Regrets

25 Minutes to Go

1975

Alexandra drove to Hoboken the next morning like planned. It had taken an hour to get there, just like she had thought and been told so, so she got there around 9:30 in the morning. She had an extra fifteen minutes to spare before the actual construction of the building she had designed began to take place.

Fifteen minutes later, Alexandra's boss- Mr. Adam Trebek- drove up to the site. He got out of his car and walked over to where she stood on the sidewalk. "Good morning, Alex," he greeted, "How are you this fine morning?"

Alexandra gave a small smile. "Hi, Mr. Trebek," she greeted, "And I'm doing alright. How 'bout yourself?"

"Better once we get this building started."

She let out a chuckle. "I can understand that."

"Look, I was thinking, in honor of this being your project, you get to dig the first dig on the site of the project."

"Really? Oh wow, that's amazing! I just wish my fiancé was here now, too."

Adam Trebek had always admired Alexandra's adoration for her fiancé. When she had a major success on a project, she'd always comment on how she wished he was there with her if he wasn't. Not to mention how back at their office building, the top of her desk was overflowed with pictures- mostly of her fiancé- along with a few pictures of her and her fiancé together, or the two of them with two other people, who she'd said was her best friend Raquel and her new husband, David. He'd never met any of them, but with how she would talk about them, he felt like he knew them and that they were good people.

Mr. Trebek laughed. "How about I have someone take a picture for you to show your fiancé," he suggested, "Will that work?"

Alexandra let out a chuckle. "I don't see why it wouldn't," she answered with a shrug.

Not long after, the hired construction workers all arrived at the site. It then took about half an hour to set everything up and into place and get all the construction vehicles to the location. During that time, other higher position workers from Alexandra's architecture office came who had become involved in the project over the last couple of months.

As everything was set up and everyone arrived, Alexandra felt her heart begin to pound in her chest. It made sense to feel nervous, didn't it? Not every architect gets their design of a major office building actually built, and no less in a city right on the outskirts of New York City. She had every reason to be nervous and excited at the same time.

Alexandra was taken from her thoughts when she heard her name- more like nickname- being called. She turned in the direction of the voice and saw that it had belonged to one of her higher associates. "You ready for the first dig?" he asked with a smile.

Alexandra smiled back and nodded in response.

-/-/-

Barney placed the front toe of his boot on the concrete at he stopped his motorcycle at the red light. He let his grip on the handle bars become slightly loose as he waited for the light to change to green, signaling for every motor vehicle to go. A content smirk formed on his face as he waited for the light to change. I've missed driving this thing, he thought.

The motorcycle had been bought in 1967 when Barney had finished all of his schooling. That same year, months later, he had volunteered to go fight in Vietnam. During that time, he was barely given the chance to visit home- and even when he did have the change and opportunity, he only got a one week to one month period, so he only used those opportunities when it was either Christmas, or his parent's birthdays. Over time, the motorcycle had aged, rusted, weathered, and anything else that could damage it. At the end of 1973 when he came home from Vietnam for good, he started all repairs on the motorcycle, which ended up in him pretty much rebuilding the whole thing. He had only recently finished the motorcycle at the beginning of this year's- 1975- summer, and it was currently toward the end of summer.