She noticed it the moment he walked into the lab that morning, and smiled sadly. She was glad that he had made it to the point where he felt he could leave it off, but sad that she wasn't the person that had prompted its lack of presence on his person. She had heard the rumours about he and Peyton, and knew that it was the beautiful Englishwoman that had finally bought about this change in him.
She knew she couldn't avoid him though, so she headed off to his office to say good morning.
"Something different about you today Mac Taylor," she said, forcing out a laugh.
"You noticed?" he replied, a smile on his face. "I thought it was about time I left it at home. You've been telling me to take it off for a while, and something finally prompted me to actually do it." He gave her a shy half smile and fiddled with his hands.
"Yeah, I heard about you and Peyton, congratulations."
"Me and Peyton? Stella, I only see her at work, there's nothing going on. You thought I took it off for Peyton? No. I did take it off because there's someone I'm interested in though."
"Really? Who?" she said, not really wanting to hear him gush about some woman she may or may not know. She was so pre-occupied by feeling sorry for herself that she almost missed him saying "You, Stella. I took my wedding ring off for you."
"You took your WEDDING RING OFF? Mac, I was talking about your tie!"