The lower level was even more frigid than the sales floor. She stepped out of the elevator into the fluorescent lighting, the guard on her heels. She swiped her card to get past sliding bullet-resistant Plexiglas security barriers, remembering the days when her father would bring her down as a girl, a dozen keys jangling on a chain in his pocket.

Now, nothing but silence.

The Pavlin vault was similar to a bank’s security box system, but the storage units were larger than the brick-sized cubbies in a financial institution. The jewelry was kept in numbered compartments, the contents all archived digitally. It would be easy to find what she was looking for.

The pink diamond eternity band, 6.5 carats, was the last remaining piece of the Electric Rose. It was the only thing she didn’t sell after she had the large diamond cut into pieces. She kept the ring for herself, a token of the fact that the Electric Rose should have been hers all along. She wore it on special occasions, always on her right hand, lest it be mistaken for a wedding band. But now she would give it to Celeste as a wedding gift, to be worn as it was intended by design. There was no need for her sister to know the provenance of the stones.

The platinum band felt cool in her palm. She examined the ring, trying it on one last time. Even under the cold, artificial light the stones worked their magic, so radiant they seemed to glow. Yes, this will do, Elodie thought. This will do just fine.

She slipped the ring back inside the green velvet Pavlin & Co pouch, placed the pouch inside her Hermès clutch, and headed back upstairs for her meeting. Things had been running smoothly with her working remotely, but she couldn’t sustain that forever.

I’ve never been to New York City and I don’t intend to start now.

Tito’s declaration was a deal-breaker. She couldn’t spend the rest of her life in Provincetown when she had a Manhattan-based business to run. If she and Tito were both willing to travel, to bounce back and forth, their relationship could work. But if it was going to be a one-way situation? No.

So there she was, back in the store that meant everything to her. Back in her hometown.

The problem was, it didn’t feel like home without Tito.

61

I was half expecting all this stuff to be gone,” Gemma said, surveying the piles of her boxes in the storage unit. It was oddly comforting to see it all again. Now, if she could just pull the metal door closed again and lock it up, she could merrily be on her way knowing that her things were safe. But she was there on a mission.

“Why would you think that?” Sanjay said.