Jamie nodded and smiled again. She had a lot of teeth. Mason smiled in return and made his way through the cubicles until he reached the office door. He swung it open without knocking and Barry looked up, his eyebrows scrunched in a frown at the interruption until he saw who it was. He was on the phone, but he motioned Mason in, who closed the door behind him and then took a seat across the desk from his friend.

Mason took the velvet box out of his pocket and flipped the lid open, marveling at how the solitaire diamond sparkled. He’d never really taken much notice of jewelry or...