A Lot Can Happen in Ten Years

“Wilkins, I have a reservation for a table at 7 pm.” Tom spoke assertively to the greeter in Chez Ma Mere. It had been their favorite restaurant for the last few years, and he and Lola were both dressed for a night out.

The greeter looked at her book, and said “Good evening, Mr. Wilkins. Table for six people, near the window? That’s available now if you want to be seated at once. The rest of your party haven’t arrived yet.”

Tom raised an eyebrow at Lola. He wanted everything to be perfect for her for their anniversary celebration. Lola smiled fondly at him, and nodded “Yes, let’s get settled in and read the menu until they arrive.”

Once they were seated and had ordered drinks, Tom drew Lola towards him and kissed her on the lips. “Happy tenth anniversary, my love.”

Lola looked quietly surprised. Tom was not usually so demonstrative in public, and they were hardly still at the gooey stage of their relationship. Still, she thought, a ten-year anniversary is a big milestone, and the business is so successful – maybe he will put more effort into us now, instead of working so hard to secure our future. After the kiss, she reached out and squeezed his hand.

The two of them were still close to each other, whispering, when Mike walked in. “Tom, don’t tell me you’re trying to steal my marketing queen away from me!” he joked cheerfully.

Tom and Lola had been lost in their own world for a moment, and they looked like guilty teenagers as they sprang apart. Tom recovered first and stood to shake Mike’s hand. “So glad you could come and help us celebrate, Mike. I’d steal Lola away from you in a heartbeat if I could, but one of us has to have a steady paycheck!”

Mike leaned in and kissed Lola on the cheek before sitting down on the other side of the table. “It’s great to see you together like love’s young dream after all these years. I tell my kids they can’t get married until they have a relationship like yours!” He ordered his drink and sat back, gazing fondly at the two of them. He had introduced them to each other soon after Lola came to work for him and he felt oddly parental towards them. He had actually feared right from the start that Tom would eventually tempt Lola away from her executive position in his company, and each time they invited him to a party he held his breath a little. Today, seeing them so close, he steeled himself for an announcement.

When Mike’s drink arrived, he was raising it to toast them when a squeal was heard from the doorway. Hannah rushed towards the table, then hugged everyone. Mike gritted his teeth; although she was Lola’s long-time friend, he had always found her to be both irritating and fake. Hannah gushed about how well they both looked and had her hands all over them. Tom looked embarrassed, while Lola just smiled indulgently.

“Ten years! It seems like the wedding was only yesterday! Yes, some champagne for the table, please!” Hannah ordered the waiter who was hovering. “You have to tell us all the secrets of keeping the romance fresh, Tom.”

Tom coughed. He had made a bad mistake a couple of weeks earlier while Lola was away on a business trip, and now it seemed that Hannah was not going to allow it to be a one-time thing. “I am very lucky to be married to the most wonderful woman in the world,” he said firmly, “and even luckier that she loves me back.”

Hannah giggled. Her heart froze. She saw that Tom was trying to send her a message, and she was not ready to hear it. “Always silver-tongued, Tom! Lola, you caught a good one.” She swung away from them to pin Mike with her aggressive stare. “Mike, you must be so upset that you had her in your grasp and gave her away to Tom!”

Mike ground his teeth. Catching her elbow, he leaned towards her to whisper “Hannah, you’re drunk already. Calm down, you’re making a scene.”

Hannah blinked at him and flung her coat on an empty seat. “Excuse me, I have to visit the little girls’ room,” she said, “don’t drink all the champagne before I get back.”

As she stalked away, the two men looked at each other. “Oh my,” muttered Tom, “she’s on a tear tonight.”

Lola looked at them brightly. “Oh come on, you know Hannah, she’s just excited for us. Remember, her marriage didn’t last like ours. Cut her a break.”

Mike opened his mouth to speak, then thought better about it. Lola had never seen Hannah for the shallow, manipulative person she was. To Lola, she was still the confident school friend who had stood by her through her awkward teenage years, the trusted bridesmaid who’d helped plan her wedding. The rest of this friend group tolerated her for Lola’s sake.

At last, the rest of the party arrived. Helga and Dmitri, who had lived next door to the Wilkinses since before their marriage. Helga was looking tired, as usual. Lola stood and embraced her. “So glad you could come,” she said, “I know that the kids are driving you to drink. Hopefully you can have a few hours to relax while the babysitter deals with the demons.”

Dmitri smiled broadly. “She wouldn’t have it any other way. This woman was made to be a mother. Next year, I want us to have another one – a girl this time to keep those boys in line!” He laughed at his own joke and drew back Helga’s seat for her.

Helga smiled weakly. “We’ll talk about it, Dmitri. Three boys are a lot of work already. Lola, you were right to stick with your career. My most exciting moment today was guessing what the boys were playing with to block the toilet again.”

Tom shook his head. “Helga, you’re a wonderful mother, and your boys are great fun. Remember, at weekends, we’re always happy to take them for a couple of hours. I hate to see you working yourself into the ground.”

Lola nodded enthusiastically. “We really mean it, Helga. We love kids – as long as we can give them back at the end of the day!”

Dmitri raised an eyebrow at her. “Don’t you ever feel that you want to give up work and stay home, Lola?” He had his own reasons for asking, but he needed to be sure before he did anything more.

Helga’s lips thinned. “Dmitri, it’s bad enough that you keep trying to make me have more kids – now you want to make Lola and Tom have some as well? Stay in your lane!”

Everyone around the table laughed. Mike watched Lola and Tom’s reactions carefully. Did they want to have children? He didn’t want to lose Lola’s marketing skills. Maybe he could persuade her to continue to work from home on a part time basis.

Dmitri saw Lola’s negative response to the idea and quietly congratulated himself. She wanted to continue to work. Now he just had to steal her away from Mike. More money, better working conditions, more vacation time – what would seal the deal for her?

Hannah was bored with the talk of children. She raised her champagne glass and said “To the happy couple! May you continue for another ten years, and then another ten.”

The others around the table lifted their glasses “To the happy couple!” “Many more the same!”

Hannah made pointed eye contact with Tom. She hadn’t heard from him since their indiscretion while Lola was away on a business trip. She was confident that the excitement of that night had been an eye-opener for him, and she had no intention of letting him slip away.

Tom met Hannah’s eyes briefly. He needed to make a statement to get rid of her once and for all. He was too old and had too many responsibilities to have made that mistake. Finding the house too empty in Lola’s absence, he accepted Hannah’s invitation to go out – then got carried away doing tequila shots with her. She had texted him a couple of times, and he had simply left them on read, hoping she’d take the hint, but she seemed to be determined to make something out of nothing.

He waved the waiter over. “We’re ready for the food now,” he said simply. “We’re having the family seafood feast for the whole table. I ordered it in advance.”

With great fanfare, a stream of waiters brought out a splendid feast. Two seafood towers for the center of the table, surrounded by mouthwatering tapas dishes of fish and shellfish and crustaceans, bagels and cream cheese and capers, brown bread and butter. More champagne and other white wines came out. When everything had been served, Lola stood and took pictures of the table and her friends. “This is wonderful, Tom!” she said, “It looks like a wedding feast.”

Tom led his wife back to her seat, and then knelt beside her. “The best decision I ever made was marrying you, Lola,” he said in a voice that was not completely steady. “And if I could, I’d do it over again. Here is the ring I wish I could have given you ten years ago. Please say you’re mine forever.”

In his hand was a ring. The most beautiful emerald ring Lola had ever seen. “Forever and forever, Tom!” she replied, holding his hand in hers. The table burst into “Awws” and applause.

Hannah was seething. She was expecting Tom to take her seriously, and here he was making this whole evening about Lola. She gritted her teeth as she clapped and smiled.

Helga was studying the faces around the table. She knew about Dmitri’s plan to try and steal Lola’s business expertise, but she could see that something was also going on with Hannah. She knew Hannah well enough to guess that she was planning something destructive. Lola was Helga’s best friend; she wanted her to stay happy. She wanted that more than she wanted peace with Hannah or even Dmitri, her own overbearing husband.

Mike stood to make another toast. “Tom, Lola, I love you both, and you make a wonderful couple. It’s a thrill to see you still as much in love as ever. I’ve been planning a reward for Lola for all her years of work for me, and I want to give you both an anniversary gift. You probably know that our president has a vacation home in the Maldives. He is happy to let you have free use of it for a two-week second honeymoon. It won’t come out of your annual vacation time, Lola, but it’s on you to persuade Tom to take some time off. Here’s to the very happy couple!”

As everyone raised their glasses again, Lola looked to be on the verge of tears. Tom swept her into a hug. “My wife, the successful executive!” he said proudly.

Sourly, Dmitri started to help himself to the seafood dinner. It didn’t seem to be a good time to try and tempt Lola to leave her job, after all. He loaded up a plate with his wife’s favorites and handed it to her with a sheepish smile. She wrinkled her nose at him, showing her appreciation as well as her sympathy for his business loss.

Everyone dug into the food. Lola stood up and walked around the table to thank Mike personally. “You didn’t have to do that, Mike,” she whispered. “But it is a wonderful surprise. And Tom is just at a point where he can step back a little. We’ll be on that trip before you know it!”

Seeing Lola’s chair empty, Hannah sat next to Tom and took his hand. “I know you have to make this look good, Tom, but I hope you haven’t forgotten about us. Why don’t we plan a little get-together next week? Just the two of us?”

Tom froze. His eyes immediately sought Lola’s. She was looking directly at him, with disappointment written all over her face.

“Oh, come on, Lola!” said Hannah. “Surely Tom told you about us – ten years is too long to keep a relationship fresh and exciting, isn’t it? Obviously, you and Mike have something special as well, don’t you?” She leaned over to kiss Tom, who pushed her roughly away.

There was a shocked silence around the table. It seemed to last for a very long time. Then it was broken by a peal of laughter.

Helga continued to laugh, clapping her hands. “Oh, Hannah, you never change, do you? I thought you’d learned your lesson after you tried to steal my husband, but here you go again. What a shame we all know about your track record, right, Dmitri?”

Dmitri swallowed hard. He didn’t know that Helga knew about his fling with Hannah. But he loved his wife, and clearly she wanted him to support her now. He joined in her laughter. “Oh, yes, we had a good laugh at Hannah’s games. Her M.O. is to get the husband alone, fill him with alcohol, and take advantage. She’s not even subtle about it.” He leaned over and kissed Helga’s hand.

Mike saw the rescue attempt and added his voice to the mix. “Didn’t you try something at the wedding, Hannah? You are beginning to get too old for these games, aren’t you?”

Lola’s lip was quivering, but she drew strength from the friends surrounding her, and from the look Tom was giving her. She laughed as well. “Hannah, you’ve been my friend since school, but I see that even our friendship wasn’t enough to stop you. I suggest you leave us to enjoy the rest of our dinner with our real friends.” With that, she pulled back her chair so Hannah almost fell, and then she took her rightful place on it.

Mike and Dmitri nodded at each other, and the two of them escorted Hannah out of the restaurant. They waited and watched as she walked to her car. “Well played with the vacation, Mike. I thought she might think of leaving you.”

“Well played with backing your woman’s play, Dmitri. She may just forgive you.”

When they were all seated again, Mike said “I thought you’d never see through that bitch, Lola. I’m so pleased you are rid of her.”

Lola dabbed at her eyes. “I can’t believe she did that. And I can’t believe what wonderful, supportive friends I – we – have. Let’s forget all about her and continue to celebrate our anniversary.”

Tom closed his eyes in relief. He planned to spend the next year apologizing to his wife and trying to make it up to her.