Mom paid for the stuff. They said it can be delivered today if we like and I thought it was a great idea and surprise when she got to the hotel room to find them there. The faxed the order for Gina to their New York branch and assured me that it will be delivered on time. We left mom’s flowers at the shop to pick up after we had our ice cream. There was an ice cream bar close by so we walked over instead of driving. I took mom’s hand. I don’t know why, it just felt like I should. We got to the bar and got a table on the sidewalk. “Mom, I know I said something to upset you.”

“No, no sweetie. You didn’t. Why would you think that?”

“Because it’s only after I mentioned the flowers for mom you got upset.”

“Well a bit. I mean it’s not what you said. Its just the flowers brought back some memories that all.”

“Ok.” I didn’t want to push her. We made small talk. Basically about the weekend, stuff going on at the gallery. We watched people pass by. Mom and I have this habit. Whenever we go out and Tina’s not around, we watch people and make comments. Although we don’t always make funny comments, Tina thinks that talking about people is cruel nonetheless. When we were done, we collected the flowers and were homeward bound. “Can I go with you to the gallery instead?”

“You sure? You’re not too tired?”

“No, I’m ok. I like this. It’s a while since we’ve done this.”

“Ok. I got some new pieces I know you’ll love.”

“Cool.”

There was a bit of silence again as we drove. Mom broke the silence. “The flowers you bought, the sunflowers?”

“Yeah?”

“I gave a bunch similar to that when we were separated. I picked a set from the garden she planted and gave them to her.”

“Why? I mean why does it mean so much that you remember it.”

“A guy by the name of Benjamin Bradshaw. He was this motivational speaker, TOE. That was his pitch.”

“Toe?”

“Yeah the Theory of Everything, T.O.E., anyway he was also a friend of Kit’s and she mentioned the stuff that I was going through at the time and he told me to get her flowers.”

“Flowers? You didn’t need him to tell you that?”

“Well he also told me to leave a note which simply said ‘You hold all the cards.’ And I did.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah, wow.”

“You gave mom control, absolute power. You made yourself vulnerable, exposed.”

“Yes I did. I put my life and our future in her hands I guess.”

“How did you know that she would come back to you?”

“I didn’t, but it’s a chance I had to take. I believed in what we had and I believed in her. I was lucky.”

“Damn skippy you were.” She laughed. “And I am too.” We sighed and silence again. This time it was my turn to break the silence. “Think the flowers might have the same effect on her?”

“I dunno. I guess we’ll see.”