“Pfft, you’re joking, right?” The man with the ruddy complexion laughs from behind the Lost and Found counter. “Are you seriously telling me that you thought someone would find your diamond ring and turn it in?” His laughter turns into coughing and he doubles over, his large belly hanging as he has a hacking fit.

Tears blur my vision and my chin quivers. “Can you check? Please?” I beg him to at least look for me, since all he’s done is laugh at my request so far. “It was my mother’s ring and it’s really important to me.” My voice cracks and a fat tear slowly slides down over my cheek. I brusquely flick it away, but I know he already saw it.

Pity washes over his face as he sizes me up from head to toe. The man sighs, like what he’s about to do is going to be the biggest waste of time ever. “Wait here. I’ll take a look.” He clamps his jaw down, pronouncing his jowls even more.

“Thank you.” I nervously tug at the empty spot on my finger where my ring should be. After last night, I didn’t think I’d ever bother coming out in the evening again. The whole situation was just too close of a call. I found it hard to get my heart to stop racing enough that I could even get to sleep.

However, I woke up this morning with an exhilaration inside of me that I’ve never known. Like the happiness I’ve been reading about for years in my romance novels had suddenly been unlocked inside of me. My morning was full of dreamy smiles as I remembered the fun I had with Jackson last night. But that all came to a screeching halt when I realized my ring was missing.

I searched my room, tossing the few belongings I have, even recklessly pulling out the clothes I still hadn’t had a chance to put back in Sylvia’s closet. I shook them mercilessly, hoping the ring would drop out of them somehow.

It didn’t.

So, after I did the supper dishes, I approached Sylvia in complete desperation and asked her something I’ve never requested in the entire six years I’ve been living under her roof: if I could go out.

She tilted her head at me suspiciously. “Where are you trying to go?” Her eyes bored into me, trying to pry out my secrets, but I kept them under lock and key.

“I just wanted to go for a little walk,” I lied. “I’ve been finding myself getting a little sleepy in the day and heard that exercise can help with that.” I was lying through my teeth and hoping she couldn’t tell.

Sylvia squinted at me, finally answering, “Fine. I don’t mind if you go for a walk. But let me make it clear. If you’re not home by the time I lock the doors, you better find somewhere else to go because you won’t want to deal with me,” she threatened and I gulped hard.

“I understand.”

I walked out of the front door, feeling how a criminal must feel when they’re finally released after a life sentence.

The entire way here, I watched the ground like a hawk, hoping that somehow I could spot my ring along the way. Maybe it bounced out of my bag when I was running home last night? Maybe I dropped it somehow at the fair? I scoured the streets with no luck, making my way back along the path I had ran down in terror only last night.

“Naw, lady, there’s no rings at all back there. Especially not some fancy diamond ring. Like I told ya, the chance of someone turning that in is slim to none.” He saunters back over to the counter and holds out his hands like he’s trying to show me he doesn’t have it.

“Thank you for looking,” I sniff and turn away, quickly stepping out of the musty building and back out into the crisp air. I can’t give up this easy! I just need to think of where Jackson and I went last night and check to see if I dropped it somewhere. I try to think of the last place I remember it being on my finger. I scan the fairgrounds, my eyes sliding over all the bright lights, searching for something to jog my memory.

The Ferris wheel.

My eyes lock onto the ride that’s sitting in complete darkness and silence, still out of order. My heart pumps harder as I rush over to the barricade locked around the huge wheel. My head moves back and forth like when I get to the exciting part of a book and I can’t take in the words quick enough, searching for my lost jewelry.

Nothing. Well, not nothing. There is plenty of garbage, pieces of junk food and tiny stuffed toys like the one Jackson won for me yesterday strewn around. However, one thing is most definitely not there: my ring.

Defeated, I slink over to the empty park bench along the side of the ride and flop my head down into my hands. Tears splash against my palms as I sob. It’s like I lost her all over again, like the one part of my mother that kept her here on earth with me has been stolen. Just like the rest of my family, just like the rest of my life, has all been taken away. I can’t stop the sadness from spilling out. All these years it’s been building up inside and that ring was the only thing keeping it locked. Without that ring, I feel so lost. So naked. So vulnerable.

“Hey, don’t cry. Are you searching for this?” A familiar voice wraps around me like a warm hug.

I sit up, jerking my head from my hands, and stare through my tears, trying to blink them away and focus my eyes on the thing being held out in front of me.

It’s Jackson, and he’s holding my ring!

“Oh my God.” I leap from the bench and run into his arms. “How did you find it? You’re my hero,” I gush, clinging onto him tight.

“I told you I’d get you the best prize at the fair, didn’t I?” His gray eyes gleam as he wraps his arms around me. “I don’t know if I mentioned this, but I was a Navy SEAL,” he mocks himself and I laugh.

“How can I ever repay you? Name it.” I step back and hold out my hand as Jackson drops the ring in my palm. I don’t even think about my words as I slide it down over my finger and admire the way the colored lights shimmer off the edges.

“Repay me, huh?” He tilts his head and runs his hand over his beard. “Anything I want?”

I know he’s teasing me, but I can’t stop the fiery heat billowing out over my cheeks.

“I, um, I didn’t mean it like that,” I begin to explain.

Jackson laughs. “Hey, I don’t know what dirty things you were thinking, but I was going to suggest you let me take you out for a coffee.” He tilts my chin up until my eyes lock onto his. “I know the perfect place and it’s not far from here. What do you say?”

My heart is thudding fast against my ribcage. The last twenty-four hours have been an absolute whirlwind of emotions. I don’t know if I can take much more. But this is living, isn’t it? This is what life is supposed to be like.

Not just an endless list of menial chores and solitude, but this rush of happiness. This buzzing sensation that overtakes me when I look into his eyes. The heat that rushes down my body and pools in my belly. This is what life is all about.

I bite my lip, knowing I might be opening Pandora’s Box, but right now I just don’t care. I still have hours until Sylvia is going to lock the house up.

“Yes,” I answer simply. “I’ll go out for a coffee with you.”