When Jesse had left Willow Creek, Elise's hair had been blonde. Now it was red. Elise had sent him –well, she'd sent Lily – a picture earlier that week, but it was different to see it in person. For that first initial moment the red of her hair with the soft light around it brought Jesse back to that night he met Elise at the bar, and then Jesse noticed that she was wearing the lilies necklace he had gotten her for her birthday before they'd left.
Elise's birthday was on June 30th, and Jesse had started thinking about what to get her when the first day of the month hit. His ideas had evolved and changed a lot. Most of the people that had killed someone didn't have to think about what to get them for their birthday later. Jesse had spent a lot of time looking at art before he realized it would be dumb to get Elise something that she made herself and knew so much about, when Jesse didn't know anything and didn't know for sure if she'd like it. He didn't want to get her art supplies or anything else that she probably bought for herself regularly. Mostly, Jesse didn't want to get her anything that might encroach on an area of her life that he hadn't been invited in. When you considered that she felt like she needed over a thousand miles distance between them, that was a tall order.
He'd bought her the lily necklace and ring set the week before Elise got back from Ibiza. When Jesse saw them, they'd caught his eye because of the lilies, and he'd thought they were pretty and that they'd look even prettier on Elise. The lily motif had a lot more to do with Jesse than Elise, but since Jesse didn't want to risk tainting anything Elise loved, that seemed fitting. It had seemed better to give her a piece of himself than to try and tell her who he thought she was. The pearls in the center of the lilies were the June birthstone, so it related to Elise personally too. Elise had met Lily a week after Jesse bought the birthday gift, but the way she'd responded had made Jesse feel like he'd made an even better choice than he'd originally thought.
Once he'd picked out what he was going to get her, Jesse had talked the jeweler into holding onto it for a few days while he got the money together. A couple days later, Jesse had used the money that his blackmailer had taken from him and the rest of the money he'd made so far barring the stuff he set aside for his Lily flower, to buy the jewelry and to get it resized. Jesse was used to necklaces costing thousands and thousands of dollars, and even together, this ring and necklace weren't as high-end as anything Jesse's father ever bought his mother, but the pearls inside the necklace were authentic and so was the white gold even if it wasn't a very high karat. Jesse had figured Elise was the kind of girl where the price wouldn't matter if she liked the look. He really liked that with Elise, if it was coming from someone else, she who probably wouldn't have even minded if the jewelry was costume. But that wasn't the kind of thing Jesse thought you should ever give a girl as a birthday gift. If you were going to buy a girl jewelry, it was really important that it was real.
Jesse had done his best to figure out her ring size by looking for someone with hands that were a similar size and asking for her help. Jesse had also sent a picture of Elise to one of his great-uncles for a second opinion. The Damianis who weren't in the wine business were mostly in diamonds. Jesse felt bad lying about who he was, but his great-uncle had been a jeweler for a very long time, and was much better than Jesse at telling a ring size based on a picture of a hand.
Jesse hadn't seen Elise wearing much jewelry, besides earrings and the occasional stuff she would have bought herself, but that hadn't deterred Jesse much. He hadn't been thinking she'd wear this necklace either. Worst case, she'd throw out anything Jesse gave her. Best case, it would probably end up in the bottom of a jewelry box or in the back of her closet. It wasn't about what Elise did with the gift after. Jesse had just wanted to give her something nice.