What if it All Happened Differently?

Floorboards

Adam walked up the front steps of his house and as he got his keys out of his pocket, he heard his wife singing inside. Smiling, he unlocked the door and walked through it calling out "Barbara I'm home" as soon as he saw she wasn't in the main part of the house. 

A second later, she emerged from the kitchen, cleaning her latest piece of pottery with a tea towel. Adam smiled at her and started telling her all about his adventures in town. She listened intently to his story of the three Howards while cleaning her pottery until the phone rang. She cheerfully ran to get it and Adam polished up his crib while she was gone. 

"That was the O'Briens calling" said Barbara, emerging from the kitchen and pulling Adam away from his thoughts

"Oh don't worry, I'll have this crib ready before that baby gets here" said Adam, gathering up the sheet that had covered the crib, in his arms and standing up. 

"She had it yesterday" deadpanned Barbara, and then in a hope to lighten the mood said half heartedly "its a girl!" 

"Oh looks like I'd better get this finished, right after lunch" said Adam, procrastinating on yet another thing. He walked over to his wife.

"Oh make me a sandwich?" asked Barbara

"One sandwich coming up" said Adam. He kissed her and walked to the kitchen. Barbara looked down at the two pottery jugs she was holding and couldn't help saying.

"Look at these jugs!" 

She heard Adam laugh from the kitchen and found herself smiling. She put one of the jugs down and admired her handy work on the other one. It was nearly perfect. It was incredible how you could take a lump of clay and turn it into something as beautiful as a pottery jug. She found herself sitting in a sear and cradling the jug in her arms like someone might cradle a baby. 

"Barb!" Adam's voice broke through her thoughts. She jumped up and put her two creations to the side. "Your sandwich madam"

"Why thank you kind sir" said Barbara, taking the piece of bread her husband had held out to her. They sat down at the table and looked at each other. "Can you believe we've been in this house nearly 10 years?"

"Its crazy" said Adam "and look at it, we've nearly fixed it"

"The garden is the best bit" said Barbara, smiling proudly at the thought of her beautiful garden. 

"Yes" said Adam "It's beautiful hon, I'm proud of you"

"You've done an amazing job with everything else" said Barbara. "I think we both know what comes next" Adam grinned hopefully and squeezed her hand. They finished off their small lunch and she started gathering the plates together. Adam was walking back over to the crib when a floorboard squeaked alarmingly loud.

"Oh no" said Adam, pressing down on that "This is another reason we can't take the next step"

"Oh you're right" said Barbara.

"I'll fix that... tomorrow" said Adam. Barbara took a deep breath and approached him.

"Hey Ad, what if we... y'know... tried again?" Adam took a deep breath and took her hands. 

"I want to Barb, I do... I really do... I just gotta make some emotional room, y'know?" loosing their baby 2 years ago had really hit them both hard. It seemed as though Adam had recovered quicker than Barbara, but deep down he was still hurting a lot. Barbara had found that pottery and gardening had become a great coping method, and Adam had busied himself with his woodworking more than ever.

"I understand" said Barbara, kissing his knuckles "we'll get the timing right"

"What did I do to deserve someone like you" Adam gave her a short sweet kiss and looked around the room "for now, lets deal with the floor boards"

"The cracks in the plaster"

"The wifi is a disaster"

"The sofa needs a castor" said Barbara, going over to the couch and jumping onto it. They continued naming random things that needed fixing and it turned a little extreme. 

"We should learn Mandarin" exclaimed Barbara, jumping off the couch

"Yeah" said Adam "Or Spanish at least"

"No habla español, Dos cervezas por favor" the couple recited the one thing they remembered from high school before bursting into fits of laughter and jokily dancing around the room, ignoring the loud creaking coming from the floorboards beneath their feet. 

They looked at each other and took a jump toward each other. The floorboards gave a deafening creak and broke, sending the couple crashing into the basement below.