Page 76 of Hate On

She twisted the engagement ring on her finger and said, “Guilty.”

His eyes slid down to the ring on her hand, then back up to meet her gaze. A slow smile curled his lips and her heart caught, then did a slow flip over in her chest.

“Sapphire, huh?” he murmured, reaching across the table to trace his finger across the diamond of her engagement ring, understanding perfectly just where her mind had gone.

She answered him with a smile of her own, falling into the intense blue of his eyes. She could see forever stretching out in front of them—theirforever.

As her father continued to talk, they smiled at each other and linked hands.

They were going to make it.

Maybe Roman’s father wouldn’t ever come around, but Julianna’s parents were there for them, his mother was there for them, and the siblings were absolutely rooting for them—all of them.

I love you,she mouthed to him.

He took her hand and lifted it to his lips.

Against her skin, he whispered it back. “I love you, too.”

Epilogue Two - Julianna

A Year Later at Christmas

“Doyou really think my Alissa will love it?” asked Mr. Johansen.

The tall, stocky, graying, middle-aged customer had been perusing the display cases and checking out the store’s extensive selection of pink diamond rings for over an hour.

It was Julianna and Roman’s first ever joint store at Times Square, called Castle and Montrose Jewelers. She and Roman had faced a tidal wave of objections from both of their families about opening this store. They were starting to get along a little better with each passing month since the wedding, but this particular business move to join their names at one location threw both families back into the proverbial boxing ring. Except both families were in agreement that a Castle and Montrose store was a bad idea, making her and Roman the new enemy. At least for a while.

The families felt it would be breaking with longstanding tradition.

Bastardizing both family names.

Cannibalizing the brand.

Potentially eating into the bottom line of both companies.

The objections from both sides wouldn’t stop.

Not until Julianna and Roman proved them wrong.

Opening this store was a literal gold mine for both families, who each saw a more than twelve percent bump in their revenues almost overnight. The dual brand recognition, coveted store location, jazzed up branding, and broadened selection of inventory from both families as well as from the successfully profitable new mining activities offshore, all coalesced to turn the Castle and Montrose Jewelers launch into a massive hit with New York’s elite as well as with up and comers.

One thing was for sure. In both families, money talks. When the across the board revenues backed up the benefits of this union, both the Montrose and the Castles fell silent.

And if Julianna could just get Mr. Johansen to make up his mind about this goddamned ring, she could return her focus to making tonight a resounding success at home.

Mr. Johansen was a longstanding regular from her parents’ store, but was a lot more indecisive than normal today. Which was annoying as hell, given that it was the day before Christmas and Mr. Johansen had waited until the last minute to buy his wife’s present. At least she was a perfect size eight ring size, so no adjustments would be needed once he decided on the style he’d get her.

He furrowed his brows, inspecting the two carat princess cut pink diamond, set in a rose gold band with a row of marquise diamonds around the edge of the arrangement and surrounding the diamond itself. “The diamond is beautiful, I’ll give you that. The piece is gorgeous. I love the cut… but… I don’t know. It might be a little too big for my wife.”

“Said no woman ever,” Juliana replied to him with a smile that she knew could’ve been more relaxed. “Trust me. You’ve been buying her special jewelry pieces for decades, first when my parents ran the store around the corner, and now, here at this store. I know Alissa’s tastes. She’s going to adore you this Christmas… thanks to this lovely ring.”

She held his gaze to underscore her point, but had to admit she was growing impatient. It wasn’t totally the customer’s fault that the store was supposed to be closed twenty minutes ago. She was used to staying open to cater to her best customers’ wishes.

That wasn’t the problem. The truth was that Roman was just minutes away from picking her up.

Because today was different.