My father sends me flowers for Valentine’s Day.
I think it’s weird but don’t say anything.
I don’t remember when he started but at some point they started arriving.
He’d hand them to me when I was in school but once I started working he’d get them delivered to my office.
Lovely flowers, they would gush, who are they from?​
My Dad
I’d cringe.
It’s a bit weird, right? Isn’t this weird?
Still, I could never bring myself to tell him. I just thanked him and hoped that next year he’d forget.
One year the flowers came.
Lovely roses
(Mum likes roses, I don’t care about flowers. Dead plants that wilt. And I still think this whole thing is weird).
I pull out the card and read it and laugh.
I ring Dad.
Dad, what message did you put on this card?
He tells me. I laugh again, louder, and read aloud what he’d actually written
From the only man who will ever love you
We never speak of it again
The flowers stopped
Love, February