In the dark

She’d put off the crystal chandelier for months. It stood there in the dining room, chiding Molly for her own laziness.

“I think I’ll clean the crystals myself,” Molly had told her husband, Geoffrey, before he headed to work that morning. Geoffrey had a business dinner that evening, he told her. He worked so hard for them – frequently late, burning the midnight oil at work he said. Plenty of evening business dinners. Don’t call me evenings, darling, he would say, I need to focus on my daily reports.

Molly got the ladder out of the broom closet to start her morning’s task, but the recyclables basket turned over when she pulled it out. She groaned, “Horsefeathers!” Not only had she let the crystals get dusty and dirty, she’d made a mess of all Geoffrey’s discarded business papers. He probably should’ve put them through the paper shredder.

She picked them up – receipts, invoices, old reports. She took a look at a few of them. One report, Accounts receivable 05.09.2009, just like any of the others. Receipts for business dinners – Top of the Triangle, the Willows, the Marmion. Odd, those were all out-of-the-way hotels, none anywhere near close to his office. Well, business. And then receipts for flowers and confectionaries – must be business entertainment. He did often entertain clients. And then Molly found it! A reservation for a week’s trip to the Cayman Islands … during that week in December he’d told her that he’d be going to Memphis for a business conference.

Everything became crystal clear to Molly. Of course! Geoffrey was planning a second honeymoon for them.