Ben tucked his hands in his pockets and bounced up and down on the balls of his feet. What was taking Zach and Jackson so long? It wasn’t that he couldn’t do this on his own but...he needed advice. Maybe this was stupid. Too fast. Too...something. He pulled out his phone. He’d call them and tell them just to forget it.

“Hey. Traffic is insane. What’s so important that we had to do this right now?” Jackson’s gaze drifted to the sign above the store they stood in front of and paused. “Uh...Ben?”

Zach let out a low whistle. “Look at those. Hey, isn’t this the same place you got Paige her ring?”

“Yeah. Which begs the question...why are we here?”

Ben pushed his shoulders back, stretching the suddenly too-tight muscles. “I was thinking I might be purchasing something for Rebecca, and I wanted outside opinions.”

“Dude.” Zach shook his head. “After yesterday’s lunch? I thought you were figuring out a way to move on?”

“I was. But she came to my office and apologized. She said she loves me. I can’t turn away from that—from her. She’s the one. It feels right, here.” Ben thumped his chest, then his head. “And here. With as much prayer as I’ve put into this relationship over the past ten years, let alone these last two months, if this isn’t what God wants, then He’s either going to need to thwack me upside the head so I hear Him or I have no idea how to hear His still, small voice.”

“Works for me.” Jackson shrugged. “Let’s go in and have a look. And you can tell us about Rebecca’s visit to your office.”

Ben tugged open the door. “There’s not a lot to tell, though she’s also trying to figure out who would’ve spilled the beans. I told her I’d emailed Colin and he’s got a possible lead he’s researching. She’s going to look through her yearbooks to see if she can figure out why this particular guy would care about her. So it’s not a long-time boyfriend or anything. I was kind of hoping it would be that easy. You know?”

“What can I help you gentlemen with?” The shopkeeper’s eyes landed on Jackson and he grinned. “Here to pick out a wedding band?”

Jackson chuckled. “I haven’t asked her yet, actually. No, this is my friend Ben who was, apparently, so impressed by my taste in jewelry that he’s here on his own accord.”

“Well then, let’s see what we can find. Tell me about your young woman.”

Ben took a deep breath. Where should he start? “She’s got a heart the size of the ocean, though she thinks she hides it. She’s smart and dedicated and a fighter.”

“Hmmm.” The man tapped his lower lip. “I have an idea. Just one moment, it’s in the back.”

Zack looked up from his study of a case of watches. “How much do you think the reporter paid the guy for the tip?”

“Why would that matter?” Ben slid his fingers over the glass cases, the glare from some of the rings causing him to blink. Rebecca was understated...should he have mentioned that? One of these huge rocks wasn’t going to work for her. Or did she want that? Should he have brought her along or did that spoil the surprise? Was a surprise even a good thing in this situation?

“Seems to me it’d help narrow down your suspect list. If it’s just a little money, then that wasn’t the motivation, but if it was enough to get high, that might change things.” Zach shrugged. “Just a thought.”

“Get high?” Ben turned to face his friend. “Something we should know?”

“Ha ha. I work in one of the worst parts of D.C. A good number of my students, even the good ones, come to class buzzed on something on any given day of the week. Shockingly, the ‘Drug Free School Zone’ signs at either end of the parking lot don’t keep the school clean and sober. Many of those kids, and their parents, use the mission for meals, food for the kitchen, and sometimes even a place to sleep. So yeah, drugs are a potential motivation.”

Ben nodded. “All right. I’ll mention it to her.”

“Here we are, gentlemen.” The storekeeper came back with a small velvet box. “Let’s see if this will do the trick.”

“Hey. Got a minute?”

Ben clamped the phone between his ear and shoulder, snapped the ring box closed, set it on his nightstand, and hit mute on his TV. “For you, Rebecca, always. What’s up?”

“Carl Perkins. That is the name of the football player from my high school. He signed my yearbook. And then a friend signed under it and made a nasty comment about why I’d let a player-slash-party-boy sign my yearbook. I don’t remember him that way, but like I said, I don’t really remember him at all. He did, apparently, ask me out. But I didn’t really date in high school. The few times I did, people expected me to be the person Dad talked about in his speeches. So when I didn’t put out, they got...put out.”

A laugh escaped. He couldn’t help it. “You have a way with words.”

“Yeah, well, I’m starting to see a tiny bit of humor in the situation. I ran, for so many years, from this specter I thought my father had created and yet, the people who matter never believed it. So...why was I running? Anyway. Can you pass that on to your friend and see if it helps?”

“Will do.” Ben scratched his jaw. “The party-boy think is interesting. Zach said something along those lines. I was going to talk to you about it later this week. I didn’t want to bother you again today.”

“You’re never a bother. Especially not now that I can tell you I love you.”

His heart sped. Would hearing that ever get old? He didn’t see how. “I love you, too. It’s late.”

She sighed. “And I have an early day tomorrow. ‘Night.”

“’Night.”

Ben ended the call and flipped open the ring box again. He was fairly sure she’d say yes. The key now was finding the right time to ask.