“Are you sure about that?” Benji asks, and when I get to the kitchen, I find them both sitting at the island eating giant bowls of cereal, and in front of them sits a bouquet of the brightest sunflowers I have ever seen.
“Who got flowers?” I ask.
“You,” Benji replies, reaching up and plucking a small white envelope from between the blooms. “So again we ask, do you have something—or someone, maybe—you want to tell us about?”
“I’d tell you if I started dating,” I explain, as I run my fingers lightly over the front of the card where my name is written in cursive. I guess that rules out these being dropped at the wrong address.
“Would you, though?” David asks. “You said you wouldn’t date until you retired, but here we are with a big bunch of flowers that screams something totally different.”
“They’re flowers, they don’t scream anything,” I reply, my fingers brushing over the soft petals, a smile teasing at my lips. I can’t remember the last time there were fresh flowers in this house. Wait. Yes I can. It would have been when Mom and Dad passed. I never understood why people send flowers after someone dies. I mean, like someone who just buried a loved one wants another thing they get to watch die. But these are nothing like those flowers. These are bright and happy, and I can’t help but smile seeing them sitting on my kitchen bench.
“Who are they from?” Benji asks, and I open the small white card and pause.
“I’m not sure,” I reply. “The card is just signed L.”
“Come on, you have to know who sent them. Are you sure you didn’t accidentally start dating? Maybe you did it in your sleep, like sleepwalking. Did you sleep swipe right?” Benji asks, and I laugh.
“I’m not dating anyone.”
“Then who sent you flowers and what are they thanking you for if not a great night out?” Benji asks, and I turn toward him.
“How do you know the card says thank you?”
He rubs the back of his neck with one hand, the blush rising on his cheeks.
“Okay, so we might have looked at the card. You were taking forever to get home. Come on, who’s L?”
“I really have no idea,” I say, spinning the vase as I walk around the island to the other side. While they can indulge in cereal for lunch, I need to keep to my plan, so I grab one of the premade chicken bowls from the refrigerator. It’s grilled chicken, brown rice, and veggies. Not exactly appetizing, but the heaped spoon of salsa I dump on top, along with some guac, is enough to turn the bland bowl into something my shithead brothers both reach over to try to pick at.
“I made extras, get your own,” I say, pulling my bowl away just in time, and both rush around the island, fighting to be first to the fridge.
Neither one of them ever assume I’ve made extras of my pre-planned meals, even though I always do. It’s automatic now, like changing the station within a few bars of Mom’s favorite song when David’s in the car, or bringing home a puck for Benji from every away game. He’s got them stacked up in an impressive geometric diamond-patterned tower on one wall of his room. It’s one of the many things I’ll miss when they move out, and I’m quietly dreading the day that I truly will be alone.
“So, figured it out yet?” Benji asks through a mouthful of chicken and rice.
“Since the last time you asked thirty seconds ago? No.”
Brothers.
***
I’m lacing my skates when Luka comes over to me, a wide, dimpled smile on his lips.
“So, I realized after I sent them that it could be weird, but I wanted to say thanks and flowers seemed like the best way to do that.”
It was Luka. L was Luka. How didn’t I think it would be him? Probably because he and I have basically flicked back and forth from friendly to fiery since the day he walked into the locker room. True, my initial reaction was more of an overreaction. He walked in all smiles and excitement and joy, and I found myself mesmerized by it. It was almost like he moved in slow motion through the locker room, gliding through it like a dancing ray of sunshine. Now here I am doing it again, only this time I won’t look away.
“They were . . . a really nice surprise. Thanks.”
“So you liked them?”
“Yeah, they actually brightened up the house. My brothers thought so too.”
“Oh, right, David and Benjamin, right?”
“Benji, yeah, how’d you know that?”
He links his hands behind his back, and it’s adorable.
