Chapter 1
“Would it hurt you to put your phone down for just a second?” Ellen sighed. She threw her fork down beside a plate of half-eaten prawn ceviche appetizer, trying to get some attention from her dining companion. “God, I feel like I’m celebrating our anniversary all by myself.”
“Sorry, babe. Just one last line to my boss, then I’m all yours,” Mike spoke as his fingers danced on his beat-up phone, quite unaware of the trouble he was getting himself in. “Here you go. What did I miss?” He put his phone down beside his supposedly crunchy calamari, which had surely become a soggy, greasy mess.
“Every year, it’s the same. I choose the restaurant, make the reservation. Heck, this year I even had to buy my own anniversary gift.” Her eyes started to become teary. “I know you’re crazy busy and it’s hard for you to make time. But, for just one day a year…”
He pursed his lips, struggling to find the right words. “Look… I’ll turn off my phone. Zero distraction.” Just as he was holding the button to turn his phone off, he received an incoming call. His boss’s name flashed on the screen. Timing couldn’t have been any better.
He looked up at his wife of five years, trying to gauge her reaction. The ringtone pierced through the tense air. “Just pick it up,” Ellen frowned. “I need to use the restroom anyway.” Flight had always been her default option.
She walked away, probably too gently she thought. Perhaps she should’ve made a scene instead. But… Mike had not committed any cardinal sin. Most girls would kill to be married to Mike: he was loyal, financially stable, clean, and a great lover between the sheets. He was just a little too occupied with work.
She took off her wedding ring and washed her hands. She wiped away her tears in front of the mirror, took a deep breath and painted her smile back on her face.
“I understand. Is it okay if I get the presentation done for tomorrow morning? It’ll be in your inbox by ten at the latest,” he continued on his phone as he gestured to the waiter for more wine. Moscato had never failed to cheer his wife up. All he had on his mind was the late hours he needed to endure to complete the slide deck.
The waiter filled up the glasses, gave him a gentle smile and walked away.
And no, he did not notice the mysterious powdered substance the waiter had slipped into his wife’s drink moments earlier. By the time Ellen returned with a brand-new smile, the substance had completely dissolved.
“See. Device off. It’s just you and me for the night.”
“I’ll give you an hour before you turn that sucker on again.”
They parked the car on a mountaintop overseeing a dimly lit cityscape. Their favorite song was playing on the stereo. The smell of the leftover seafood paella lingered in the car. He had really stuck to the device-off policy for the entire night. “So, did I do alright?” asked Mike.
“Marginally acceptable,” Ellen joked. Year after year they would return to the exact same spot, where they had first met and where they had become engaged, on a mountaintop by a trail popular among joggers.
“The rain came really suddenly that day,” Ellen reminisced about the first day she had met him. “I should’ve known by the fact that the trail was unusually empty. I suppose most other joggers got the memo about the weather.”
“And yet it was perfect,” Mike said charmingly. “Otherwise, we might not have ever met.” He leaned in for a passionate kiss, tightly holding in his arms the woman of his dreams, the mother of his child.
“Are you feeling alright, babe?” he asked. “You are burning up.” He placed his hand on her forehead.
“It’s probably just the Moscato. You know how much of a lightweight I am,” she lied. Saying that line alone had sucked away all her energy. She winced, no longer able to contain the pain from the inferno burning up inside her. “I think…” she paused, “I think we should go back…”
“Good idea.” He reached out to start the engine.
But the engine never started. In a deadly explosion, it was incinerated along with the rest of the car and the young couple inside.
