Romance

In Another Life

by Big Belly

My wife, Clara Ellis, had just died. By law, I inherited her entire data archive. Among the files, I discovered an AI version of her that she had created so her surviving family could remember her after she was gone.My daughter asked, "What's the happiest moment of your entire life?"The Clara on the screen laughed. "Why, marrying your father, of course."Her friends asked if she had ever had any regrets. "Clara" shook her head.Then another question appeared, one the real Clara had prepared for herself."If you could restart your life at 22, would you still choose to marry Darren?"For a full minute, Clara AI said nothing. Finally, she shook her head. "No. I'd rush to the airport and convince Logan to stay."Logan Pearce had left the country when Clara was 22. She never tried to stop him because, at that exact time, I was in a car accident that took both my parents' lives. At the most devastating moment of my life, she gave up on the man she loved and chose to stay by my side for the next twenty years.Everyone had always called it an act of love. Now I knew it had been an act of pity.The next time I opened my eyes, I discovered that I had somehow returned to the third day after the accident.Clara sat beside my hospital bed. Her phone showed that Logan's flight would be boarding soon.In my previous life, I had stopped her from going. It was the first time I had ever swallowed my pride and begged someone to stay with me. That night, I had spent hours trying to convince her not to leave.This time, I ordered an Uber for her. "Logan's flight leaves in 40 minutes. You can still make it, Clara."

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