I love opals, especially fire opals like this one. “It’s beautiful,” I sigh. I shouldn’t fret so much; he’s right, if the necklace only cost as much as my Christmas earrings, which seems a reasonable assumption, the symphony tickets cost more than the earrings and necklace combined. Semiprecious stones are not generally very expensive. “Would you like to put it on me?”
“That’s a very loaded question. And yes. I would.”
When he fastens the clasp, tightening the short chain, the pendant barely brushes the hollow in my collarbone.
The longing look he has on his face pierces me to the core.
We sit side by side, hands clasped, under a ceiling of gold, watching a lit screen above the orchestra and singers display an English translation of Wagner’s German lyrics as we listen to the performan
