The Valentine's Ritual

Eyes glued to the laptop screen; she had been staring right into the wallpaper since half an hour, shutting out all the functional windows, just a click away from logging out of the system. Vibrations were sent down her leg every tenth of a second and the phone screen lit up with every finger tap. Her eye lashes met on fixed intervals as though it kept a track of time. She had to remind herself to draw some breath every once a while until finally her cell phone bleeped at 16:00 hours and she jumped out of her chair twice; to turn off the alarm so the office pals don't gawk at her for her early departure and the other time when she couldn't hold her excitement in.

"Someone seems to have a grand Valentine plan!" The guy from the adjacent cubicle scoffed at her. Beth just flashed an awkward smile and chose to leave without an answer.

For a person who has seldom left the workplace before cut-off time, the stack of cars in the parking lot amazed her. As she walked through the lane, her hand fetched for the car keys in her shoulder bag and landed with a grocery list too.

The market wasn't as busy as Beth expected it to be. She crossed the entrance of an aisle with an empty cart blindly searching for the items on her list. The flavors of doritos on the rack caught her attention. She shuffled through them for a brief moment and grabbed a red one. Smiling to herself she ripped it with the help of her long nails and popped a mouthful.

*

Beth and Lucus weren't much about rituals up until a couple of years back. It was February fourteenth in Montana. The roads battled with Jack Frost. The two didn't feel like leaving their Airbnb since morning, so they ordered some food and snuggled through the day.

However, the stay-in part of the trip didn't last for long. The resturants were shut by the evening and the paths was all covered up by the snow with only one accessible drug store in the vicinity.

The store had quite a few things to nudge the epicure in Beth. She flooded the cart with spices and dairy products.

"So how about Sausages?" Beth threw the question in the air, hoping for only Lucas to hear it.

"Sure!" He replied.

"And Mac n cheese?"

"Uh-huh" his voice sounded different. Beth turned around to find Lucas munching on Doritos.

"What? I'm starving!" He said with another bite.

"And some noodles, I guess." Beth said reaching out for a packet.

Coming back to the room, they modified the thermostat. Beth occupied the kitchen for the next few hours. Meanwhile, lucas tried to open the stuck cold storage door to rescue their bottle of Merlot.

"Hey! No maple syrup please!" He jumped as Beth was about to add it for the noodles.

"Oh right! You don't like it. I will use some honey instead."

*

Beth paused for a second and looked down at her grocery list. She scratched out 'maple syrup' and scribbled 'honey' in the available space.

After about two hours, she reached home and unlocked the door with a key sitting in a hanging planter. Her eyes took a quick tour of the front room merging with a kitchen. She let out a sigh and set about to fix some dinner.

Placing all the raw ingredients and greens on the table, Beth tied her hair into a bun, rolled up her sleeves and looked for a knife and the chopper. To her surprise, the shelves seemed to be changed. She went through almost all the upper drawers in search of a knife eventually to find it on the counter in a knife holder.

"Much has been moved around since last year", Beth thought to herself. She had to dig in for several more things not found in the presumed places.

She glanced at the clock after she was almost done cooking. The table wasn't set yet. Giving a wipe to the kitchen platform she moved towards the dining table. It definitely called for a change of sheets. As she moved to grab a fresh pair of sheets, her elbow knocked the neck of the Merlot she had brought in for tonight. It rolled to the edge and shattered on the floor; wine gushing out, widening the parameter of the crime scene.

*

15th February, a year ago..

Beth settled on the couch with her plate of sausages, mac n cheese and sesame soba noodles.

"I'm sure you age like fine wine" she mouthed.

"Really?" Lucas blushed.

Beth shook her head and pointed at the food, biting up the fork with a sausage.

"This is so strange. You always get to have our Valentine's food the next morning." Lucas said remembering the night in Montana when Beth felt sick and couldn't eat that night.

" What's more strange is, the wine is always reserved for the next morning!" Beth giggled and sipped on some wine.

"I know! Last night was such a bummer!" He sighed.

*

While Beth gathered the minute glass fragments, she dwelled on the thoughts of how in Montana the wine bottle was stuck in the storage for the night and how it laid on back of the car seat last year.

She was all set with a table-for-two, esthetically enhanced with rose petals and white lilies. The room was dim lit with water candles and firefly lanterns. Putting on some soothing music, she felt the room for a bit.

"What else would have made my mood?" She thought to herself. Her gaze wandered for a bit. She walked towards the balcony, drew the curtains and pushed the slidings aside. A cold breeze swirled around her untied hair, sending waves through her seemless shirt. She stroked her shins together and wrapped her arms around.

Beth suspected a knock on the door. She went numb. Someone was unlatching the door. She caught hold of her bag and rushed to the bedroom.

"Beth?" Lucas called out.

"In here" she exhaled.

"It looks beautiful! I'm speechless. Happy Valentine's day." Lucas held her face and left a peck on her forehead.

"Happy Valentine's to you too!" She said while throwing her arms around him.

"Thank you so much, Beth. What would I do without you?"

The sound of the door bell startled them. His Valentine - his wife arrived at the door.

"Go..you shouldn't make her wait." Beth suggested.

"How will you leave?"

"The way I escaped last year despite of your fiancée in the front room."

"The pipes?"

"The pipes." She simpered.

"I will save you some."

"Will be waiting with a Merlot," She breathed, "Now go!"

As lucas left the room, Beth couldn't help but notice the wedding photo hung over the bed. She smiled to herself and mouthed, "Much has been moved around since last year."

She shuddered to erase the picture her mind painted and moved to the pipes.