One Red Rose (3 page)

“I’m going out tonight, so don’t plan on me for dinner.”

“Really?” she asked, pushing up in bed. “Where are you going?”

“I have a dinner date.” He looked in the mirror as he brushed his hair, never even glancing over at her to see if she’d be upset.

She waited for more of an explanation, but it didn’t come. She wanted to ask him with whom and where, but she bit her tongue, fearing the answer. If he had a girl on the side, she didn’t really want to know about it. And if he wanted to go out to dinner and stay out all night instead of spending time with her, than so be it.

She remembered now why they’d split up. Because they both were so preoccupied with their own lives, they didn’t have time for each other. So why should this be anything different? What he did with his life was his choice, and what she did with hers, was her choice as well.

She thought about what Carol had said, and also thought it insensitive on his part to tell her this in the first place. He had told her he wasn’t dating anyone. Maybe he was. Or maybe this was work related and he was meeting his boss.

She should have asked him, but it had always been hard pulling information out of him, besides she wasn’t sure she wanted to know. She stayed silent instead. Once again they failed to communicate like they had done so many times in the past.

“Oh,” she said, watching him check himself in the mirror. “That’s fine, because I’ll be out to dinner as well.” She tried to sound cheery, but knew it wasn’t working. She wanted him to get angry or jealous, but he didn’t.

“With your secret admirer?” he asked, his blue-gray eyes fastening on her as he finally looked her way. She felt the power of his gaze, the lust in his look, and the need in his heart. A need that would most likely be filled by someone other than her this night.

“Yes,” she said, “with my secret admirer. Does this bother you?”

“Bother me?” he asked nonchalantly. “Not at all. If I had a secret admirer, I’d go too.”

He left the room at that, and she rolled over, wanting to cry. His comment had just left a hole in her heart. She had her answer. He didn’t really want to get back together after all. She buried her head in her pillow, wanting this day to be over even before it began.

How had things gotten so out of hand? Why hadn’t they taken the time to talk? If he was seeing other women while staying with her, then she’d have to ask him to leave. But her heart cried out for just the opposite. She wanted nothing more than to ask him to stay, forever.

*

Eva awoke to the sound of the doorbell, and jumped from bed, tying her robe around her. Glancing at the clock, she realized it was already past noon. She’d slept a good part of the day, and she knew it was only because she didn’t want to think about Cooper being out to dinner with another woman.

She pulled open the door to see a delivery boy standing there with what she knew were roses in his hand. Two roses to be exact. That brought her total to twenty-four roses all together. They would no longer fit in the vase, as huge as it was. She would have to find room for these roses elsewhere.

She rushed back into the house to dig through her purse for a tip, then thanked the boy. When the door closed, she marched off to the kitchen to find another vase. Sitting there on the table in plain view was the box of candy she’d discarded. With it, another note from Cooper.

These look yummy. Maybe we can eat them together?

“Odd,” she said, filling a glass vase with water, reading the note over and over again. Why wasn’t he jealous? Why did he keep treating her so nicely when he knew some other man was romancing her? And why did he want to eat candy with her when he obviously had some woman on the side with whom he could do so much more?

She put the vase on the kitchen table, her eyes settling upon the calendar on the wall. Today’s date was circled, and she hadn’t done it. Then she realized today, June 23
rd
was not just any day, but their 25
th
anniversary.

She clutched the back of the chair and lowered herself into it on shaky legs. She remembered last year’s anniversary all too well. It had been just after they’d split up, and she’d eaten tuna right from the can as her anniversary dinner. Not at all happy or romantic.

Had Cooper circled the date because he’d remembered their anniversary, when she’d almost forgotten? Or had he circled it because tonight he was having dinner with some mysterious woman whose eyes she wanted to scratch out at the moment?

She picked up the phone and frantically dialed Carol’s number. When the woman greeted her, she almost cried into the phone.

“He’s going out to dinner with another woman on our anniversary!” she all but shouted.

“Calm down,” warned Carol. “You sound so upset, I think you’d better come over here. We need to talk.”

“All right,” she said, knowing it would be good to get out of the house. She didn’t want to be anywhere near here when Cooper came home to ready himself for his big date.

Chapter 4

Eva spent most the day at Carol’s, listening to the woman tell her she was better off without Cooper. By eight o’clock that evening, her friend had tried her hardest to convince her to go to the restaurant and meet her secret admirer for dinner.

“I can’t,” she told her for the last time. “I don’t know this man, nor do I want to.”

Carol finally shut up and looked at her, shaking her head in pity.

“You really love Cooper, don’t you sweetie?” she asked, laying a hand on Eva’s shoulder.

“I do, Carol. And I only wish we could have worked things out. But now I feel it’s too late. Tomorrow, I’m going to ask Cooper to leave. I can’t let him continue to live with me when he’s seeing another woman.”

“You don’t know that for sure.”

“I do know that he didn’t care I was going out with another man. That told me everything I needed to know.”

“You should have tried to talk to him then, before he left this morning.”

“I couldn’t. We could never communicate.”

“A marriage without communication is not a marriage at all, sweetie.”

“I know. But it’s too late for that now.”

“Then what about a divorce?”

Eva jolted, never having considered that idea. Her stomach turned in a knot. “He didn’t ask me for one.”

“Well, you could suggest it.”

“I . . . I don’t know. I need time to think,” she said, thanking Carol for lunch and her hospitality and heading out the door.

There were no new roses waiting for her when she got home. No Cooper either. The house was as dark and empty, just the smell of sweet flowers permeating the air.

She made her way up to the bedroom, noticing the wet shower and smell of cologne coming from the bathroom. Cooper had been here and gone by now. She was sure at this moment he was sitting in a restaurant, gazing into some beautiful woman’s eyes.

“Eight o’clock,” she said aloud. That was the time she was supposed to meet with her secret admirer. “Happy anniversary,” she moaned, and slumped onto the bed, crying into the pillow.

She wasn’t sure how long she’d cried or how long she’d dozed off, but the smell of roses woke her from a sound sleep. She turned her head toward the other side of the bed - Cooper’s side, and in the dark she could make out the silhouette of one red rose resting upon the pillow.

She jumped up, her heart racing, wondering how her secret admirer had gotten into her house. She flicked on the light, seeing the card. And to her surprise, this time it read differently.

Happy Anniversary, love your secret admirer, Cooper.

Her heart jumped and tears filled her eyes. What a fool she’d been. She could barely believe it was true. Her secret admirer had been Cooper all along. It was so unlike him. She had never expected this, he had really changed. At the sound of a noise, she turned to see him standing in the doorway.

He was clothed in a tux, and looked sexier than hell.

“Happy anniversary, Evie.”

She wiped a tear from her eye, and then glanced at the clock. It was only nine.

“I waited for you at The White Plumeria, but you never came.”

She was too choked up to answer. She could barely squeak out a reply.

“You?” she asked, holding the card to her chest. She knew it was true, but needed to hear it from him.

“Me.” His eyes drank her in, and he unfastened his necktie and made his way to the bed.

“Why?” she asked. “Was this some sort of trick? Did you want to see if I’d be unfaithful?”

“No, honey. I never meant it that way. And I’m sorry if I hurt you.”

He sat on the bed and removed his shoes. Then he reached out and held her hands in his.

“I love you, Evie. This past year being apart has been the loneliest time of my life. I’ve thought about it every day why this didn’t work out. I remembered how happy we once were when we first got married.”

“Yes,” she said with a nod of her head. “We were very happy.”

“It’s the romance that was missing, wasn’t it?”

She nodded, too choked up to speak.

“I know neither of us needed to exchange presents, and with the kids growing up it was really hard to find time alone. But maybe we overlooked the importance of those acts. Maybe it’s not complacency that keeps a couple together, but rather the romance that keeps a marriage alive.”

“Yes,” she said, her spirits rising. “Yes, Cooper, that is so true.”

“I know I haven’t been very romantic these past years, but I want to try. I thought the idea of a secret admirer would be exciting for you.”

“You jerk,” she said with a laugh and hit him on the shoulder. “It would have, had I known it was you.”

“Well, if you’d known it was me, you might not have felt it was special.”

“Just the opposite. Knowing these things came from you makes it more special. Knowing you feel this way is the most special thing of all. And the fact we’re communicating is so important. We have to always remember to talk to each other in order to make this work.”

He nodded his head in agreement, then picked up the rose and handed it to her.

“On our first anniversary, I gave you one red rose.”

“I remember,” she said, bringing the soft petals to her face. “I will never forget it.”

“I’d meant to give you one red rose on each anniversary. But since I’ve screwed up, I hope to make it up to you now. Twenty-five roses for twenty-five years of marriage.”

“Thank you, I love them.” Eva reached over and pecked him on the cheek. “So if you’re my secret admirer, then does that mean you weren’t really going to dinner with a beautiful woman?”

“Oh that I was,” he said with a smile. “I meant to be there with you, the most beautiful woman of all. But when I waited for an hour and you didn’t show up, I realized I’d put you in a very awkward position. I just wasn’t thinking. Please forgive me. I’m not good at acting, but you surely have talent. I sat in the audience and watched you on stage last night. You were wonderful, sweetie. Maybe we can take in a show sometime together.”

Eva put down the rose and threw her arms around him. “I love you, Cooper. And I want you to stay.”

He reached into his pocket and handed her a small black box.

“What’s this?” she asked, taking the box carefully into her hands.

“It’s an anniversary present.”

“But we don’t give presents.”

“We do now. Open it, please.”

She opened the box, her gaze settling on a single, pear-shaped diamond mounted atop a band of gold.

“It’s beautiful!” she said, trying to keep herself from crying.

Then he got down on one knee, and took her hands in his. “Will you marry me, Evie?”

“Marry you?” she laughed. “We are married.”

“But I want to marry you again. I want to start over and do it right this time. I want to romance you from the beginning and keep that spark of love and desire burning so strongly that it will never go out again.”

“I will marry you, Cooper,” she said, laughing and dragging him onto to the bed beside her. “And the best part is since our children are already grown, we won’t have to waste time changing diapers.”

“Well, what will we do with all that extra time?” He pulled off his jacket, throwing it onto the end of the bed.

She took his face in her hands and kissed him very deeply.

“Oh, I think we’ll find something to do,” she said in a sultry voice. She shut off the light and pulled him atop her, reveling in the wonderful feel of their bodies pressed close together.

And in the darkness as they made sweet, passionate love like the very first time. A new romance bloomed between them. And the symbol of their love for each other would never be forgotten, as it lay atop the pillow in the form of One Red Rose.