Learning to Remember

6. The Dog Park

"What do you think, Archie, should we go for a run?" She asked the next morning as she grabbed his leash from beside the door. He jumped up and barked, jumping in circles beside her feet. "We'll be back soon, Pi." She waved goodbye to the cat as it crawled under the couch.

"Which way, Archie?" He pulled to the right so she followed. "OK, that works." She chuckled. "I'm sorry you haven't gotten much attention these past few days. I'll make sure we go on long walks everyday from now on. I promise." She said as he pulled her along the street.

As they jogged along the street, she drew in deep breaths to fill her lungs with the fresh air. Eventually they came upon a small park and she turned them into it, stopping to use a nearby bench to stretch her legs. "I feel like I haven't ran in ages, Archie. But being outside like this does feel good."

As she stretched, she looked out at the park. To her left there was a playground with a few young children playing, their parents or caretakers watching after them. To the right was a small building with restrooms and straight ahead was a fenced in dog park that had a woman and her beagle in it. "Want to run free with a friend, Archie?"

He barked and spun in a circle at her feet again. "Let's go say hi."

They entered the park and the two dogs immediately ran together and began playing and chasing each other.

"Looks like they're fast friends." The woman said as she approached. "I'm Rachel."

"Hi, I'm Amelia." She reached out her hand and they shook in greeting. "Do you come here a lot?"

"I try to bring Reba here a couple times a week. You?"

"Um... I'm not sure." She looked away, down at the dogs.

"Yeah, I get it. I get so busy the days just run together."

"Yeah.. exactly." She chuckled.

"Hey, Edwards, is that you?"

She turned to see the man from the school jogging toward her with a grin on his face, a German shepherd keeping pace beside him.

"Ben, right?" She asked.

He placed his hands over his heart, feigning hurt. "Not even sure of my name?"

"Oh. I mean, everyone calls you Simmons, right? Kinda makes it easy to forget your first name. Do you even know mine?"

"Of course, I do... Amelia." He smirked.

She smiled and turned to the lady beside her. "Ben, this is Rachel. Rachel, this is Ben. We work at the same school."

"Nice to meet you, Rachel." Ben shook her hand.

"You too, Ben. Your dog is beautiful. What's his name?"

"Oh, thank you. This is Rex."

"Rex?" Rachel laughed as she saw their dogs sniffing each other. "Rex, meet Reba."

"Reba?" He laughed. "That's awesome. So you're a fan of country music?"

"Definitely." She smiled. "In fact, there's a Reba cover band at The Apple Grove tomorrow night."

"What about you Amelia? Do you like co-" Ben's words were cut off as Archie ran up and started barking loudly.

"I... " She shook her head to clear it. "I'm sorry, I actually have a big headache. I think I'll head home. It was so nice meeting you, Rachel. I hope we run into each other again."

"You too, Amelia. I hope you feel better soon."

"Thank you. Bye Ben."

"Should I walk you home, Edwards?" Ben offered.