I do not own CSI

I dressed in my new clothes. Everything was fresh—right down to my socks. I had a white shirt with an unbuttoned green plaid shirt over it, and then beige shorts with deep pockets. It fit perfectly. Carmen wanted to see it.

"Does it feel ok? When I was picking it all out I was concerned that I bought it too small for you."

"No. It fits nice," I kissed her on her cheek. "Thank you very much. I love it."

She brightened up. We got out of the apartment to do some exploring together. Carmen drove and showed me where she went first. Then together we got a feel of our surroundings. The area we were in was cramped and the streets sloped. Buildings were against buildings, giving off that cozy retro feeling.

While passing one shop, Carmen stopped to admire the jewelry in the window. As I joined her I noticed that a sign said they made their jewelry by themselves. There was a list of the things they handcrafted. They made necklaces, rings, promise rings, wedding rings, bracelets, earrings, you name it. I was struck with an idea.

I needed to get Carmen a promise ring. That way we would be able to plan one day of getting married. But I'd have to save up for it. I would come back to the shop later without Carmen. For now, we had to focus on getting settled.

One thing that we decided together was while staying in Colorado we'd both have to get a job. So we went around the area, asking if anyone was hiring. The small cafe we were at said they were and I took the job. Then I found a little ways down the street a library. Carmen liked libraries.

The next day we were supposed to start our jobs. Carmen worked from eight to five and I worked from eight to seven. The money we had left we stashed under the bed and each of us took thirty dollars for lunch. Carmen made two sandwiches and we ate that before starting our jobs. It was a little hard to part.

But she was only down the street from me. When I first started my job I was at the cash register. Periodically, people came in to buy coffee or a snack before they went to work. I was quiet and nervous. Sometimes I thought I scared a few of the customers.

They got a little uncomfortable while I got their orders since I didn't make conversation with them. I guess I'm not too much of a people person. It must be that I'm reverting back to my old ways. I don't want to revert back to my old ways. The cycle had to be broken.

Closer to noon I tried to be more friendly, like Carmen. A few of the customers responded and we got into short quick conversation. When I got my lunch break I went over to the jewelry store to check out promise rings. It was cramped like all the other stores.

Cases lined one wall and it was full of jewelry. On the other wall was a cash register next to another case. A man with white frizzy hair looked up from what he was doing in the back. He smiled at me. The man was shorter than me.

"Hello there young man. My name is Mr. Dandy. What can I do for you?"

"Um. I'm looking into promise rings."

"We've got lots of them, and all type too." The man led me to a case with rings. "I made them all myself."

"Is there a promise ring for promising to get engaged in the future?
"Yes there is. A lot of them have engravings on them." Mr. Dandy brought out a few of those.

You could get them in silver, gold, white gold, and yellow gold. Mr. Dandy showed me the common engravings for the promise rings. I liked what they said, but none of them were what I wanted. Mr. Dandy was a funny man. He sometimes got a little off topic but he always set himself straight.

"Are you going to give this to a sweetheart?" He asked.

"Yeah. But could I customize the ring?"

"Sure. It will cost you a little more. If you got one of the pre-made rings here it would cost you sixty dollars. If you customize it, it will be twenty dollars extra."

My face must have looked crestfallen because Mr. Dandy added, "But for young love, I can go with seventy dollars. With that out of the way, what do you want your ring to look like?"

"The silver looks cool for the band."

"Very youthful yes," He muttered.

"And I want the words to say we'll be together someday."

"Inside or outside?"

"Outside."

Mr. Dandy scribbled it all down.

Then he asked. "What's her finger size?"

I had no idea. "I'm not sure."

"Here," Mr. Dandy went and got an adjustable ring. "Use this to find the measurement of her finger and I'll figure out the other stuff. When the job is done you can pay me. Come back in a week."

"Ok. Thanks." I said.

I would have to save up for it. If I'm getting paid three dollars an hour, and I work ten hours a day, I get paid thirty dollars. I'll save ten dollars each day for the promise ring. While walking back to the cafe, I couldn't have felt happier.