Page 121 of Maybe in Another Life

He kisses me then, and I realize I was wrong about the hand holding. It now feels teenager-ish and quaint. This is what I’d been waiting for.

And as I stand there, in the middle of the city, kissing my night nurse, I know, for the first time in my life, that I have done everything right.

After all, he tastes like a cinnamon roll, and I’ve never kissed anyone who tasted like a cinnamon roll.

THREE YEARS LATER

Gabby hates surprises, but Carl and Tina insisted that it had to be a surprise party. I told them I would go along with their plan, and then I spilled the beans to Gabby last week so she’d know what to expect. I just knew that if it were me, I’d want the heads-up. So here we are, at her thirty-second birthday, me, Ethan, and fifty of her closest friends, huddled in her parents’ living room, completely in the dark, waiting to surprise someone who won’t be surprised.

We hear her parents’ car pull into the driveway. I give one last warning to everyone to be quiet when I see their headlights go out.

We hear them walk up to the door.

We see the door open.

I turn on the lights, and the entire room of us yells, “Surprise!” just as we are supposed to.

Gabby’s eyes go wide. She’s a good faker. She looks genuinely terrified. And then she turns immediately into Jesse’s chest. He laughs, holding her.

“Happy birthday!” he says, and then he spins her back around to look at all of us.

Tina decorated the room tastefully. Champagne and a dessert bar. White and silver balloons.

Gabby makes her way to me first. “Thank God you told me,” she whispers. “I don’t know if I could have handled all of this without a warning.”

I laugh. “Happy birthday!” I tell her. “Surprise!”

We laugh.

“Where’s Gabriella?”

“I left her with Paula,” I say. Paula is our go-to babysitter, maybe more of a nanny. She’s an older woman I worked with in Carl’s office. She retired and then found herself really bored, so she looks after Gabriella during the day when I am at work or anytime Gabby, Ethan, and I aren’t around. Gabriella loves her. Ethan and I have always jokingly called Gabby the third parent, so it was only natural that we started calling Paula the fourth. For a woman who felt as if her parents weren’t around, I’ve certainly given my kid a plethora of them.

“Did you tell Paula yet?” Gabby asks in a clandestine whisper. “About thething?” I can only assume that she’s referring to the fact that Ethan and I have, just this month, started trying to have a second child.

“No,” I whisper. “You’re still the only one who knows.”

“Seems better just to let everyone know once we’ve succeeded,” Ethan says. “But Hannah has forgotten to tell you the best part about tonight.”

“I have?”

“Paula said she’d spend the night, so it’s party time, as far as I’m concerned!” Ethan says, standing beside me. “And happy birthday! That, too.” He hands Gabby a bottle of wine that we picked up for her.

“Thank you!” she says. She gives him a big hug. “I love you guys. Thank you so much for all of this.”

“We love you, too,” I say. “Have you seen the Flints? They’re in the back.” I point, but she’s already moving toward them. I watch her as she hugs her soon-to-be in-laws. You can tell they love her.

“Nice try, kiddo,” Carl says, coming up to me. “You two almost fooled me.”

I act mock-confused. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“She knew. I know my daughter, and she knew. And I know Jesse didn’t tell her, because he’s still too scared of me. You’re the only one brave enough to defy me.”

I laugh. “She hates surprises,” I say in my own defense.

Carl shakes his head and then looks at Ethan. “Is this what serves as an apology with your wife?”

Ethan laughs and puts his hands up in surrender. “I’m staying out of it.”

---