Page 125 of Maybe in Another Life

“We could stay up all night, you know,” he says, teasing me. “Or we could have sex once, turn on the TV, and fall asleep peacefully.”

I laugh. “That last one sounds great,” I say.

I get into the car, and I am overwhelmed by gratitude.

If there are an infinite number of universes, I don’t know how I got so lucky as to end up in this one.

Maybe there are other lives for me out there, but I can’t imagine being as happy in any of them as I am right now, today.

I have to think that while I may exist in other universes, none is as good as this.

Gabby hates surprises, but I couldn’t persuade Carl and Tina to go about this any other way, and I wasn’t going to be the one who told her. So here we are, at her thirty-second birthday, me, Henry, and fifty of her closest friends, huddled in her parents’ living room, completely in the dark.

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.

I hear them walk up to the door.

I 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 genuinely terrified for a moment. 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.

The living room is full of beautiful decorations. Champagne flutes and Moët. A dessert bar. Henry and I went all over Los Angeles today to find linen tablecloths to match the décor. Henry loves Gabby. Would do anything for her.

Gabby makes her way to me first. “Are you mad?” I ask as she hugs me. “I toyed with the idea of telling you.”

She pulls away from me. You can tell from her face that she’s still startled. “No,” she says. “I’m not mad. Overwhelmed, maybe. I’m sort of shocked that between you and Jesse, no one let it slip.”

“We made a pact,” I tell her. “Not to say anything. It was really important to your parents.”

“They did all this?” she says.

I nod. “All their idea.”

“Happy birthday,” Henry says. He hands her a glass of champagne. She takes it and gives him a hug.

“And I suppose you won’t be having any?” Gabby says, looking at my belly. I’m seven months pregnant. It’s a girl. We’re naming her Isabella, after Henry’s sister. Gabby doesn’t know that we’ve talked about naming her Isabella Gabrielle, after her.

“Nope,” I say. “But I’ll be drinking with you in spirit. Have you seen the Flints?” I ask her. “They are...” I look around until I find them in the back, waving at her and talking to Jesse. She’s already moving toward them.

I watch her as she hugs her soon-to-be in-laws. They love her—that much is clear.

“Well done, kiddo,” Carl says to me. “I wasn’t sure you’d be able to pull it off.”

“I’m not great with keeping secrets,” I tell him. “But I figured this was an important one. So... ta-da!” I lift my hands up in the air, as if I’ve performed a magic trick.

Carl looks at my hands and then at Henry. “You let your wife attend parties without a wedding ring, son?”

Henry laughs. “You can get into that with her,” he says. “I don’t tell her what to do.”

“I had to take it off,” I tell Carl, defending myself. “My fingers are the size of sausages.”

Carl shakes his head, teasing me. “Not even married a year, and already she’s coming up with reasons to take off the ring. Tsk-tsk.”

“You’re right. I’m liable to run off at any minute,” I say, pointing down to my belly.

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