He Saw The Sign

I was crossing the parking lot, heading to work after stopping into Tim Horton’s to grab something for my lunch break. I was running late, Heather was working the register when I went in there and she just kept on talking to me long after she had taken my order.

A couple months ago it would’ve been weird for Heather to speak to me but since Jordan found out about Jenna and had taken a real interest in being her daddy, Heather has soften a little towards me.

Or maybe she just wanted to flash the very expensive looking engagement ring in my face as she exclaimed, “Hank asked me to marry him!!”

Either way, I wasn’t really in a hurry to head to work, I wanted to know exactly how he proposed and when the wedding was going to be – I wasn’t expecting to get invited or anything, I was just curious, her excitement was infectious.

“I don’t know,” she said in a rush. “I wasn’t expecting this at all! We had talked about possibly getting married one day but I didn’t think it would happen this soon, I didn’t think we could afford something like this either.” She waved her hand in front of my face again and sighed happily. “It’s amazing isn’t it?”

Taking her hand, I held it steady so I could take a good look at the ring. “It’s beautiful,” I told her as I admired the heart shaped diamond surround by smaller diamonds and blue sapphires set in the band of the ring. It wasn’t what I would personally pick out but it was very pretty.

“It is,” she beamed at me. “I still can’t believe he got me something as amazing as this! I didn’t even think he was listening when I hinted to what I would like, ring wise! Eehee!” She squealed. “I’m so happy right now!”

I offered her my congratulations and then asked her about the sapphires. “I haven’t seen many engagement rings that have any other gems besides diamonds, was there a special reason for that?”

Heather nodded her head slowly, “It’s my birthstone,” she told me. “Hank knows how much I love jewelry with sapphires and he said when he saw this ring, he knew it was the ‘one’ for me.” She paused long enough to gaze at the ring on her finger, “He said seeing this ring was the sign he was looking for.”

“He was looking for a sign?”

“Yes,” she smiled. “Hank admitted that he was afraid to ask me to marry him, even though he wanted too, because he wasn’t sure it was the right time. I guess he was worried that it was too soon or something,” she laughed. “We’ve been together for two years!”

Heather’s co worker had finished making my sandwich at that point and handed it across the top of the glass enclosure to me. “Well, I should probably be going,” I said to Heather.

“Oh wait,” she turned away from the counter and walked towards the back. I wasn’t sure what she was doing and I was kind of wishing she would hurry because I was already late for work.

A couple minutes later she returned to the counter and held out a small stiff sheet of paper. “My parents are throwing Hank and I a small engagement party, I would like it if you could come.”

“Heather I –”

“You could bring Josh!” She said quickly and then added, “Jordan said he would be there and Nick said if Amy didn’t burst before the party, they would be there.”

“Oh,” I didn’t know what to say to that, I didn’t expect any of us to be invited. I promised her that I would check if I was working that day and make sure Josh didn’t have any plans for us either. “Congratulations once again,” I said as I turned towards the door. “Tell Hank he made a great choice.”

“You can tell him yourself at the party!” Heather called after me before turning to the customer that just walked up to the counter.

As quickly as I could, I walked pass the strip mall in the far left hand corner of the parking lot that it shared with Wal-Mart. I hated being late, it didn’t happen all that much, I always tried to be on the floor at least five minutes before my shift was supposed to start, but still, I hated it.

Walking fast as I could, without running, I made my way through the familiar sliding doors, down the same aisles I always took to the back of the store. Normally I would give Infants a quick glance to see how busy it was but I didn’t take the time as I made a beeline for the swinging doors that lead to the back room.

“Anna!”

An unexpected voice stopped me in my tracks.

“Lily?” I was confused for a few moments, I glanced at my watch, it was 4:10. “What are you doing here still?” In my confused state, I started to walk towards her, wondering if something was wrong.

“I’ll tell you after you clock in and are floor ready,” she said over her shoulder as she turned to answer a customer question.

“Ok,” I said but she wasn’t paying attention to me any longer.

As I walked to the staff room, I wondered what could possibly have kept Lily here pass the end of her shift. I couldn’t help but get the sinking feeling that something was wrong.