With Chris' fortieth birthday done and dusted, it didn't take long for Denise's twenty-fourth birthday to arrive. And though she had celebrated the birthdays of her family members extravagantly that year, she took a different route when it came to her own; unexpected from someone who loved birthdays as much as she did. Denise was basically that one character in every sitcom that prepared for their birthday, months prior to it. She'd think about whether she wanted a big party, a small gathering, time with her core group of girlfriends, or just a quiet date night with Chris. She'd consider themes, possible outfits, and cake flavors. She'd even start a mental registry so that she'd have the answer when she was asked "what would you like for your birthday?"
Ever since Denise was a little girl, she'd absolutely loved the 25th of August. The date was practically sacred in her family with all the fuss she had created over it; fuss that had only increased throughout the years. Hearing she didn't have anything planned for her twenty-fourth surprised everyone, especially Donovan; her older brother who was born two years and one day ahead of her. After almost twenty-four years of being her older brother, and eighteen conjoined birthday celebrations, he was familiar with the high regard his sister had placed on birthdays.
Donovan could still remember how upset she was when he got into Cornell and had to move to New York because they couldn't celebrate their birthdays together anymore. It didn't stop them from completing their yearly ritual of being the first to wish the other happy birthday though. She always made sure to call him a few minutes before his birthday, and he'd do the same for her on hers. The girl came out of the womb asking about her birthday cake, yet in the year 2021, she was acting as though she didn't even want one.
All her family and friends thought she was insane considering she had more to celebrate other than turning twenty-four; she'd wrapped her first ever Hollywood film. If anything, she needed a party to wind down more than anyone else. And while Chris agreed with that, he went along with Denise's plans not to do anything. Not just because she was his wife and he obliged to her requests, but because he knew she would not be able to concentrate on her birthday when that was the same day the first day of screenings began. Still, he didn't want her spending special day stress cleaning their entire house. Reviews were going to come out when they came out, whether or not she celebrated her birthday or remained cooped up in the house wasn't going to change what people were going to say about her film.
"Happy birthday." Denise startled when she heard her brother's voice, dropping the sponge she'd been using to scour the kitchen sink. She turned around to see him carrying her son, her eyes narrowed in confusion. "I'm confused, you're canceling your birthday to scrub a sink? You couldn't do that tomorrow?"
"What are you doing here?"
"Chris called me," he answered.
"Why?" She was even more confused.
"No idea," he shrugged. "All I know is that I'm responsible for this little guy until tomorrow morning."
"What?" She yanked off her rubber gloves. "Why would we need you to be responsible for him? We're home. Chris!" She called then briefly turned her back onto her brother and her son to rinse her hands. Donovan took that as an opportunity to leave, grabbing the diaper bag Chris had packed for him on his way out. "What-" she glanced over her shoulder when she heard the front door close. "Did he just-" she scoffed. "Donovan!" She was about to rush out after him when Chris caught her wrist.
"Whoa," Chris chuckled. "Relax, hon. That's your brother that has our son, he's not some stranger."
"I know that, but why is my brother taking Jack? And where's Dodger," she looked around, unsuccessfully spotting their dog. "Did he take Dodger too?" She asked and saw Chris nod. "Why does my brother have our son and our dog?"
"Because I want to take you somewhere for your birthday," he answered and she heaved a sigh. "I know," he chuckled at her immediate reaction. "You don't want to do anything for your birthday, but I don't want you spending it cooped up here. You're stress cleaning, it's not healthy. I mean- take our kitchen sink as an example. It is spotless, you've scrubbed it for a solid half an hour now." She glanced over her shoulder with pursed lips, she definitely saw his point. "Let's get out of the house, take your mind off your stress with something fun."
"Alright, I'll go with you. What have you got planned?"
"It's a surprise," he told her with a smile that made her nervous.
"Okay...Um..." She pressed her lips together. "Can you give me a hint?"
"Nope," he shook his head and she frowned. "Just gotta trust me on this, Denise. C'mon," he took her hand and she reluctantly followed him out the front door. "Don't worry, it's not a surprise party." He told her as he locked their front door. "I'd let you change if it were. Today's surprise is just going to be the two of us." He squeezed her hand. "It's going to be fun and it's going to take your mind off the screening, I promise."
"Okay then."
• • • • • • • •
Denise spotted the Perris Skydiving Center before Chris' car pulled into their parking lot. "Wait, are we going skydiving?" She turned to him and he grinned in response. "Chris, no." Her reaction was not one he expected, nor did it match how she felt on the inside. Of all the activities she wanted to check off her bucket list, skydiving was on the top ten. Seeing the center excited her in ways she could not describe, she just couldn't express them knowing she had a son to watch grow into a man. Chris figured it was just her nerves until she repeated in a firmer tone, "we are not going skydiving. I don't care if our session has been booked, we're going home."
"But I thought you always-"
"No," she cut him off. "We're going home."
"I'm confused, isn't skydiving on the bucket list?"
"Yeah, back when I had nothing to live for," she retorted and he chuckled. "I'm not joking, Chris. If you'd taken me before we had Jack, I'd just say 'hell yeah' and jump. But we have a son now, we are responsible for a little human being. What is going to happen to him if something happens to us? And shall I remind you that you promised your mom that that last time was your last time? Do you really think she's going to be happy when she hears about this?" Chris paused for a moment, furrowing his brows. "The answer is 'no', in case you were having trouble figuring it out."
"Oh, I knew the answer. I was just busy trying to get over the fact I'm not enough to live for." He teased and she rolled her eyes because she knew he knew what she'd meant by that. "I'm sorry, but I honestly don't care about the collateral damage right now. Right now, I need you to have something to distract you from the screening. And speaking from experience, nothing is going to distract you more than the fear of jumping out of a plane. So, yes," he reached over her to swing her car door open, "we are going."
"You might be, but I am most definitely not."
"You most definitely are," he corrected. "I am sorry, baby, but you are checking 'skydiving' off your bucket list today, whether you like it or not. And until you do," he smiled sweetly at her deadpan expression, "I am not driving us home. Surprise," he sang-song. "Happy birthday." He leaned over to kiss her cheek, only to have her block his lips with her hand. He just laughed and pecked her palm, "I love you too." He then got out of the car before she had the chance to swear at him.
"You are such an asshole." She got him anyway when he walked over to her side and opened her car door. He just smiled in response and held out his hand for her to take. "I am not going, Chris." She reaffirmed but he continued to wiggle his fingers, beckoning for her hand. "Are you not hearing me? I am not going, so stop it. There are a billion other ways to distract me from the screening, I don't understand why you had to pick skydiving."
"I picked skydiving because it is an activity on your bucket list. As your husband, I want to do everything I can to help you cross everything off that list." He explained and she huffed. "Denise, we both know I'm not going to force you to jump if you truly don't want to jump-"
"Do we?" She raised a brow.
"Yes, we do," he replied with a chuckle and she hid her smile as he took her hand in his. "I'm just being pushy because I know you better than most, and I know skydiving is something you've been dying to do for a while now."
"No pun intended?"
"Can we put everything aside for a minute? Forget you're a mom, forget you have responsibilities. Just- what do you want?" He asked and she sighed. She wanted to answer him but was afraid she'd be a bad mother if she did. Truth was she wanted to jump; she wanted to experience life without fear, to her extent. She wanted to jump out of planes, travel the world, have an impact on lives, and create a legacy to be remembered by. "If we didn't have Jack to worry about, what would we be doing right now?"
"We'd be prepping for our jump."
"Exactly, so let's go prep for our jump."
"Chris, we have a son. We can't just-"
"Nothing bad is going to happen to us, Jack is going to grow up with both of us in his life." He assured her and she huffed in response. "Call me selfish, Denise. But I cannot watch you compromise your happiness, I don't care if you're doing it for me or for Jack. I want you to be happy always, I want you to live the life you want to live without ever feeling guilty. So if you want to skydive, let's go and skydive. If you want to focus on your career, you focus on your career. We are your family and we will support every decision you make, absolutely no questions asked."
"You serious about this, aren't you? This isn't just some stunt pulled so you could give me that touching speech? That plane over there is ours?" She quizzed and glanced over at the plane that definitely wasn't as rickety as her mind was imagining it to be.
"That plane over there is ours, they're prepping for our jump as we speak." He answered and she let out a nervous, but excited chuckle. "Can you imagine if I drove us all the way out here, just to give you that speech? It'd be pretty crappy of me, don't you think? Dashing your hopes and dreams."
"I think you're dashing my hopes and dreams of seeing our wonderful life play out."
"You realize I love you, right?" He descended to his knee, gently squeezing her hand. "That I need you? No matter how happy I want you to be, there is a limit to the things I'd let you do. I wouldn't be taking you skydiving if I couldn't guarantee your safety."
"I appreciate the sentiment, Chris. But you can't guarantee my safety when skydiving has risks you cannot prevent. If the chute doesn't open, I am dead." She said and he chuckled wearily, lowering his gaze as he scratched his left brow. "You realize you're not actually a superhero capable of saving me from plunging to my death, right? Even if you were Captain America, I'd still be dead because if you couldn't even save Bucky from falling off that train- I doubt you'd be able to save me from falling out of the sky."
"Nothing bad is going to happen to you, trust me."
"Well, if something bad does happen to me," she began as she got out of the car; Chris rose to his feet. "Know that you are my greatest love." She said and he smiled, squeezing her hand. "After Jack and Dodger." She added then laughed when he shook his head, chuckling. "Also, know that I will haunt you for the rest of your life. Don't even think about meeting someone new and falling in-love because that is not going to fly with my ghostly presence."
"You're not going to die."
"We'll see."