Anniversary

“I’m home”, he shouted as he opened the front door and stepped in the warm comfort of his house. No response. He shook some snow off of his jacket and took off his shoes. As he walked to the kitchen, he put his bag on the stairs and rubbed his hands against each other to get them warm. He opened the bottle of red wine he bought earlier this week for this occasion. “A nice glass of wine to start of the evening”, he mumbled to himself. It was the fourth of January, not an ordinary day no, it was the anniversary of him and his wife and he had planned a romantic dinner. He bought some wine, on which he already started, candles, and he was going to cook shepherd’s pie. His wife’s favourite. Before he started cooking, he was going to drink his wine and take a warm shower. It were busy times at his job. He was a divorce lawyer and the winter months are always a busy time for divorce lawyers. He needed some time to relax and get warm. “They still haven’t caught him”, he mumbled as a notification on his phone popped up about the robbery of the jewellery store a couple of days ago. He walked up the stairs and went to the bathroom.

After his shower he put on some comfortable clothes and walked down the stairs. He got his phone out of his pocket to read the recipe of the shepherd’s pie. “Sauté some onions and the beef, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, flour”, he said between his lips as he scrolled down. “I should preheat the oven so it is ready for the pie”, he thought to himself. After turning on the oven, he took out the beef of the fridge and started chopping the onions. He added thyme, rosemary, and parsley to the onions and the beef and inhaled deeply through his nose. “Smells good!”, he triumphantly said. When he added the flour he decided to put on some music. “Now where is that Elvis CD?” The night he and his wife met, Can't Help Falling In Love With You was playing and they danced to it all night. And many other nights after that first one. It was even the song of the first dance at their wedding. He smiled at the memory of that warm day in June all those years ago. The marriage celebrations took place in a beautiful castle garden just outside the city, it was one of his wife’s favourite spots. He remembered how his best friend gave the most embarrassing speech in the history of best man speeches, the beautiful words his father had spoken to him and his wife. But most of all he remembered her. How stunning she looked when she was walking down the aisle. Through her vail he could see her eyes, her bright blue eyes, and the smile with which he fell in love with. Her smile always did calm him down, even at that time when he was the most nervous he had ever been. “Ah, there it is”, he said as he picked out the Elvis CD from the pile of CD’s. He put on the CD and started to sing along with the words of Heartbreak Hotel. 

When the shepherd’s pie was ready he set the table for two. As he lit on the candles he shut out the lights so the dim light casted by the candles would provide a romantic ambiance in the room. He took some plates and cutlery from the cabinets in the kitchen and put them on the table. He took the bottle of wine and two glasses and poured them both. “I had a rough day at work”, he said as he was putting a piece of shepherd’s pie onto his plate. “This guy is trying to get half of my clients money when they are divorcing but they have a prenup”, he said. “He is not getting anything, it is all arranged in the contract. I don’t know what this guy is thinking”, he said with a smile on his face. He sat down and started eating. “This pie really worked out well, it is so tender, how do you like it?”

As Elvis’ sang the final words and the song stopped playing it became quiet, very quiet. The smile disappeared from his face and he slowly lowered his knife and fork until they were on his plate. He looked up across the table to the other side and saw an untouched, empty plate. The cutlery had not been moved and the glass of wine was still full. He looked down to his plate as his tears blurred his vision. He gained a lump in his throat and he wiped his mouth with his shaking hands. He looked back up, to the empty chair. The only thing moving were the dancing lights of the candles. Two tears were rolling down his face, one on each cheek. He started to weep, silently. As he covered his face with his hands, his knife and fork fell on the table. He walked to the bookcase and took out his wedding picture. He looked at this wife through his tears. “This…this is my first anniversary al…alone”, he stumbled as he stroke her face with his finger. “The holidays have been so hard without you. We were supposed to go on a little vacation together remember?”, he sobbed. “We booked that B&B you like so much, where we also went that summer before your brother’s wedding”, he continued. He walked back to the table with the picture in his hand. He sat down and put the picture right beside him. As he picked up his knife and fork he looked at the wedding picture. “I miss you, so much”, he whispered. “It is not fair you are not here with me anymore, it is not fair I had to lose you”. He took a deep breath and took a bit of the pie. “It is really good, you would have liked it”.