"Okay, okay. I'm ready. Are you ready?" Callie got home from work a little bit ago. Mom was at work, and she had therapy after.

We had time.

We were going ring shopping.

"I'm ready," I smiled.

" 'Kay. Let's go?"

"Yup."

Callie seemed a little nervous as she drove to the mall- there were loads of jewelry stores there. We figured that was our best bet.

"What did you say the size was again?" Callie asked for the millionth time. Clear nerves.

"Seven." I giggled. "Why are you freaking out?"

"Well, I need to make sure it's something she likes! What if she hates it but pretends she likes it?"

"She'll love whatever you get her- simply because you got it. Mom isn't like that. She's way too sentimental."

Callie nodded slowly. "Still nervous."

"It'll be fun! You don't have to be nervous." I reassured. "Plus, she's gonna say yes. She'd say yes even if there was no ring at all."

Callie laughed. "But... I want it to be nice and special for her. Ya know?"

That made me smile. "Yeah. She deserves that." I said quietly.

That was insanely sweet. Callie wanted Mom to be happy- that's what I concluded.

And, like I said, Mom would probably be happy to just go to the court house and marry Callie. But, Callie wanted to go that extra mile and make it amazing for Mom.

I was so happy Callie was in Mom's life. And mine, too.

"She does deserve it." Callie agreed.

We sat in some silence. Whatever I said would not calm Callie's nerves. She was like Mom in that way. Maybe it's just an adult thing. Or a them thing. I have no clue.

Callie had the whole time planned out. How long we could spend at each store. Which stores we would go to. What order we would go to said stores in.

All of it.

The first two stores were boring.

Nothing interesting, really. Callie didn't really like any of the options, and neither did I.

"I hope we get lucky soon," Callie laughed.

"We'll find the perfect one." I smiled as we walked to the third store.

"I don't know that I like the oval shape," Callie said after we looked at a few rings. She glanced at me.

I shrugged.

"Wait. What about pear shape? Like that?" She pointed to something in the case.

"This one?" The person took it out after Callie's nod.

Callie picked it up. "This is pretty." She tilted it at all different angles. "What do you think Liv?"

"It's nice," I nodded. The big diamond was pear shaped, and around it was a band of much smaller diamonds. At the bottom there were a lot of diamonds- two clusters that kind of went off into leaves. It had a rosy gold band.

"Silver is her favorite, though." Callie said quietly, putting it back down.

"Yeah," I was going to say that, but Callie knew.

"Hm. Something similar, though."

The person put the ring back. "We have mostly gold in stock with this shape. We could always order something."

Callie bit her cheek. "I think I need to see it. In person." She looked at me, then back at the person. "Thank you so much for your time."

"How many more stores are there?" I asked Callie as we walked out. It was getting closer and closer to the end of Mom's therapy appointment. I was getting more and more nervous. I needed to be home to see her.

"Two more. I really hope we find something. I think I have a vision, now, though. Pear shaped. Silver. Do you think all those extra diamonds on the bottom was too much?"

"Maybe. It was kinda big. Impractical." I said. I didn't know anything about any of this. I was trying my hardest to sound like I knew what I was talking about.

"Exactly!" Callie seemed to get excited about me saying that.

We walked into the next store, and Callie immediately told the person exactly what she was looking for. So, they put all the options out in front of us. Callie started by looking at the left, and I started by looking at the right.

"Callie!" I said.

She looked at me.

"Look at this one."

I watched Callie's face. Her eyes went big, and she smiled, picking it up. "This is beautiful."

The ring was definitely not as big as the last one we saw. Silver. Diamonds around the front of the band, and just the large diamond at the top.

It was simple, but I really liked it.

Callie seemed to love it.

We looked through the rest of the rings, but nothing made Callie's eyes light up like that one. Not even close.

"I think it's this one." She said to me.

"You do?" I asked.

"What do you think? Could you see your Mom loving this?" Callie held it up.

I giggled, nodding. "Like I said, she would love anything."

"Ok, yes, but. Don't you think this screams her?"

"It does, yeah."

Callie smiled. "Do you think we need to look in the other store?"

"That's your call."

Callie looked at the ring for a moment. Her smile just got bigger and bigger. "This is the one."

The person behind the counter clapped their hands together. "Wonderful choice! I'm sure she will love it very much!"

The process of buying the ring seemed longer than the process of searching for one. And we had spent a long time searching.

I have to admit, knowing Mom would be home soon made me nervous. I wouldn't be there right when she got home. It was a break in my routine. And for some reason, that scared me.

Finally, we started to head home. But, we picked up some fast food first, since we hadn't yet eaten.

I think my nerves were obvious.

"Liv, you good?" Callie asked as she gave the person at the drive thru her card.

I shrugged. I couldn't lie to Callie.

"Thank you! Have a good day!" Callie took our bags of food and our drinks, then her card. She glanced at me as she rolled up her window. "What's up?"

I sighed. "Just worried about Mom."

"Why? Is something wrong?"

"She has therapy today."

"Yeah..." Callie wasn't catching on.

"She'll be home soon. I wanna make sure she's ok." I whispered.

"Oh. Well, we'll be home in like.. 5 minutes." Callie smiled at me when she stopped at a red light.

I nodded, smiling back.

When we got home, Mom was getting out of her car.

"Callie!" Mom smiled. "Oh! Olive, too?! Where were you two?" She laughed, hugging me tightly.

"Getting lunch!" Callie said quickly. I held up the bag of food as proof.

Our secret.

"Oh, nice!" Mom and Callie kissed.

"We got you some, too." Callie smiled.

"Aw thank you!"

"How was it, Mom?" I asked, feeling deep relief that we made it home.

"It was good, baby." Mom smiled at me.

"Let's go eat!" Callie locked her car, and we all headed inside.

A ring secretly in Callie's purse.

A big secret.