A lesson.
As though I had invited them to steal from me.
“Then take it as a lesson.”
I paid the bill at the end of my shift with shaking hands. By the time I stepped outside, anger had hardened into something heavier.
Four hundred dollars was gone, my mother was still missing, and I had no idea how I would explain either one to my family.
Jett called me at eight the next morning.
“Can you come in?” he asked.
I hadn’t slept more than three hours, and my eyes still burned from crying. “My shift doesn’t start until
five.”
“I know.” His voice sounded strained. “Just come as soon as you can.”
“Can you come in?”
Twenty minutes later, I walked into Bellamy’s wearing yesterday’s jeans and expecting another lecture. Instead, I found Jett waiting beside table twelve.
He looked nothing like the dismissive man who had taken my money the night before. His face was pale, and he kept rubbing the back of his neck.
“What happened?” I asked.
“The cleaners found something.” His eyes dropped to the small plastic bag in his hand. “It was wedged behind the booth. They nearly missed it.”
A gold ring lay inside the bag.
He held it out but didn’t release it when I reached for it.
“I’m sorry about last night,” he said. “I should’ve checked the cameras. And after seeing this…” He swallowed. “I think you need to see this.”
Then he let go.
A gold ring lay
inside the bag.
For a moment, I couldn’t breathe.
It belonged to my mother.
The thin band was scratched near the setting. Three tiny diamonds surrounded a pale blue stone, and one of the gold prongs bent slightly inward.
I knew every imperfection. I had stared at photographs of that ring until the image followed me into my dreams.
It belonged to my mother.
She had worn it every day for twenty-three years. She slept in it, showered in it, even kneaded bread with it on. After she disappeared, we found her purse, clothes, and jewelry untouched at home.
