She’d invited several couples from our street, along with the neighborhood association president and a few other residents.
And she’d deliberately excluded me.
She wanted an audience.
I decided to give her one.
On Friday morning, I purchased a beautiful gift box, wrapped it in gold paper, and tied it with a dark red ribbon.
Inside, I placed every item Vanessa had given Irvin: the unopened cookie tin, the sealed notes, the bottle of wine, the scarf, and the other gifts she’d left behind.
I arranged everything neatly.
Then I wrote a card.
I kept it short.
Dear Vanessa,
Thank you for your generous gifts and persistent attention to my husband.
Irvin has brought every item home to me, unopened, because he has never wanted a secret between us.
Since you have made it clear that these gifts were intended for him, I thought it was only fair to return them to their rightful owner.
