them.
Nobody sent me flowers anymore.
Most of my closest friends had passed away, and the handful who remained certainly wouldn’t spend hundreds of dollars on such an elaborate arrangement.
I lived carefully on my retirement income.
And I had never bought flowers for myself.
No.
This wasn’t an accident.
Fifty-six was far too precise.
I pulled the largest vase I owned from beneath the sink.
It was an old crystal vase someone had given us as a wedding gift, one I had barely used over the decades.
I filled
