Page 123 of Maybe in Another Life

That’s my favorite part. The part where he calls hertheGabby Hudson.

“And I got really nervous and excited, and I started Facebook-stalking her and wondering if she was single and if she would ever date me. And the next thing I know, we’re out to dinner at some hip restaurant in Hollywood. And I just had this feeling. I didn’t tell her then, because I didn’t want to be creepy, but I felt like I finally understood why people get married a second time. When I got divorced, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be up for it again. But then it all clicked into place, and I understood that my marriage failed the first time because I picked the wrong person. And finally, the right person was standing in front of me. So I waited the appropriate amount of months of dating, and I told her how I felt. And then I asked her to marry me, and she said yes.”

That’s usually the end of his story, but he keeps talking.

“I was reading a book about the cosmos recently,” he says, and then he looks around and goes, “Hold on, trust me, this relates.”

The crowd laughs again.

“And I was reading about different theories about the universe. I was really taken with this one theory that states that everything that is possible happens. That means that when you flip a quarter, it doesn’t come down headsortails. It comes up headsandtails. Every time you flip a coin and it comes up heads, you are merely in the universe where the coin came up heads. There is another version of you out there, created the second the quarter flipped, who saw it come up tails. This is happening every second of every day. The world is splitting further and further into an infinite number of parallel universes where everything that could happenishappening. This is completely plausible, by the way. It’s a legitimate interpretation of quantum mechanics. It’s entirely possible that every time we make a decision, there is a version of us out there somewhere who made a different choice. An infinite number of versions of ourselves are living out the consequences of every single possibility in our lives. What I’m getting at here is that I know there may be universes out there where I made different choices that led me somewhere else, led me tosomeoneelse.”

He looks at Gabby. “And my heart breaks for every single version of me that didn’t end up with you.”

I’m embarrassed to say that I start crying. Gabby catches my eye, and I can see she’s teary, too. Everyone is staring in rapt attention. Jesse is done speaking, but no one can turn away. I know that I should do something, but I’m not sure what to do.

“Way to make the rest of us look bad!” a guy shouts from the back of the room.

The crowd laughs and disperses. I turn and look behind me, trying to find the man who spoke, but I don’t see him. Instead, I see Dr. Yates. I turn to Ethan.

“Dr. Yates is back there,” I say. “I’m going to go say hi. I’ll be back in a second.”

He nods and walks over to the desserts. “I’ll get you some cheesecake,” he says. “Unless I see a cinnamon roll.”

I head over to Dr. Yates.

“Hannah,” he says. “Quite a party.”

I laugh. “So it is.”

“Listen, I want to introduce you to someone.” He gestures to the man standing next to him. The man has a large tattoo on his forearm. I can’t quite make out what it is. I think it’s some sort of cursive script. “This is Henry. I’m trying to persuade him to leave Angeles Presbyterian and come work with us.”

“Well, it’s a great place to work,” I say.

“And Henry is one of the best nurses I’ve ever worked with,” Dr. Yates says.

“Quite a recommendation!” I say to Henry.

“Well, I paid good money for him to say that,” he says.

I laugh.

“Would you two excuse me?” Dr. Yates says. “I want to say hello to Gabby.”

He walks off, and I am left with Henry, unsure what to say.

“Did you see the dessert bar?” I ask.

“Yeah,” he says. “I was gonna grab something, but honestly, I like breakfast sweets much better. Cheese danishes, for instance. Or cinnamon rolls.”

“I am obsessed with cinnamon rolls,” I say.

“Rightfully so,” he says. “They are delicious. I’d take a cinnamon roll over a brownie any day.”

I laugh. “It is like you are stealing the words right out of my mouth.”

He laughs, too. “Are you from around here?”

“Yeah,” I say. “I am. You?”

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