A Crime of Passion, Love and Loss

 A Crime of Passion, Love and Loss

It was the weekend that disappeared.

Passion in the Planning.

It was early the morning of June 23^rd.  Ed rolled out of bed like usual about 5:24 AM, showered and went downstairs to make coffee.  He made coffee every morning and would put hot water into the cups, rinsing several times; making them perfectly warm to accept the fresh ground, carefully dripped, hot coffee. The cups in regimented order awaited in front of the brewing station.  

As Ed walked to his office, two flights of stairs up from the kitchen, his excitement and prospects for the weekend celebration heightened.  He went over the plans for the workday:  A haircut, no he could put it off until Friday morning…it was a lighter day for work.  Shirts, darn it’s going to be hot, short sleeve or long—need a long one for the special engagement on Saturday night—need to pick up some shirts this afternoon and see which one Elaine likes.  Don’t forget to call the hotel to upgrade the room.  Don’t forget to call the theatre to ensure the upgraded tickets are waiting at the box office! What was it that he was forgetting, he pondered…

Ah, Elaine’s coffee!  He quickly ran downstairs and dumped the warm water and filled her cup.  She was just checking her email and was happy to have her coffee delivered.  “Thanks, Ed; much appreciated,” she said as she set the coffee on her side table and went back to her Mac.

The day of work progressed quickly, especially the morning.  Ed felt that the week had started pretty ugly as the escalations to his desk got personal at times.  But this morning it was different.  The team was playing nice, and he hadn’t gotten any nasty grams from the leadership team.  Yes, he thought; this is going to be a great weekend!  Oh, don’t forget to call the hotel again to make sure the flowers will be delivered at dinner.  Elaine would be slightly embarrassed, but the smile and brightness in her eyes would be worth it!

It was lunchtime and he had mentioned to Elaine that he’d pick up one of her favorite sandwiches.  A couple demand calls got in the way, but Ed was able to slip out and get her the sandwich.  Delivered and eaten…Ed was back at work.

By 3PM Ed had things mostly wrapped up.  In between business calls he had checked the florist, the hotel, the restaurant; all was in place.  The theatre couldn’t offer up the seats he had requested as it was a day too early (he thought it was already Friday!).  “Call back at 10 AM tomorrow please the kind gentleman at the box office had said.”  

Yes, everything was in place! 

Except the shirt.

Love in the Later Afternoon.

Luckily the men’s store was close by, and Ed could get over and back within the hour.  Dinner this evening was going to be Elaine’s favorite Veal Marsala.  He had to be back in an hour to start the potatoes and prep!

The store was quiet for a late Thursday afternoon.  Ed had gone to this store, his favorite as many of the shirts he had bought in the past were from there.  As he browsed through the shirts, something “bunny” and the Gold Standard, his go-to choice; he noticed an elderly gentleman helping an equally elderly lady who couldn’t find the right side of the cash register.  Ed recognized him as the salesman that had helped him out with previous purchases.  “He’s still here, Covid and all; after all this time!” Ed thought.  It was good to see a familiar face!

The next twenty minutes Ed and the salesman talked about how the salesman had helped him out during Covid when the eldest boy got married. Ed showing him the color of pants he had purchased previously, hoping to pair accordingly.  They both used those pants as a guide as they looked through mountains of shirts.  Ed said: “Did you watch the Avalanche last night? (and went into too much explanation of the game, the OT, the defense and the win…before he got to the point…) The Tampa Bay Lightning coach had on a shirt I liked!”  So, the quest for a shirt continued for another 15 minutes.

When all was said and done, Ed had six shirts.  “I know she’ll like one of them” Ed thought to himself.  His passion and love for Elaine in full mode, he wanted everything to be perfect…down to her acceptance of the right shirt.

Proudly arriving back home with six new shirts, Ed hurried upstairs to stash the shirts and check the last remnants of the workday on his computer.  Work was quiet so downstairs…and down more stairs to grab a bottle of wine from the wine cellar next to Elaine.  She was working hard so she didn’t notice Ed grabbing the wine.

Dinner preparation began peeling potatoes and as Ed went through the motions of peel, rinse, peel and put in the pan of water his thoughts turned to the agenda for the weekend…had he missed anything?

Ed’s passion was carefully planned itineraries.  This had to be just right for his one and only true love.  He reviewed the weekend schedule for the “birthday” girl:

4PM Friday, Depart for Hotel

5PM Friday, Check-in to hotel, Unpack and relax

6:30 PM Friday, Dinner at hotel restaurant

Reservations, include flowers, desert a candle and a birthday wish

8:45PM (or so), Enjoy sunset from prime room view

9 or 10AM Saturday, Choice of Brunch

Discuss options for day:  

Shopping, drive into the hills; art museum (she’d say no); other options, sky’s the limit

11AM - 3:30PM Saturday, Whatever Elaine chose

3:30PM Saturday, Shower, dress for dinner

And the grand finale:

5:30PM Saturday, Dinner Reservations, Five Star Restaurant

8PM Saturday, Theatre Moulin Rouge

Sunday, Check-out of hotel, head South discussing a wonderful weekend!

Love challenged to Loss.

The “who done it” is not clear, but it clearly happened before, during and after the dinner Thursday evening.

Ed loved to cook, Veal Marsala was one of his trademark recipes and one that Elaine always gave him high marks on.  The potatoes were ready, the veal prepped, and the sauce ingredients were lined up next to the sauté pan set to the ready next to the gas cooktop in the center island. He knew that getting Elaine upstairs had to be choreographed so the meal could be served at the right time.

In his best ‘I love you Missus’voice, Ed stood at the landing at the top of the stairs and asked: “What time to you want to eat honey?” “Whenever it’s ready.” Replied a distracted Elaine.

Ed knew it could take a while to disengage Elain from work, so he bought extra time by opening and decanting a Cabernet Sauvignon, well-aged and one of Elaine’s favorites.  He grabbed two of the “fancy” wine glasses and set them near the decanted wine.  He heard Elaine’s steps on the stairs and proceeded to start the veal.

Elaine came up to the kitchen after climbing the two flights of stairs to the kitchen.  Ed was focused on the veal and didn’t notice that the look on her face was that of frustration, apparently her workday hadn’t ended as well…

Elaine poured herself a glass of wine and set up her Mac at the kitchen table.  Ed continued to cook dinner and said: “I’ll need your help later… (he was thinking about the shirts and wanted Elaine to help pick one out so he could pack)” which was immediately met with a “Don’t talk to me.” As Elaine continued to work on her Mac.

Ed noticed she had an email from the financial planner next to her but continued to work on dinner—nearing completion.

Elaine said: “How do I get into this, what do I need?”  Ed said: “The instructions are in several emails.”  “I have so much shit in my email, it’s hard to find anything.” Elaine replied.  Ed came over and looked at her screen and said: “There are several from the financial planner and I think one has…” but was interrupted by Elaine saying: “I can’t work with someone looking over my shoulder…” so Ed retreated.

The conversation (or lack of Ed thought) continued to an elevated pitch until Ed said: “Dinner’s ready, it’s going to get cold.”  Elaine continued work on her Mac asking…but not asking is it this or that or something else.  Ed said: “Have you checked all of your emails?”  That sure didn’t go over well as Ed was reprimanded: “Listen how you’re talking to me” Elaine said. 

“I’m going to eat, the food’s getting cold!” said Ed.

Silence ensued.

Elaine eventually filled her plate, topped off her wine and came over to the table.  Ed ate in silence, but did look up at Elaine, who ignored him at first.  Then Elaine said: “If you keep this up, I’m not going to eat with you; I’ll leave the table!”

Obviously, Ed didn’t learn his lesson, he looked up again; wondering what had come over Elaine to be so angry and short with him.  She caught his gaze and said: “OK, that’s it I’m going to eat by myself!” Elaine grabbed her plate and wine, storming away to the family room.

More silence ensued.

After they finished the meal (in separate rooms), the dishes were cleaned.  In the kitchen together Elaine and Ed were like negative neutrons…as one would get close the other bounced away.

The rest of the night tumbled into oblivion.  Ed was hurt and he wanted to hurt back.  Ed was trying to help Elaine with the financial access and cook a meal at the same time.  Ed was hurt and Elaine just didn’t appreciate anything he had done.

Anger, crazed anger, at Elaine for doing this the day before “the weekend.”  All unraveled in an hour; all plans fizzled.  

Ed built a wall that night. Four flights of stairs separated him from Elaine, creating an immense gap that felt like a time warp. It was as vast as the distance between the earth and the moon, stretching over three days.

The weekend passed slowly and only a few words were shared in its passing.

This was the weekend that never happened; it was like a shiny object that was lost.  It appeared and it was gone.

It was the weekend that disappeared!