The Little Black Book

Eight. Nine. Ten. Veronica stood there counting raindrops, trying desperately to occupy her mind. The word time kept coming to the forefront of her mind. She woke up elated this morning, excited to celebrate life and experience all that the day had to offer her. It was on this day 29 years ago that she was born into the world. Veronica couldn’t be happier with the life she had been blessed to experience. She had a beautiful loving husband and family, her dream career, a beautiful home and all the comforts of life. She was not rich, but she was comfortable and satisfied with what she had accomplished. In this very moment though all she felt was pain and despair. She was hurt, confused, angry, sad and numb all at once. She couldn’t even make sense of how she was feeling, and all she could think was that the only thing standing in between what she felt this morning and the way she is feeling now is time.

This morning was like any other morning, except it wasn’t any other morning. It was her birthday! She woke up next to her wonderful husband, the man of her dreams, excited at the thought of what the day would bring. Brian, Veronica’s husband, had been raving about the day ahead. He kept saying he had a surprise for her. He had a whole day planned. As much as he talked about it, he seemed more excited than she did. So what changed? Now, all of a sudden, there was a change of plans. He said something important came up at work and they would have to plan the festivities for another day. Veronica was extremely disappointed but still understanding. She knew her husband wouldn’t break a date with her unless he really had to. It wasn’t until Brian was headed out the door for work this morning that Veronica’s disappointment grew into something else.

Veronica ran to hug and kiss him and as he turned to leave, he dropped something. He was in a hurry. Veronica started to yell out to him that he dropped something, but he kept going. As she looked down to see what he had dropped, she was too curious to try to catch up with him. It was a little black book. She had never seen this before. After 8 years of marriage, they knew everything about each other, never kept secrets, and there was nothing of his that she had not seen. But a little black book? He had never owned one. In fact, it was a running joke in their household. From the very day they met, Brian approached Veronica and asked her for her number. Her exact response to him was “Why so you can add me to your little black book?” They both laughed but he assured her he never had one and for that very reason. He always went out of his way to make her feel secure. So, what was this? For a moment she was suspicious, but then she had to remind herself that she trusted her husband and that there was absolutely nothing to be suspicious about. As she prepared herself for work, she kept glancing at it. Although they trusted each other and knew all of each other’s passwords, they never snooped. She was tempted to open it but wanted to maintain the integrity of their marriage. She decided she would just call her husband and ask him. Afterall, they had an open and honest relationship. The phone just rang. She called a second time, but this time it went straight to voicemail. Brian had an hour commute to work. There was no way he had already made it to work. Veronica refrained from jumping to any conclusions. “Be patient and go to work. He’ll call you back,” she told herself.

Veronica carried the little black book to the train with her this morning. She kept telling herself she had no intentions of opening it, that she just wanted to hold onto it for safe keeping. But the longer she held onto it, her suspicions grew. She picked up her phone and tried calling him again. Again, it went straight to voicemail. She checked his location. It was off. “Why would he turn his location off?” Veronica questioned despairingly?

She sat waiting for the train. She tried being patient, but nothing made sense. Veronica pulled out her phone and searched his social media page for answers. She didn’t really expect to find anything; his page was all business. Veronica often joked about the fact that he never posted any pictures of her or of them as a couple. He insisted that it was because he didn’t like posting personal stuff on his page. She believed him because he never really posted anything private. There were always women commenting under his pictures. But who was this woman, Laura, commenting this morning at 6:53am, “See you tonight.” See him tonight, where? she thought. This had to be the woman he had planned to give the book to. Now she had to open it.

She opened the book to a random page. It said, “Room 313.” Her heart began to race, what is this? she thought. She quickly turned to the first page, which read “Go to Belle of the Ball and pick out something nice, it’s already paid for.” Belle of the Ball was a high-end boutique downtown. They’re least expensive item is $3000! she thought. They lived comfortably, but they couldn’t afford that! Veronica was very confused. She had so many thoughts running through her mind. Did he break a date with her on her birthday to be with someone else? How could he afford this? Had he been hiding money from her all along and spending it on this Laura woman? How could he? She went from sad to mad to scared to angry, all in a matter of 60 seconds. She stood there in the rain, so distracted by her thoughts, she didn’t even bother to open her umbrella. The only way Veronica could think to calm her thoughts was to count raindrops as they fell in front of her. Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen. Wait, Thirteen! Room 313, she thought as she recalled the message written in the little black book. Just then she decided that she would be the one to who would see him tonight, not Laura. She was going to follow the book to the end. Veronica called out of work and headed home to change clothes before going to Belle of the Ball.

Veronica was in awe and mesmerized by all the beautiful gowns. She had never actually been in this boutique. It was like a museum of dresses, everything looked too expensive and too delicate to touch. She settled on a simple yet elegant rose gold mermaid gown with Swavorski crystal accents. This was a $4000 dress! Veronica momentarily got lost in how beautiful and elegant she felt in the dress, until she glanced down to see the black book sticking out of her purse. She picked it up and turned to the second page, “Don’t forget the fine jewelry while you’re there” it read. Veronica picked out her jewelry and she was on her way, but where to? She opened up the book to the next page, “There’s a car outside, waiting to take you to your next appointment. Enjoy your massage.” During the car ride, Veronica was starting to get anxious. This was taking too long. She fingered through the next few pages to see what was next. Page 4 “You have a hair appointment at Mila’s salon at 1pm, and your shoes will be there waiting (Don’t worry, they’ll match your dress perfectly).” Page 5 “You must be starving; I’m having some food delivered to the salon.” Page 6 “You didn’t leave before getting your nails done, did you?” Page 7 “The driver will take you to the hotel after your appointment. He has the key, get some rest.” Page 8 “Room 313.”

Veronica walked into this beautiful room and couldn’t even think of resting. How could she? She couldn’t sit still. Veronica just paced back and forth. She looked at her watch. It was 4 pm. She hadn’t heard from Brian all day. He usually called or text at least once throughout the day. She tried calling his phone one last time, it rang twice then went to voicemail. Veronica thought to call his office. His secretary, Alyssa, said that she had not seen him all day. Veronica was furious. He had lied about going to work, blew her off on her birthday and planned on spending it with another woman. How could he? She had always thought her husband to be a genuine man, so endearing, considerate and thoughtful, but who was he really? She knew he wasn’t a perfect man, but he was loving and hard working. She felt safe with him, never wanted for anything, and they truly enjoy one another’s company. Had she been blinded all these years or was she just being impractical? No, she thought. There was no way she was being impractical. He canceled their date because of a work thing, but he wasn’t even at work.

Veronica was anxious to confront him. She realized she didn’t know what was on the next page. She picked up the book. Page 10 “Get dressed. Meet me in Rm 315 at 6pm. I can’t wait to see you!” Veronica took her time getting dressed. She was so nervous now. She wanted to know why. She wanted to let him know how much he had hurt her, but she was terrified at the thought of what that meant for her marriage.

It was 6pm. Veronica had been dressed for 45 mins now. She had been sitting there staring at the clock until it was time. At 5:58pm, she got up and walked slowly down the hall to the next room. She stood in front of the door, took a deep breath, and as she raised her hand to knock, the door opened. “I’ve been waiting for you” Brian said. He had a very calming and pleased look on his face, a look that reminded her of their wedding day.

“You don’t look surprised to see me,” she said.

“Why would I be?” he replied.

“The book. It was for me?” she questioned feeling more confused now than ever.

Brian smiled and said “I hope so. Otherwise, that other woman would be mad, and I’d be in a lot of trouble,” he laughed.

“You think this is funny, Brian? Was this all meant to be a joke?” she asked.

“Just come inside,” he said. Before he could say anything she looked around the room.

“What’s all this?” she asked.

He said “Welcome to your photoshoot!” He explained everything. After he admitted that he purposely dropped the book and had been racing around town all day, he said these words. “I just wanted you to feel special. I wanted you to know, without a shadow of a doubt, that there was never and will never be any other woman for me. For the past 8 years you’ve been dropping hints about how dissatisfied you were that I don’t represent you to the world on my social media pages. So, after this photoshoot today, we’ll have a whole album on each of my social media platforms. I started putting aside $50 every time you mentioned that I had no pictures of you posted. You must’ve mentioned it over 400 times throughout the past 8 years because there’s over $20,000 in this envelope. The plan was to use it for a photoshoot, but I never expected it to be this much. So, this is for you. I love you beyond measure, and that will never change.” Veronica was speechless. She felt so stupid, but she had never been happier to be so wrong.