Chapter 17

• I did, scrunched up my nose into a frown of distaste. It was a blue box, navy blue, and I immediately knew what was inside it. My heart growled in my chest. The last time I had an engagement ring, I had tossed it into the ocean. I'd considered pawning it for a full five seconds before deciding that I didn't want someone else's love story tainted by the disgusting piece of junk that had represented the end of my own fairy tale.
• The box popped open with a loud click, and sitting before me was cushioned the most beautiful engagement ring I've ever seen in my entire life—movies, pictures, and actual life all swirled together.
• It wasn't just any ring, however. It was the ring I'd been drawn to and snatched the heart of from a magazine when I was fourteen. I'd ripped it out of the issue of Vogue and tacked it on my Big Fairy-Tale Wedding pinboard. I still had that pinboard stashed around the attic, covered with cut-outs of the perfect wedding dress, the perfect bouquet, the perfect flower arrangement…