3:09

CHAPTER 17 - THE CHANCE

"I'm sorry honey, I don't know what came over me" he replied after returning home. "When I heard that they were making layoffs at work... I just needed some air and I couldn't handle it anymore."

"Uh, that was a little more crazy than you are making it out to be. That was insane, honey... I mean, I have never seen you do something even remotely close to whatever the hell that was..." Cara explained with fierce eye contact and a stiffened posture.

"...and you can't just drive off like that. I don't care if you're too scared to tell me, because I need to hear the good news just as much as the bad news too."

Cara paused and breathed acutely. She crunched her eyes hoping that Aaron understood what she wanted from him.

"Like... I know you had a stressful day, but I did too. It was a disaster. Jen had another breakdown and the printer wasn't working all day" she recalled. "Oh, and another thing... you need to clean that office right now. Good Lord, if my mother saw that she would never let me forget it."

"Yeah I will, I was just pulling apart the computer... that's beside the point. I... uh... I want to ask you something..." he supposed.

The sequence of events from the unknowingly significant day had slowly seeped its way into Aaron's confident mindset. His increasing recollection of the past became an advantage as the night progressed, but more importantly a path to not deviate too far away from. In his eyes, this was his one and only chance to make things right.

"Do you want to go for a walk at Bayview Park tomorrow after work?" he asked, knowing all too well how it ended the last time.

"C'mon, you'll love it. We can do all of your favourite things like tell awful jokes and laugh at couples that don't work well together at all" Aaron suggested.

Cara squinted her eyes and peered into the back garden in deep thought.

"I want to make it up to you. Will you let me do that?" he requested.

"Sure..." Cara conceded. "I'll go for a walk with you... but not in Bayview Park."

Aaron felt a slight lump in his throat. He loosened his collar and widened his eyes upon replying to her strange request.

"W-what? Why not in Bayview Park? That's where our favourite tree is. Don't you remember?" he explained, attempting to convince her otherwise.

She quavered her head in dismay. Aaron could tell she didn't like the idea, judging by her unconvinced expression.

"Of course I remember" she answered. "Don't get me wrong it's a beautiful park, but I prefer somewhere more... I don't know... private. It's also Friday tomorrow, so I'm sure there'll be a kid's birthday or something."

Aaron reached into the recesses of his mind to think of a way to convince her. He knew how important Bayview Park was for everything to fall into place, if his memory had not failed him.

"Okay, you've made me pull out the big guns now. If you meet me at Bayview Park tomorrow at 5:30, I will... cook every single day, starting next week" he smirked.

Cara covered her mouth with her hand, preventing her from laughing out loud. Her smile had seeped through in wonder of the statement that had just been made by her adorable husband.

"Honey, I wouldn't make you do that" she supposed. "Plus, no offence, but I don't really wanna eat your cheeseburgers and sausage rolls every single day next week."

At this point the couple couldn't hold in their smiles from each other.

"This sounds really important to you so... sure, I'll see you there tomorrow."

They could feel their love rebound into warmness within their hearts. They knew this feeling was better than anything else in the world, and they eagerly slept with hope for the following afternoon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The air, once again, was fresh. The strong scent of freshly trimmed grass flowed within the Friday afternoon breeze. The mix of bright pink and hazel orange in the sky was undeniably gorgeous, as they awaited the sunset, longing for their day to come to a close.

"So I thought I was owed some joke telling. If not I can just go home, y'know I've got other stuff to do..." she said with a hint of sarcasm.

"Hmmm, give me a second to think of one" he pondered.

"Okay, I've got one. What did the cannibal get when he showed up to the party late?" he said.

Cara cringed and squinted her eyes. "Um, I'm not sure. What is it?"

"A cold shoulder..."

The couple looked at each other and couldn't help but giggle.

"That was the single worst joke I've ever heard in my entire life, but... nothing can ruin this day so I'm gonna take it with a grain of salt and move on" she digressed.

"Yeah, I thought you would say something like that" Aaron pondered.

*TING*

Cara pulled out her phone to see a message from someone, then placed it in her back pocket.

"Hey, answer it. It's probably important" Aaron insisted.

"Um... yeah I think I should. Give me a second."

Aaron could see a gathering of people around a recreational area start to form towards the bend. As Cara's eyes become glued to the phone, he attempted to distract her.

"What's that noise?" he asked her.

As the noises grew louder, a large structure came into their view and Aaron, who successfully remembered from the last time, grinned proudly at the beautiful sight.

"Would you look at that" she cheerfully smirked. "I told you there would be a birthday party. You owe me five bucks by the way."

"Hey" Aaron bellowed. "We never agreed on that."

Birthday celebrations echoed throughout the landscape. Aaron placed his arm effortlessly around her shoulder as he took a moment to treasure the surrounding view.

"Quick, follow me. I need to show you something" he delightfully requested.

"Hey... can we go sit down for a second?" Cara shifted her tone of voice. "I want to talk to you about something."

"Oh..." he realised her seriousness. "Sure, we can do that."

The couple awkwardly slumped onto the nearby park bench and lingered in silence for a moment. The ambience of the park had timelessly subsided, as they were left to their own spirited words. Cara cleared her throat and decided to break the ice...

"Right... I had this whole speech rehearsed, but I am just going to go with it" she inhaled deeply. "I know we have spoken about this in the past but, y'know that was a long time ago."

Aaron leaned in to hear her correctly. "So... what are you trying to say?"

"I think we should... have a... baby."

His eyes tremored in shock. Aaron ascended out of his slumped position upon hearing the revelation. He clutched onto her tighter than ever before. Cara fell into his arms as if the answer couldn't have been any clearer.

"I guess this works too..." he chuckled.

"What was that?" she asked.

"Nothing... nothing at all."