Mark expected a familiar scene when he returned from a week away for work: his wife, Jane, waiting near the porch, ready to welcome him home. Instead, he found the porch empty and covered in roses.
There were red, yellow, pink, and white bouquets arranged across the steps, along the railing, and around the porch swing where Jane usually sat with her morning coffee. Nearly one hundred bouquets were waiting there, and for a moment, Mark did not know what to think.
His first reaction was fear. The flowers looked too intentional to be random, and too many to ignore. But when Jane opened the door and stared at the porch with the same confusion he felt, it became clear this was not what he had imagined.
Then Mark noticed a small envelope tucked into one of the bouquets.