The Agent and The School Teacher

Chapter Twenty-One: Absolutely Incredible

~~~Elizabeth~~~

Two days, passed, the weekend came, and Aaron never called me. I tried to convince myself that I wasn't disappointed, but that didn't work out to well.

"Why do you have a bike, Mommy?" Sadie asked, as I loaded up the car to take the girls with me to the park.

"Because I'm doing a race for the disease that Mrs. Greene has, to show my support." I told her, closing the trunk. "But Mommy has to learn how to ride a bike first."

"I know how to ride a bike!" Charlotte said, closing her book. "Without training wheels and everything!"

"When did you learn how to do that?" I asked.

"Daddy taught me. Maybe he can come! Maybe he can teach you too!" I nodded.

"Yeah, maybe." It seemed like the universe was trying to play some kind of cruel trick on me, where Ben was here for me and the girls and Aaron had dropped off the face of the planet. There was a time when I would have loved to be in this position but now...its like I don't know who to trust anymore. "Come on, get in the car, lets go."

"Wait, Mommy, look!" I looked up to see a black car pulling into the driveway. I smiled as it came to a stop, and Aaron and Jack climbed out of it.

"Hi Ms. Bartlett!" Jack greeted, a teddy bear clutched in his arms.

"Hello Jack!" I rustled his hair, looking up at Aaron.

"Sorry I didn't call." He said. "But, if the request still stands, I'm here to turn you into a triathlete if its the last thing I do."

"The request definitely still stands." I told him. "And, if you're alright with it, we could all go over together and then come back here for lunch?"

"Please Daddy!" Jack asked, hugging Aaron's leg. He smiled.

"I think we can probably arrange that."

"Yay!" He jumped up and down and Charlotte got out and hugged him. I smiled at Aaron.

"I'll help you get his car seat."

"Great, thank you."

~~~

"You're too much in your head," Aaron told me. Learning to ride a bike was turning out to be way more difficult than I had anticipated. "You're hesitating, you just need to have to confidence that you can do it."

"I thought you were my bike instructor, not my life coach." I told him, still sitting on the bike with one leg down to hold me steady. He smiled and I laughed, glancing over to make sure the kids were still on the playground.

"Well, that's why people use the phrase 'its like riding a bike'." I rolled my eyes. "But seriously, stop focusing on if you're going to fall, and focus on where you're going." I opened my mouth to say something snarky, but the words got lost in my throat as Aaron's hand came to rest on my waist, causing a burst of nervous electricity to course through me. "Look in front of you, find where you want to go, and don't think about it too much, just peddle." I nodded, causing him to furrow his eyebrows. "Are you ok?"

"Mhm." I said, nodding. 

"You do realize that I'm a profiler, right?" I sighed, burying my face in my hands. "Seriously, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong!" I looked up at him again.

"No, something is definitely on your mind, but you're not telling me, why?"

"Oh gee, I don't know Aaron, maybe because I could barely get you to teach me how to ride a bike, so how are you going to respond when I tell you that I have feelings for you-" I stopped, looking at him with wide eyes and the words that had just come out of my mouth.