The Rehearsed Surprise

For their twentieth anniversary, Owen arranged a surprise dinner at the restaurant where he and Beth had first met. He contacted old friends, requested the same table and persuaded the pianist to learn a song that had once mattered to them.

Everyone admired the care he had taken. Beth, when she arrived, looked briefly alarmed before smiling in exactly the way Owen had imagined.

Throughout dinner, people retold stories about the early years of their marriage. Beth laughed at the appropriate moments. She also spent a surprising amount of time asking the youngest guest about a course in architectural drawing.

Walking home, Owen asked whether she had enjoyed the evening. She said that it had been lovely. He heard the pause before the answer and pressed her.

Beth was reluctant to criticise a gift that had required so much effort. Eventually she admitted that she had hoped to spend the evening talking about something they might do next, rather than hearing again how they had begun.

Owen felt that she was rejecting their history. She pointed out that she knew those stories too; she had been present for most of them.

The following Sunday, they visited an exhibition neither had seen. At the entrance, Owen began explaining why he thought she would like it, then stopped and asked what interested her.

There was no pianist, no perfect table and nobody to witness his thoughtfulness. Beth stayed much longer than either of them had expected.