Flashbacks

Birthday Wishes: Complications Part I

Your slightest look easily will unclose me, though I have closed myself as fingers,

You open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens (touching skillfully, mysteriously) her first rose.

From your Secret Admirer

This was the note that greeted Audrey the next morning. It was stuck in her newspaper, which was neatly sitting on the porch by her front door. The papergirl never hit her front door; she always managed to embed the paper in the rosebush at the side of the house.

A shiver went down her spine as she held the "gift" in her hands. The note and skillfully placed newspaper wouldn't bother her if she knew who it was from or if it had come without the paper.

Uneasily, Audrey glanced around the yard for signs of an intruder, but she saw none. She made a mental note to check to see if her landlady, Mrs. Dupree, saw anyone come by, then closed the door and got ready for school.

The gift wasn't limited to the note and paper.

At school, there was a single red rose wrapped in red tissue paper tied with a white ribbon sitting on Jon's desk. Attached to the ribbon was her name, typed on a heavyweight paper just larger than a business card with an embossed scroll border.

That was it.

Jon walked into the room and saw her holding the flower with a disturbed look on her face.

"What's that about?" he asked, dropping his briefcase on the desk.

Audrey looked up at him hopefully. "You don't know?"

"I just got here, Aud." He took a seat on the desk. "No, I don't."

She cocked her head to the side and studied him seriously, hoping he was feigning ignorance. "You had nothing to do with this?"

Jon took the rose from her and looked it over. "I like to take credit for it, but no I didn't."

"Did you stop by my house this morning?"

"No." Handing the flower back to her, he folded his arms over his chest. "Audrey, what's goin' on?"

"I don't know," she sighed sinking into his chair perplexed and disturbed. And disappointed. "Would you tell me if you stopped by this morning?"

Jon was growing confused. "Of course, I would. Besides, you'd know if I did. Are Shawn and I ever quiet when we show up at your place?"

Her shoulders slumped. "Shawn didn't come by either?"

"No way." Jon dug the heel of his boot into the tiled floor in aggravation. "I spent thirty minutes this mornin' fightin' with him. He tried the whole 'my people have a holiday' thing again and said he'd tell me what it was after dinner."

This amused her enough to lift her spirit some. "His homework wasn't done again?"

"That's the thing- it was. All of it. He just didn't wanna come to school this morning except to hand out invitations, then he wanted to go back home."

"He made it, though."

"Yeah, after I told him no goin' to class, no handin' out invitations. No invitations, no party. He's here."

Audrey nodded as she stared at the rose in her hand. While the gesture was sweet, she was overwhelmed by three at once. She glanced at Jon again hoping to see some sign that he was bluffing about the rose.

She had a feeling that he wasn't. "Any idea who did this?"

He took the flower from her again, this time inspecting the card. "No, but I've seen this type of card in the supply closet in the teacher's lounge."