"You're home early," she called. "Did the office suddenly stop having problems?" He held up the bakery bag like evidence. "The office had one or two," he admitted. "I thought perhaps cinnamon rolls might be a better use of the afternoon than paperwork."
She removed one glove with her teeth and came up the steps. "You do know it's impossible to distract me with pastry if you have something on your mind," she said. David looked at the familiar lines around her eyes and smiled. "I have forty years of evidence that says it's at least worth trying."
Evelyn studied his face more closely. "David, what happened?" she asked. He had expected to hide the entire afternoon until after their anniversary, but she had always been able to detect a change in him before he knew how to describe it. He sat beside her at the kitchen table and told her that someone at one of the company's stores had behaved cruelly toward a customer.
He did not immediately tell her the customer was himself. He described a manager who judged people by clothes, an employee who protested, and a credit card destroyed without verification. Evelyn listened quietly, letting him finish without interrupting. When he mentioned the anniversary necklace, however, she gave him a long look that told him the surprise was already in danger.
"You were the customer," she said. It was not a question. David looked down at his hands, then nodded.
Evelyn's expression changed from concern to anger so quickly that he almost smiled. "He cut your card?" she demanded. "He threatened a young woman's job because she tried to help you? In a store you own?"
David shook his head slightly. "In a store that's supposed to be well run whether I own it or not. That's what made it so ugly."
"Of course that's what made it ugly," she replied. "But I'm also allowed to be angry because someone hurt my husband." She reached across the table and took his hand, her fingers still smelling faintly of soil and rosemary. "Did he frighten you?"
David considered the question carefully. "No," he said. "He embarrassed me. And he made me think about how many people he'd embarrassed before I happened to walk in. I had a way to get someone upstairs to listen. They might not."
Evelyn's eyes softened. "And the young woman?" David smiled. "Emma. She's young enough to be our granddaughter, but she had more sense than everyone else in the room. She knew a customer had been treated badly, and she said so even when the manager threatened her job."
Evelyn nodded approvingly. "Then remember her," she said. "Not because you need to make a grand gesture, but because people who do the right thing when it costs them something should know somebody noticed. And make sure they don't turn her kindness into a burden. She still has to work with the others after you leave."
David laughed gently. "I knew you'd say that." Evelyn squeezed his hand. "You knew because you married a sensible woman. And if you bought me something ridiculously expensive, you will have to explain yourself tomorrow."