Milkshake Hearts

Chapter 44: Stones

A/N: This chapter is partially another side-effect of my career, and also of me being Australian, because I couldn't not include the Australia trip in this fic but at the same time... yeah, gotta allude to what was happening in Australia around this time last year. I haven't gone into any detail, but a very mild TW for allusions to Black Summer in the next couple chaps.

But also it's still mostly fluff.

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Shayne visits the jewellery store where he is purchasing Courtney's ring alone for the first time in mid-February. He gets a text from them confirming the stones are in store for him to look at – he's glad, even though the text doesn't exactly say that in quite so many words, that Courtney doesn't happen upon it, given the frequency with which they use each other's phones.

"Hey Abby," Shayne greets his usual sales assistant with a nod as he steps in, late on a Monday afternoon after a Goldbergs shoot.

"Hey Shayne, come through, we've got your stones ready out here," she waves him straight through to the consulting room at the back of store, and he follows, taking a seat opposite her at the desk as she pulls out a tray covered by a black cloth.

"Now – we've managed to find some gorgeous diamonds, if I do say so myself," she starts, moving the cover to reveal two smaller boxes and a selection of small instruments. "Now this-" Abby holds up a small oval tool, "is called a loop, it's a kind of magnifying instrument we use for inspecting gemstones."

She pulls the twelve smaller stones which will form the halo out first, using a pair of tweezers to spread them across the black tray. Shayne gives a general enough look to them, turning down looking closer with the loop. They all seem to shine equally brightly, each a strong, bright white. He gives some kind of approval of them before their attention turns to the focal centre stone.

"Now – I've actually got three stones here. I wasn't happy with the first choice we located," she starts, using her tweezers to pull one stone out and sit it on the once again clear tray under the boxes of stones, "to the naked eye it is quite okay, but there is a small inclusion – a mark inside the stone – in the point of the teardrop, and that might impact how it shines in some light. I was a little confused it did get the rating we selected. Now, our second stone we found was much more promising, it's graded identically to the other but has no major single inclusions."

Shayne takes the offered loop, this time, leaning over slightly to look at the first stone, and then the second, while Abby holds them in place with her tweezers.

"Oh, yeah – I can't tell them apart just sitting on the table but it's really noticeable in that," Shayne admits, after looking to the second stone, "I can definitely knock out the first option. You mentioned a third option?"

"Yes," Abby nods, shifting the first diamond back into its box and moving it aside, "now, this third one is actually a grade higher than we had originally discussed. It was a lucky find, actually – our sourcing team found it in the process of looking for a stone for another ring and added it to the option for yours. It's roughly the same price as the second stone, too."

"Oh, that's sparkly," Shayne can't stop from commenting when it is pulled out onto the black tray in front of him. Abby laughs lightly in response, before again handing him the loop.

"It is absolutely your decision – there is a small price difference, but yes, it is a very beautiful diamond," Abby nods, as he places it back down on the tray.

"What numbers are we looking at for price?"

"Okay, so- we've actually come very close to the $10,000 estimate. If you went the route of this second diamond, we'd be looking at $9,950. This, on the other hand, would be $10,150," she explains, gesturing to the third stone.