***All characters are over 18 and are fictional. Any resemblance to any real-life persons is purely coincidental.
...
For years now, there has been a rift growing between John's parents. Most of the problems came from his father, who wasn't the most considerate or romantic person. He remembered how his mother used to talk about how romantic he was when they were younger. But over the years, when he became more focused on his career, he began neglecting his mother.
He was always coming home late, always forgetting their anniversaries and other special events, and always promising to do things with his mother, then finding a reason to bail on them at the last minute for some work-related reason. She had confronted him many times about it. He then makes an effort to be more mindful of their marriage, but eventually falls back into his neglectful ways.
Whenever his father behaved that way, it was usually John who ended up having to take care of his mother. He was the one who ended up taking her out to dinner, watching movies with her, getting her gifts for her birthday or Valentine's Day, and a number of other things.
John and his mother have always been close, but he still felt that those were things his father should be doing for his wife. John was now 21 years old and felt he should be out there having fun with women his own age, not spending his free time taking care of his mother.
One night, when his father came home particularly late and his mother was fast asleep in her bedroom, John waited for his father to come home to have a long-awaited talk with him. His father came around 1-am, trying to be as quiet as he could. John turned on the lights and gave him a big scare.
"Dammit, John, you scared me," said his father.
"We have to talk," said John.
"Not now. I'm tired and I want to go to sleep."
"No, we need to talk now," he demanded.
He followed John to the kitchen, where they sat down to have their talk. John explained to his father how he had been neglecting his wife and how it was hurting his marriage.
"I don't know what to tell you, son," he said. "But what can I say? I've just been too busy."
"Well, you have to make the time; your wife needs you."
"What should I do?"
He couldn't believe that his father couldn't figure any of this stuff out on his own; it was his wife, he should just know what to do.
"Your anniversary is in a couple of weeks; it would be nice if you would take her out to dinner and buy her some flowers. Maybe even get her a nice gift as well to show her how much you appreciate her."
"What kind of gift?" he asked.
"That's up to you, not me."
"Please, son," his father begged. "I need some help with this."
After thinking about it for a moment, John decided that he should pitch in before his father messed things up.
He remembered something that one of his friends told him about what his own father did as a romantic gift for his mother. John thought it could also be something that he thought might motivate his father to be more romantic with his mother.
"How about this? Besides a romantic dinner, flowers, and maybe a piece of jewelry, you give her love coupons."
"What is that?" his father asked.
"It's coupons you create with a variety of romantic gestures you can do for her. You can find them online or you can create one yourself."
"That sounds great," said his father. "Thanks John, you're a wonderful son."
John left the kitchen to go to bed, leaving his father to think about what he needed to do to show he loved his wife.
For the next couple of weeks, John was afraid his father might forget about their conversation and find another way to ignore his anniversary.
On the morning of their anniversary, John was awakened by his mother's laughter. He walked out of his bedroom and looked into his parents' bedroom to see that his father had brought her breakfast in bed.
"Look what your father did, Johnny," she said with glee. "He made me love coupons. I already redeemed one for breakfast in bed."
His mother was sitting up in her bed, wearing a white nightgown, with a blanket covering the lower half of her body and a silver breakfast tray on her lap. His father was sitting at the edge of the bed, cutting up her pancakes and feeding her. John left smiling, feeling proud of his father for making the effort.
It didn't end there. That night, he brought her flowers and candy and took her out to dinner at a romantic restaurant, where he gave her an expensive necklace. They came home late at around 2 a.m. John was awakened by hearing them laughing all the way up to their bedroom. He kind of knew what they were going to be doing next and went back to sleep, trying not to think about it.
At around 7 a.m., he was woken up by his father, who was dressed in his golf clothes.
"Listen, I have to meet a client on the range and I need you to do something for me," he said.
"What?" John asked with a groggy voice.
"I need you to make your mother some breakfast and take it to our bed."
"You can't be serious."
"And when you do, please give her this," he said, handing him a piece of paper. "Tell her it's been redeemed."
The piece of paper was a coupon for one breakfast in bed that apparently his mother wanted to redeem.
"You're supposed to do these things," said John.
"Hey, I redeemed plenty of them since yesterday," said his father. "Especially two for last night, if you catch my drift."
John remained silent, astounded that his father had just made a joke about having sex with his mother.
Before John could say anything, his father quickly walked out of the room, and a moment later, he heard him leave the house. John got out of bed, got dressed and washed up, then went downstairs to make his mother some breakfast.
He made her blueberry pancakes, his mother's favorite, with some eggs and coffee. He put it all on a tray and carefully took it upstairs into his parents' bedroom. His mother was underneath her blanket, sound asleep. He woke her up by gently calling out her name; her eyes slowly opened, and she looked surprised to see her son standing there with a breakfast tray.
