Adrian and Evelyn Powell had just gotten back from a session with Dr. White, the new marriage counselor. Adrian went to the bar and fetched them some scotch and two glasses.
"So, are you feeling better about things now, my darling?" Adrian asked as he sat down next to his wife.
"Yes, and you're right. If you did have designs on Valentina, why are you sending her to live clear across the country?"
"Exactly! And of course, now that I've had time to think about it, it was quite inconsiderate of me to offer the penthouse to Valentina before consulting you first. You have my most profound apologies. Is there anyway I could make it up to you?"
"Well, there is one little thing I would like to ask."
"Consider it done, my love. Now what is it?"
"You know our new maid, Gloria?"
"You mean that thing that waddles like a duck and talks even worse? What about her?"
"Well, even though I have to use simple phrases and even a little bit of sign language with her, she does clean better than any of the maids we've had in a very long time, and she could certainly vacuum circles around Valentina."
"You want to let Valentina go when she gets back from New York." Adrian said, matter-of-factly.
Evelyn nodded. "Let's face it: if she's starting fashion school in the fall, she won't really be able to work here full time. And even if she was, she's just going to be quitting in a few years, anyway. And I really, really like Gloria. Can we keep her? Please?" Evelyn look at Adrian like a little girl begging her daddy to let her keep a puppy she had found.
Adrian started to chuckle. "All right. We'll let Valentina know the situation while we're there."
"There?"
"Oops!" Adrian clasped his hand over his mouth. "It was meant to be a surprise!"
"What"
"Oh, I might as well tell you now. As we both know, your birthday is coming up, and I was going to surprise you with a trip to New York."
"To see Valentina?"
"No. To see Uncle Tom and Aunt Rebecca."
Evelyn got really excited. "I don't know what to say! It's going to be so amazing!"
"Yes, Uncle Tom just retired, so now that they have more time on their hands, they want to spend more time with us."
"That's just wonderful!" Then, Evelyn thought for a moment. "Wait. Whenever we went to New York, we used to stay in the penthouse. What about this trip?"
"We're still going to stay there."
"What about Valentina?"
"What about her?"
"Will she be staying a hotel room or something?"
"Why would she? The condo has two bedrooms."
"So, it will be all three of us together?"
"Why not? We've all lived together before."
"Yes. Here. Where I could go off to my own corner and have one of my little fits in peace. There's quite a bit of difference between this mansion and the penthouse in New York."
"I know it will be a little cramped, but it's only for a week. Besides, it's the perfect opportunity to show you that she is absolutely no threat whatsoever. Furthermore, she's probably going to be so busy with work, we'll hardly ever see her. So, what do you say?"
Evelyn took a deep breath. "Very well. But we are taking the master suite and putting her in the guest suite, right?"
"Of course, Darling."
"So, what time frame are we talking?"
"Well, your birthday is Friday, so I was thinking we could leave first thing Thursday morning. And then, we would leave Friday week so that we could have some time to rest before-"
"Barrett's birthday."
"Exactly. I still can't believe we haven't been to his gravesite since the funeral."
"Well, you were so insistent that we suppress any memory that we had of him. And I never thought I could cope with going out there by myself."
"Do we still want to have the cake and gifts? I haven't ordered the Armanti tux, yet."
Evelyn thought for a moment. "Well, we could still have a cake, but let's skip the gifts and instead, plant some daffodils at his grave."
"Splendid idea, Evelyn. Now, why don't you go and start packing for our trip?"
"Very well, then." Evelyn got up and went off to their bedroom.