again. So what’s the…”
“Hi, Garrett,” I said, leaping out of my chair. I pushed my hand at him so he would have to touch me. Have to acknowledge me.
Four years of waiting for this moment. Hundreds of angry miles run. A stylist to make me look my absolute best.
He looked me up and down, which was good, I thought, and then his beautiful eyes scrunched as if he was trying to look at me through some prism.
“Brin?”
I knew he would see me. The me beneath the expensive dress and shoes and makeup. The real me. My heart started to pound against my chest.
“Hi.”
He took my hand and shook it. Then he smiled slowly. “You grew up.”
“It happens.”
He laughed. “Yeah, I guess it does. So, it was your necklace that got stolen?”
“Yes. I don’t know what happened. There were so many people, all of us bumping around as we danced. I thought it might have fallen off, but I couldn’t find it anywhere. Eventually I realized someone might have slipped it off my neck.”
See? Nothing crazy. Just a necklace that I may or may not have lost that someone may or may not have taken. I would need a police report for the insurance, so of course the sheriff’s team had to be called.
“Do you have a time frame of when it happened?”
“I can tell you it was after she was crowned Prom Queen,” Mrs. Rugger said. “You had it on then.”
“Prom Queen, huh?” Garrett said.
“I know. Crazy, right? Fat little Sabrina King…”
“Hey.” He stopped me. “You were always too hard on you.”
And there it was. His kindness. So warm and comforting you just wanted to curl yourself up in it. One day I would be curling myself into his arms and that would be even better. I knew it.
The door to the principal’s office opened and it was one of my classmates. Cindy Bitner. She was screeching that she’d found it and when I saw what was in her hand my heart started to thud, only not the good kind. The oh, my God, I might have a heart attack kind.
No, no, no. This was not part of the plan. He was supposed to offer to drive me home. Explain the lost necklace to my father. We were supposed to have time together to talk. To really get to know each other.
“It was so crazy,” Cindy said. “I went to throw out a napkin, but then I lost my clutch in the garbage. So I opened the lid to get it and bam! It was right there! Do you think someone planted it there and was waiting to pick it up later?”
Yes. I think that was exactly the plan.
Garrett took the necklace from Cindy and handed it back to me. “Not usual for a criminal to ditch the goods. Maybe someone panicked and changed their mind.”
“Maybe,” I said as I took it back.
