Page 124 of Maybe in Another Life

He shakes his head. “No, I moved out from Texas about eight years ago.”

“Oh, whereabouts in Texas?” I ask.

“Just outside of Austin.”

I smile. “I lived in Austin for a little while,” I say. “Great area.”

“Yeah,” he says. “Hot as hell, though.”

“Yes,” I say. “Amen to that.”

“So are you a nurse, too?” he asks me.

“Trying to be,” I say. “I’m about to leave the practice to go to school full-time. I’m eager to be done with school and start working.”

“I remember when I officially became an RN.” He laughs to himself. “Seems like ages ago.”

“Well, I’m a little bit behind,” I say.

“Oh, no,” he says. “That’s not what I meant at all. I just meant I feel like eons have passed since I started.”

“Did you always want to work in health care?” I ask him. Since we’re on the subject, no sense in wasting the opportunity to find out more about him and see if he’s right for the office.

He nods. “Yeah, more or less. My sister died when I was young.”

“I’m so sorry,” I say.

He waves me off. “Not necessary, but thank you. I just remember being in the hospital as a kid and seeing how much the nurses were doing to take care of her, to make her comfortable, to make all of us comfortable, and, I don’t know, I guess I just always wanted to do that.” Aaaaaand there’s no way I would ever say no to this guy, with a story like that.

“For me, it was when I was pregnant with my daughter and I had just started working in the office,” I say. “I could see how scared some of the parents were sometimes and how much they needed someone who understood what they were going through, and I just really wanted to be that person. And then, once I had my daughter, I felt that fear. I felt how much you ache at the thought of anything happening to them. I just wanted to help soothe the anxiety, you know?”

He smiles. It’s a nice smile. There’s something very calming about it. “Yeah, I hear you,” he says.

If Jesse is right and there are other universes out there, I’ve probably met Henry before in one of them. We might work together somewhere. Or we would have met in Texas years ago. Maybe in line for a cinnamon roll.

“Well, I’m sure I’ll be seeing you,” I say. “Some way or another.”

“Yeah,” he says. “Or maybe in another life.”

I laugh and excuse myself as Ethan comes and finds me. He brings me a bite-sized cheesecake.

“What do you say we leave early?” he says.

“Early?” I say. “I thought we were partying all night. Paula will sleep at our place.”

“Yeah,” he says. “But what if we left the party and went... to ahotel?”

My eyebrows go up. “Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?”

“Let’s make a baby, baby.”

I put down my glass of water and pop the cheesecake into my mouth. I scoot over to the corner of the room, where I see Carl, Tina, Gabby, and Jesse talking.

“Carl, he seems great. Henry, I mean. You should hire him. For sure. Gabby, I love you. Happy birthday. If you’ll excuse Ethan and me, we have to go home.”

Gabby and Tina give me a hug. Ethan shakes hands with Carl and Jesse.

Ethan and I walk out the front door. It started to rain sometime during the evening. I’m chilly, and Ethan takes off his jacket and puts it around my shoulders.

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