Aisleland Paradise

Chapter 5

Anna returned home to find a present waiting for her in the living room. There was always a present waiting for her in the living room. Sometimes it was just some stuff that she needed like t-shirts and jeans or toothpaste and shampoo, which was incredibly thoughtful of Todd, but sometimes he was clearly trying to spoil her by dropping off offerings of opulence and luxury. It was so frequent that she was almost getting used to it. Almost. Judging by the package this was an attempt to spoil her. And she was ok with that.

The elegantly wrapped box had a card on top that read "just a little something for our date tomorrow." It was written in beautiful calligraphy and the box was clearly wrapped by a professional. Anna sincerely doubted Todd was capable of either and again, she was fine with that. Inside the box she found two smaller packages. He had gotten her a makeup set and some perfume. Hm. Earlier this week he'd gotten her a diamond studded smart watch. This was nice, but if he were trying to impress her, he was falling behind the pace he was setting for himself. It's not like him to blunder like that though, so, playing a hunch, she googled the presents.

Okay, never mind, Todd is amazing. The perfume was a Viktor & Rolf Exclusive Swarovski Flowerbomb Haute Couture and the makeup set was a special limited Dior box filled with countless shades of red lipsticks and nail polishes and everything else she could want. According to Google she was holding like three or four thousand dollars' worth of stuff. Holy crap dude. She went to bed content with today and excited for tomorrow, and she drifted off thinking that she really could get used to ending all her days like this.

She spent all afternoon Friday having her own personal spa day, pampering herself with a long hot bath and then going out to get a professional massage. Her fancy new dress was cleaned and hanging in the bathroom waiting for her. This was it. Tonight was finally going to be their big night. The plan was for them to meet in her wing and enjoy a handmade meal before retiring to the lounge and relaxing by the fireplace. He was going to be there at 7 so naturally she wanted to be home by 4 to start getting dressed.

The dress was a slinky black sequined slip dress and when she put on the matching black pumps she felt like an assassin. She applied her makeup like she was finishing a painting for an exhibition but it was when put on the bold red lipstick and nail polish that she looked absolutely deadly. She walked into the hallway and posed in a floor length mirror on the wall.

"You look amazing." said a female voice. What the hell? She spun around and saw an attractive young woman passing behind her.

"I love those heels." She smiled sweetly and resumed walking by. Todd would be here in an hour and now there was another woman in her house, acting like it was no big deal.

"Um... who are you?" asked Anna as she followed her into the kitchen.

"KJ. I'm Todd's chef. I'm kinda new here but he's been talking about this dinner the whole time, he really wants everything to be perfect. You're going to love this."

"Okay. I mean, yeah, of course, someone has to cook it, right?" Anna was anxious. Maybe if she'd known to expect this ahead of time it would have been no big deal, and Anna had nothing against this girl, she seemed quite sweet actually. But this chick was just a bit younger than her, and while Anna had spent 12 hours and more money than God makes in a year to look glamorous, this girl was naturally pretty just in leggings and a t-shirt. Anna knew she was just being paranoid, but she still didn't like the third wheel. KJ must've read her mind because she put on her chef's coat and hat and began to get to work. Great. Now she looked pretty AND professional. Focus Anna.

7pm. Dinner time. There was a knock at the front door and Anna let Todd in. She was greeted by his signature cologne on his red collared shirt and when she drew near to embrace him she detected notes of his sandalwood soap lingering beneath. Her arms were around his neck, they were nose to nose, smiling comfortably at one another. She slowly pressed her lips against his, then pulled back and giggled.