The Valentine’s Day Mix-Up

My husband and I were still almost newlyweds back then. We had only been married for a couple of years and didn’t have children yet, so Valentine’s Day was still only about the two of us. It was only our second Valentine’s Day but I fondly remembered our first. Jay had taken me out for a romantic steak dinner for Valentine’s Day, complete with a dozen roses. I had made cute little brownies that I cut out with a heart shaped cookie cutter and iced with two colors of glaze. We’d given each other gifts too, although I don’t remember now what they were. But I sure remember that Valentine’s Day and it still makes me laugh.

We hadn’t talked about what we would do for Valentine’s Day and I never thought to ask. After all, we had always gone out for dinner on Valentine’s Day so surely it would be the same. We had dated for a year or more before we got married so always was maybe three or four Valentine’s Days. I was only working part time then but Jay was working full time. I had made sure that I wouldn’t be working that night. I remember that Valentine’s Day fell during the week that year but don’t remember which night.

I bought a card and a special gift and had wrapped the gift. I made my special heart brownies and glazed them. I took a long time picking out just the right outfit to wear out to dinner that night. Not just jeans and a shirt like I wore most of the time, this was a special night. I wasn’t much of a dress girl but I had some night dressy black pants and picked a red slinky blouse to go with them. I spun this way and that in front of the mirror and declared myself ready to go. I looked at my watch and it was only 3:30 so I knew that I had at least an hour to wait.

Jay got off work at 4:30 nearly every day but sometimes he got away a few minutes early. He never stopped anywhere on the way home so I knew he’d be home shortly after 4:30. I picked up a book to read but couldn’t really get my mind on the book. Maybe we would go out dancing after dinner. Although we’d never gone dancing, you never know what might happen on Valentine’s Day. Or maybe a sweet, romantic movie would be nice. One of those ones that always makes me cry. Well, that might not happen since Jay preferred action movies. But you never know, anything can happen on Valentine’s Day when two people are young and in love.

Finally I put the book down since I couldn’t really concentrate on it anyway. I wondered if we would go to the same restaurant, a local favorite, or if we would go somewhere new. We had one or two favorites that we went to most of the time when we met friends for dinner but they weren’t Valentine’s Day restaurant material. Would Jay like my gift to him? I hoped he would and wondered how he would react. I’d spent a little more than I should have and I knew that we were trying to save money. But he was worth it and a little splurge now and then never hurt anything. Besides, it was Valentine’s Day and anything can happen.

I looked at my watch again and it was a little after 4:00. I decided to do something to take my mind off the clock. I folded a load of laundry and put it away in the drawers. Now it was 4:15, still a little while but not too much longer. I wiped down the kitchen counter and the top of the stove. I picked up the broom to sweep but remembered I’d done that earlier in the day. I walked down the hallway to our bedroom and checked to make sure that the bed was neatly made, fluffing the pillows before I left the room.

At 4:25, I got ready for Jay to come home. I wanted to surprise him as he walked in the door. So I stretched out on the couch waiting for him. I didn’t realize that I was sleepy but I guess that I was because I fell fast asleep. I woke up a little fuzzy, trying to figure out where I was. It was dark outside so what was going on? I jumped up from the couch and looked at the clock on the wall. 6:15, how could that be? Jay never stopped anywhere after work, he always came straight home. By now, all of the good restaurants would have a line out the door. And surely he wouldn’t have made a late reservation without telling me ahead of time. I was afraid something might have happened but surely I would know if that was the case.

There weren’t any cell phones back then and Jay’s employer didn’t like personal phone calls at work so I waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, at a few minutes after 7:00, Jay walked in the door. He looked at my outfit with a strange look on his face. “You’re mighty dressed up to be in the kitchen, aren’t you?” he asked. “In the kitchen?” I asked, “What do you mean?” Jay responded, “Remember that I told you my training started today and I’d be at work late? So, what’s for dinner? I’m sure you made something special since it’s Valentine’s Day and all. Oh, by the way, Happy Valentine’s Day! I didn’t buy you a gift since we’re saving money but I sure do love you.”

Jay walked out into the kitchen then walked back into the living room right away. I looked at Jay and he looked at me and we both started laughing as we both suddenly realized what had happened. “Oh honey, I’m so sorry,” Jay said. I responded, “It’s not your fault, I totally forgot that today was the day your training started and I just thought we’d go out for dinner like we always do on Valentine’s Day.” After we stopped laughing about our crossed signals, we decided that it would be too crowded at all of the nice restaurants. I changed back into jeans but kept on the slinky red blouse because after all, it was still Valentine’s Day. And we did end up going out to eat that night to another place we went sometimes called Dairy Queen. The food was okay even if it wasn’t Valentine’s Day fare. But the company was great and the brownies at home were just excellent.


People also view

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *