Page 92 of Say it Ain’t So

For a moment, I thought about not getting up. The sound wasn’t normal. When Frank knocked at my window, telling me he’d found something pretty, it had a distinct click that I’d learned years ago. This tapping sounded louder—not like a beak, but like someone tossing a rock. It would be just my luck to crawl off the couch and drag myself to the window only to find out it was just a bunch of kids.

The tapping continued, though, and if nothing else, I wanted it to stop. So I pulled myself up and pushed back my hair. I wiped my face with my palms, then wiped my nose with the last tissue from my box. The tapping came again, and I let out a harsh breath.

“Geez, Frank. I’m coming,” I muttered. “What the heck did you find that’s so damn important you can’t just leave it in the bowl?”

He tapped again before I could stand. Tapped again as I took my first step toward the window. I pulled back the curtains and found him standing on the fire escape, wings spread wide.

“Hey, buddy,” I cooed as I pulled open the window and a cool breeze came flying by. Frank bobbed up and down but didn’t make a sound as I reached into my can of peanuts and pulled out a few nuts. “You’re pretty persistent today. What did you find me?”

When I turned back to the bird, my hands shot to my face and the nuts went flying. In his beak, Frank held a silver ring that had a large diamond protruding from it. He flapped his wings, stepping closer, and swayed back and forth, his shiny black eyes peering in through the window as if he were looking for the nuts. With shaky hands, I reached out to accept his gift.

Frank bobbed again, then dropped the shiny ring into my palm.

“Did you—?” I blinked. I was horrified. Before Rylan got hurt, Frank had stolen a pair of pink gloves from a little girl in the park just to get him in trouble. “Did you steal this from someone?”

Frank stepped closer, ducking his head, not as if he were ashamed for his actions, but like he was looking for his food. Sure enough, he snatched a peanut from the windowsill, then bobbed again, coming closer as he searched for more.

I reached out my free hand, petting the top of his head with one finger. “Why would you take this? That wasn’t very nice of you.”

He looked up at me and spread his wings before letting out a squawk. He pecked at my hand, and I pulled it back before he could grab the ring again. I dropped a handful of nuts into his bowl, then leaned out the window to get a better look at the ring in the sunlight.

It was beautiful. The exact same ring I’d always wanted. The one I had on my vision board years ago. The same one⁠—

“Joss!”

Oh my God. It was… It couldn’t be. My mind had to be playing tricks on me. Because this looked like the ring Rylan proposed to me with. And that voice⁠—

“Joss!”

I glanced up as Frank spread his wings and took off. Through the flurry of black feathers, I could do nothing more than blink. When Frank soared to the street and landed, my heart stopped.

“Rylan?”

“Joss!” He was there. Rylan was there! Standing across the street from my apartment, his injured leg held out slightly in front of him as he balanced his weight on his crutches.

“Rylan, what are you doing?” I glanced up and down the street, worried he’d fall into traffic and die. “Don’t move! Stay right there!”

Without bothering to shut my window, I turned around and grabbed my keys before racing to the stairs. I took them three at a time, nearly breaking my leg as I slipped off one. I righted myself and raced on, stumbling through the door and into the street.

“Rylan!” I barely glanced both ways before I was racing across to him. Frank sat on his shoulder, the two of them watching me with shit-eating grins. “What are you doing here?”

Rylan dropped one crutch and pulled me to his chest. I held on tight, worried he was going to fall. Worried I’d somehow have to pick him up.

“Joss, gorgeous,” he whispered to the top of my head before Frank dipped in and snagged a strand of my hair.

“Ouch!”

“Dammit, Frank!” Rylan edged back, and I tucked my body under his shoulder to hold his weight. “You’re done here. Go on. I left you a pile of nuts down there.”

Frank bobbed, then flew off Rylan’s shoulder and settled over his peanuts. I peeked up at him, only to get lost in the dazzling blue of his eyes.

“What are you doing here?”

Rylan’s smile was full of sadness. He turned himself, nodding his head toward the white car beside him. I helped him to it, and he sat on the hood.

“I missed you, gorgeous,” he whispered, gripping my face between his palms.

“I just saw you! You’re supposed to be at home with your parents!”