I call this Part 2 of the Anniversary. Enjoy.

Maxwell sat down behind his desk in his office. Pushing aside some important papers from the network he pulled out a slender box from his desk drawer. Placing it on the surface of his desk he looked inside the box. He smiled. He couldn't wait to give it to Fran later tonight.

On the side of his calendar Max had written down his plans for the day. Running through his list one more time he was sure Fran would never forget this day. Feeling satisfied with the day's plans he placed the black box back in his desk drawer, then left his office to go find Fran.

Fran was still in the kitchen, working her way through a piece of coffee cake. Hearing the kitchen door open, Fran turned to see her husband smiling from ear to ear. "What?" She asked.

Max shook his head. "Nothing. I just love how you get excited over a good piece of coffee cake."

Fran smiled. "You told me that at our wedding. I can't believe you remembered that?"

He sat down next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I remember a lot of things, Fran."

Fran let her head gently rest on his shoulder. "Oh yeah? Like what?"

"I don't know. Everything I guess. I remember when I first saw you. I thought, who is this woman? And why am I so attracted to her?"

"You thought that?"

"Well, maybe not exactly, but you did captivate me Fran Fine. And I never would have thought I would fall in love with that meshuggeneh woman."

"You know I love it when you use Yiddish."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's cute with your accent." Fran paused for a moment. "Hey, what are we doing today? I'm dying to find out."

"Well, for the first part—"

"Ooh, there's more than one part?" Fran interrupted. "I'm loving this day already. And the best part is I get to spend all day with you." She lightly kissed him.

"Well, this morning once you're done here we could walk around town. Maybe do some shopping?"

Fran's eyes widened. "You want to go shopping?"

"It's mostly for you. You see, the real surprise isn't until later tonight. So, I thought we could go shopping together, maybe find you a new dress?"

"Sounds wonderful. What about you? Are you gonna find a new suit?"

He gazed down into her eyes. "Do you think I should?"

"I don't know. You could use a new tie. You wear the same ones all the time. Why not find something new and different."

"Ok, it's settled then. You'll look for a new dress and I'll find a not so boring tie, agreed?"

"Agreed."

Max stood up and was about to leave the kitchen when Fran's hand grabbed his wrist. "Why do I need a new dress anyway?"

"Darling, it's a surprise, I can't tell you. You'll just have to wait. Be ready in an hour so we can leave, I don't want to waste too much time."

"Alright. An hour, I'll be ready."

Max smiled down at her then left the kitchen.

Later, Fran and Max were walking hand in hand down Rodeo Drive. Fran stopped, yanking Maxwell back. "Oh, honey, I think I'm gonna stop in here. This dress looks gorgeous. What'd ya think?" Fran asked, gesturing to the display window.

"I think you'd look stunning in it. Go ahead. Go try something on. I'm gonna head down a little ways to find a tie."

"Alright. If you're done early just come back here and find me."

"Okay." He smiled at her then continued his way down the block.

Finally, after about twenty minutes debating over two ties Maxwell decided to just get both of them. Exiting the store he squinted into the bright rays of sunshine trying to remember the shop Fran had stopped in. Walking into the sun, he was able to find the shop his wife was in, or hoped she was still there. He really didn't feel like hunting her down in this heat.

Entering the shop he gazed around looking for Fran. Not seeing her he assumed she might be in a dressing room. He stood and waited for a few minutes in case she appeared.

"May I help you find something, sir?" A woman's voice greeted him.

Turning, he faced the saleswoman. "Oh, no, I'm just waiting for my wife. You didn't see a woman with big hair leave did you?"

"A woman with a nasally voice?"

Max smiled politely and nodded.

"No, she's trying on a dress at the moment."

"Thanks." Max took a walk around the small shop, looking at all the dresses, shoes, and accessories to pass the time. Looking down at his watch he realized it was almost one o'clock. How could three hours pass by already? Where is she? How many purses does a woman need? He noticed how there were so many different types of purses and small handbags to choose from. And I thought choosing a tie was difficult.

"Oh, hi sweetie!" Fran said, emerging from the dressing rooms.

Max turned in the direction of Fran's voice. He couldn't believe what he saw. The sight of his wife took his breath away. "Wow, sweetheart, you look beautiful. Is that the dress you're getting?"

"I think so. You really like it?"

"It looks stunning on you."

"Good, because I like it too."

Fran went back into the dressing room to change out of the dress. She paid for it, then they went back to the car to drop off their shopping bags.

"It's just after one, how about we get a light nosh. I want to save eating out for later tonight," Max said looking down at his watch again.

"Great, I'm hungry. Plus it'd be nice to get out of this heat, I'm schvitzing," Fran said, fanning herself with her hand. Linking her arm with his they continued their walk until they found a small deli a few blocks over.

The Anniversary continues. Stick around to see what happens in part three.