Tracy’s gaze was empty. Tears, warm and wet, streamed down her wrinkled cheeks.
“How should I know? I don’t even know if this bracelet works. Everything I told you was just rumors…”
Jeffrey’s grip slackened, and he crumpled to the floor, looking like his spirit had been drained from him.
At that moment, the sharp click of high heels approached from the hallway.
Tracy’s eyes flickered with a glimmer of hope. “Jeffrey, didn’t you say your girlfriend’s loaded? We could ask her for help.”
Jeffrey scowled. Clearly, he thought she meant me.
Tracy’s sobs turned into a grin.
“Your girl is always decked out in fancy stuff. She said to ask her if we needed anything, right? We’re broke, she’s loaded–it’s perfect!”
Then it hit Jeffrey that his mom was talking about Sophie. The weight lifted from his shoulders, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
“You’re onto something, Mom. I’ve got a plan!”
I was bracing myself for Jeffrey to dump me. However, what came next was a total curveball.
He actually proposed marriage to me.
I stared at him, gobsmacked.
Had I heard him right?
“Jeff, are you out of your mind?”
Sophie was the one who dropped that bomb, not me.
Tracy had invited us out to dinner, and we sat down at a table set for four.
Tracy, all smiles, said, “Yasmine, since Juliet is gone, Jeff is my only kid left. I want him to get hitched soon, to carry on the Peterson name with a kid or two.”
Then she gave Sophie a meaningful look.
“You and Yasmine are close, and we don’t have enough money for a proper wedding. Could you talk to her? We can only scrape together a thousand bucks for the wedding.”
“What? A thousand bucks?”
I mean, I would be happy if Jeffrey vanished off the face of the Earth. However, Tracy saying something like 1000 bucks out loud got me so steamed I stood up right then and there!
