white roses and pale pink peonies because they matched the flowers in Mom’s wedding bouquet.
The restaurant deposit was twenty-five hundred dollars.
The flowers cost another eleven hundred.
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I paid both without telling my parents the amounts.
Then I authorized the restaurant to charge the remaining event balance to my card after the celebration.
Daniel explained the arrangement carefully.
“The final amount will be processed at the end of the evening, unless you request a change.”
“That’s fine,” I told him.
I genuinely wanted to give my parents a beautiful anniversary.
On my way home, I stopped at a department store.
That was where I found the red dress.
It was elegant, with a fitted bodice and a flowing skirt.
The fabric was a rich, deep red that seemed to glow beneath the dressing-room lights.
It cost three hundred dollars.
More than I’d ever spent on a dress
