She carefully gathered the papers and placed them on the desk. She paused a moment and looked cautiously around the office again. Knocking the papers off of the desk had rattled her, and Riley realized her hands were shaking. She rubbed them on her thighs and took a deep breath.
“It’s my house, too,” Riley muttered under her breath. She reached for the center drawer first, pulled it open and carefully sorted through the contents. A couple of pens, a stapler, some old receipts. Nothing to be concerned about. Riley then went to the drawers on the side. Still nothing. Why in the world did she keep all these receipts? There were piles of them wadded up and thrown in – not clipped together like they were kept for taxes or anything.
Rliley considered cleaning out the desk – the crumpled receipts were really bugging her, and the trash can was right there. She didn’t want Sue to realize she was snooping, though. There was this feeling lately – awkward, short phone calls, times when would be just a little late. They had been married for a few years now. Had she gotten bored? She sat in the chair at the desk and put her head down.
Their budget included personal spending money for both of them, and they would often treat each other to lunch with part of it. Lately, though, Sue kept saying she had a work project and would be working through lunch. Their anniversary was next week, and the distance between them never seemed larger than it was now. Riley got up and walked to their kitchen.
The half day off work had given her time alone in the house to confirm her suspicions, but instead of finding the smoking gun, there was nothing. The clock on the microwave said it was 4:23. She better get something together for dinner when Sue came home. She thawed chicken last night and was just grilling chicken breasts and serving them with steamed veggies with poached pears for dessert. Something easy and light. She lost herself in making dinner, even while her mind looked for some other evidence that Sue might be cheating.
“I’m home!” Sue’s voice rang from the door, and Riley could hear their dog, Arthur, running across the floor and whining as he greeted her.
“Dinner’s almost ready!” Riley called from the kitchen.
Sue came into the kitchen, color in her cheeks, slightly breathless from greeting Arthur with puppy cuddles and light wrestling. The mutt’s genetics had been a surprise, and they ended up with a small pony instead of the middle-sized dog they had hoped for, but he was actually a sweet couch potato much of the time, and reliable to bark at strangers, random noises, and possibly, satellites overhead. The truth was that the barking was mostly a mystery, which made them glad they had a place a little out of town without close neighbors. They were pretty sure if someone heard their dog randomly barking at three in the morning there would be complaints.
“How was your day?” asked Sue.
“Only a half day, so it was short, at least. Are you done with the project at work yet?”
Riley examined Sue’s face as she asked the question. They had been together almost three years before finally marrying, and she believed she could read Sue like a book. She watched for a hint of reaching for an excuse. She wondered about the “seven-year itch.” Had Sue gotten tired of her? Was there someone else?
A brief expression crossed Sue’s face. A flicker. Not enough to be certain of anything, but Riley swore she saw it there. Sue reached out and touched Riley’s shoulder before pulling her into a hug. In an instant, Arthur was there between them, making sure to be the center of attention.
“I have something for you.” Sue said quietly in their embrace. She dashed back to the foyer and returned with a card.
“I know that things have seemed kind of weird for a few months. I couldn’t think of any other way to do this. I would have tried to surprise you with this tomorrow, but I figure you would freak if I rearranged furniture without you.” Sue grinned at her, a mischievous light glinting in her eyes.
As Riley opened the card, Sue said, “Did you know that music stores will let you do layaway? Man… I have been paying for almost a year to get this ordered, and I just couldn’t get money fast enough. I missed our lunches, and I hoped, once we got to this, you could understand.”
In the card, was a receipt for a new piano, with a delivery scheduled for the next day.
“I know how much you miss playing. I have wanted to do this for awhile, but it was just so expensive. I saved a little every month, but I just couldn’t stand waiting anymore and decided to take on a couple of side projects and put all my spending money into it and try to finish it for this year. I hope this is okay.”
“It’s perfect,” Riley answered. “Absolutely perfect.”