My husband, James, and I had been married for fourteen years.
For our anniversary, he booked dinner at a nice restaurant.
I had secretly hoped for something romantic.
Instead, he handed me a new set of kitchen utensils.
I smiled and thanked him, even though part of me felt disappointed.
A few minutes later, James excused himself to use the restroom.
That was when a waiter placed a salad in front of me.
“I didn’t order this,” I said.
He lowered his voice.
“Don’t eat it. There’s a surprise inside.”
Curious, I carefully searched through the salad.
At the bottom was a tiny velvet pouch.
Inside was a diamond ring.
My heart jumped.
For one second, I thought James had planned the perfect surprise after all.
Then he returned.
The moment he saw the ring, his face turned white.
“Where did you get that?”
I stopped smiling.
Before I could answer, the waiter came back.
He looked at James and frowned.
“Sir… wasn’t this supposed to go to table eighteen?”
I slowly turned around.
At another table sat a woman watching us nervously.
Then everything clicked.
James had planned two dinners in the same restaurant.
One with his wife.
One with the woman he had been secretly seeing.
The waiter had mixed up the surprise.
I looked at the utensils beside my plate.
Then at the ring.
I didn’t yell.
I simply stood up, placed the ring on the table, and said:
“Looks like your real gift found the wrong woman.”
Then I left.
