The Cracker Jack box ring

A best friends wedding

 

Jackie always go car sick when she when on these driving trips with her husband. He always traveled for work and she wanted to see the world right? So she would go, sick or not. These trips had become increasingly difficult now that she was 8 months pregnant. She smiled and rubbed her large oversized belly. She was proud of the fact she was growing a tiny human! Others didn't see it that way though, a man at the grocery store had made her cry because he said she looked like a beached whale. She frowned at that comment now. Glancing over at her husband, he was a man that was always smiling. He would make her laugh at least once a day. When they were dating she had seen the way Drake was with kids and she had fallen for him then and knew he would be the father of their daughter, soon to arrive. She rubbed his back, he smiled at her and continued to drive.  Her protruding tummy growled. She was hungry and she knew there was a granola bar in her purse. It took a considerable effort to push forward with her tummy in the way. Her large purse was on the floor of the passenger seat. It was heavy it took a bit to pull it up.  Finally, she reached it! Eureka! She got it into her lap. Praying they wouldn't need to stop due to her Blatter restrictions from her recent activity. Chuckling her husband asked, I could have got that for you? Jackie looked at her husband frowning at him, I am perfectly capable thank you. Stubborn as always she finished her snack, and looked for her little treasure. Drake just kept driving and chuckled his wife stubborn as ever. He knew their daughter would be too.

 

She pulled out a tiny cracker jack box ring, it was flimsy gold adjustable band with a plastic red ruby her birthstone. She was surprised she still had it, she had just turned 30 and she had made a promise to a friend many years ago. She intended to give it back to him.

Twenty years ago she and her friend Corey had been inseparable, their parents always camped together, had fourth of July Barbeques together, they all went to same church. She and Corey went to the same private school. Everyone had always though it weird that she had a best friend that was a boy. She had heard so many times, "girls and guys cannot be friends" yet she and Corey were. She would ramble with her stories; he would tell her of his inventions. They had built a treehouse together with his two older brothers. Jackie had grown up around boys all her life. It was not unusual; she was the only girl of three boys. The boys had even called her Jack. It never bothered her. Girls and their frilly ways had always bothered her. It was ironic that now she was going to have a daughter, and she had no idea what to do with a girl? As she gazed at the small ring she remembered the last summer they had together. His family had moved to Idaho, and she had stayed in Oregon. They had just turned 13, a few months apart. She had to admit Corey had begun to get cuter in a teenage guy kind of way. She admitted it now, but never then. She defiantly had a crush on him. One day she had a bad day at school and he had given her a kiss on the cheek just to make her feel better. It was innocent, yet she felt loved and cared for it.

Their parents freaked out the day they turned thirteen and said they would not be allowed to be alone together? This was crazy talk for Corey and Jackie? They had spent their entire lives together? She had cried and yelled, and tried to find out why, with no avail. He was moving away and she couldn't even see him. They however found a way to see each other. There was a 7-11 store around the corner from both of their houses and they were allowed to walk there if one of their siblings came too.  So each day of that summer they met with the help of their brothers. Jackie counted down the days. All they had was 90 days left.

You see their brothers James, and Sam were also close friends and they would talk about senior year, girls, cars etc. They didn't care if Corey and Jackie hung out. Corey always bought Jackie a box of cracker jacks it was tradition. She was "Jack" of course she needed her snack. They would laugh and laugh. One of the boxes had a ring as a prize, the very ring that Jackie held in her hand currently. Corey gave it to her their last summer together and they made a vow. If at 30 if they were not married, they would marry each other. It was a huge commitment for a 13-year-old couple of kids. But they shook hands on it. Two months later Corey and his family moved away. Jackie was so devastated. She had lost her very best friend, and first crush. She held onto the ring and didn't take it off. Her parents asked her where she got it from she said a cracker jack box. It wasn't a lie she told herself it was just a half-truth. She and Corey wrote each other; they were true life pen pals. He told her of the town they lived in was tiny no more than 1700 people in the whole town! That was mind blowing for Jackie because she lived in Portland, Oregon.