"That will be $667.37, please," the cashier at Macy's said to me.

I handed her my soon-to-be maxed out Capital One credit card with a smile. The few times I came here with my fiance Adam, he pointed out this expensive gold watch. Christmas was tomorrow, and I was hoping to save up enough money so I didn't have to use my credit card. Unfortunately, waitressing didn't always pay the bills.

"Please be advised," the cashier warned, "since the watch was on clearance, it can't be returned. All clearance item sales are final."

"No problem," I said with confidence. No way would he be returning this watch.

The saleswoman finished ringing me up before handing me the receipts and gift wrapping his watch. Even though maxing out my credit card probably wasn't the smartest idea, it felt nice to get him something he really wanted.

Adam and I were definitely a unique pair. He worked on Wall Street and we met one night when he came into my restaurant with some of his business partners. He showed interest and invited me out to dinner.

Everything seemed to go well after that. We hit it off, we started dating frequently, then we were in a relationship. Then two years later, he popped the question. I will never forget that day. We were on a cruise in the Bahamas when he got down on one knee and asked me if I would marry him. My answer was an immediate yes.

We've been engaged now for six months and it has been bliss. Of course, like any normal couple, we've had our disagreements. But, we always seem to get past it. Unfortunately, he's been under a lot of stress lately with work. That's one reason I wanted to get him this watch.

Hopefully this would raise his spirits when he opened it tomorrow. Christmas had always been my favorite time of the year and I had been looking forward to it more this year. After all, it was out first Christmas as an engaged couple.

I stopped just as I got to the exit of the store when my cell phone went off. I smiled as I saw my best friend Camille's name on the screen.

"Hey, Cam," I said in greeting. Cam and I had been friends ever since freshman year of high school. She was the yin to my yang and I didn't know what I would do without her.

"So, did you get it?"

The 'it' she was referring to was the watch that I was now carrying in a gift bag. She kept warning me not to get the it and would say it was too expensive. She also didn't like Adam. "Yes, Cam. I bought the watch."

"I hope this doesn't turn out biting you in the ass," she quipped.

"How could it possibly bite me in the ass?" I immediately regretted asking her that question, knowing she would go into her normal rant.

"For one, you're going to end up in debt if you keep doing stuff like that. He never buys you anything and he's hardly ever around, Ally."

Even though I knew she was right, I still went on the defensive. "He's a stock broker, Cam. They work crazy hours. Besides, he took me out for my birthday, remember?"

She let out a snort. "Yeah, four months ago. Listen, I know you love the guy and you want to marry him. But, I know you, Ally. You don't want to spend your life with an uptight, money-hungry, narcissistic, selfish asshole. You want someone creative, like you. Someone who would rather spend a date night binging the latest season of YOU on Netflix and making your toes curl."

Well, when she puts it like that..."Cam, I love Adam."

"If you say so," she breathed into the phone. I rolled my eyes at her as I heard the beep alerting me that I was getting another call. I looked at the caller ID. Speak of the devil.

"Hey, Cam. I gotta go."

"Yeah, yeah. Tell him I said hey."

I smiled as I flipped over, excited to be hearing from him. He always preferred to call me when he was finished with work. He didn't like it when I "interrupted" his day. "Hey, babe."

"Hey, Ally."

I frowned at his curtness. "Did you have a bad day?" Usually I could tell my his demeanor and voice when work was rough. There were a number of times where it ended with us getting into an argument because he lost his temper. It was days like those when I considered ending the relationship. But, I loved him and you stick around for the one you loved.

"Work was fine. Listen, Ally. I don't know how to say this...but the engagement is off."

I froze where I stood. Clearly, I couldn't have heard him right. "Wait, what?"

"It's not working. The engagement is off," he repeated coldly. Like he wasn't upset about ending our relationship and cancelling our wedding.

"Why are you saying that? Why are you trying to end this?" I knew I was probably repeating myself, but I couldn't think. I couldn't move. My heart was pounding in my ears. I felt lightheaded. Dizzy. What the hell was going on?

I felt the tears starting to pour down my face. "Why? We were happy."

"No, I wasn't. Look, I need to get back to work. I had some movers come and pick up my stuff so you can finish out the lease."

What the hell was he even talking about? My brain wasn't following anything. He broke off our engagement, moved his stuff out...what's next? He wants my ring back?

"Oh, and by the way, I'm going to need the ring back. You can just mail it to me. I'll email you my new address. Take care, Ally."

The line went dead and I sat down on the bench that was a few feet away. How could this be happening? We had just started planning the wedding. We had decided on a venue and a caterer.
We were drawing up the guest list...what the fuck happened?

Needing advice from the one person who knew me the most, I grabbed my phone and called Cam back.

"What's wrong?" She asked as soon as she answered the phone. She probably knew something was wrong since I just spoke to her. Usually I was on the phone with Adam for awhile when he called after work.

"Cam, everything is just so messed up," I cried into the phone. "Adam-- He ended it with me. He broke our engagement!"

I heard her suck in a surprised breath. "What! Why?"

I shook my head and remembered she couldn't see me since she was on the phone. "He didn't give me a reason. He just said that we weren't working." I didn't care that tears were streaming down my face as I sat on a bench in the middle of the sidewalk. The New York city streets were always primed with heavy foot traffic. So much so, that no one probably noticed me breaking down in public at three in the afternoon.

"That's bullshit! I know I said I was worried about you two working out, but the bastard should have given you a legit reason; and he should have not done this over the phone!" Cam cried out. She was always there for me and I was grateful for her more than ever right now.

I looked down at the expensive engagement ring he bought for me. It had a gold band and a two-carat-diamond in the middle of two sapphires. I didn't know how much it was, but I knew it was a hefty amount. "He wants me to mail him the ring back."

"You should pawn it. I'm pretty sure once he gave it to you, it became yours." She paused before she asked, "Wait, did you say he wants you to mail it? Why mail it?"

"He moved his stuff out while I was gone."

"That motherfucker! I'm going to show up at his job and key his Mercedes. Then, I'm going to trash his office and leave a note so he knows it was me. Then, when he confronts me, I'll kick him right in the dick."

In spite of how I was feeling, I laughed into the phone. "Please, Cam, don't do that. He'll probably press charges and I need you free tonight so we can go out to a bar and get wasted."

Cam let out a disgusted sigh on the phone. "Fine. I guess drinks will do....for now. Don't mail the ring. I'm serious. Pawn that shit. It's the least he deserves."

"We'll see," I replied. To be honest, I couldn't make any decisions right now.

"Oh, by the way, what about the watch?" She asked curiously.

I looked down at the expensive watch I had just purchased with a frown. What was I going to do with it? The sales woman's voice whispered through my mind, "Please be advised, since the watch was on clearance, it can't be returned. All clearance item sales are final."

An idea came to me and I smiled to myself. "I have an idea. Meet me at Down the Rabbit Hole at seven."

Oh, karma really was a bitch; and she was in town tonight.