I wake to complete darkness and struggle to adjust my eyes. Fumbling around in the dark, I can feel another person in bed next to me. I exhale deeply as I run my hands through the wavy hair that I’d know anywhere. John.
I sprint out of bed and make my way through the dark to the bathroom, gently shutting the door and flipping on the light. Tears spring from my eyes when I see my face staring back at me. My crow’s-feet. My hair sticking up in five directions. I grab my belly and laugh out loud. We did it! I run my hands over my thighs, and arms, the soft flesh that I had always cursed after having kids now seeming like heaven. I’m me again.
I grab my cell phone off the bathroom counter. Did Casey switch back too? I breathe a huge sigh of relief as I click on the picture text she sent me thirty minutes earlier, her face beaming into the camera, her eyes shining with a light I hadn’t seen in a very long time. Woo hoo! reads the caption beneath it. I hold my phone up and smile as the camera flashes and send my own picture in response. Best selfie ever!, I write and hit send.
I crack the door open and take in the sight of my husband sleeping soundly on the bed. Funny how true that saying is—that you don’t realize what you’ve got until it’s gone. I tiptoe down the hall to Charlotte’s room and stifle a laugh when I see her asleep, her bottom sticking up in the air. I rub my hand along her back and she stirs, turning over on her back to face me. “Hi, sweet pea,” I whisper. “Mama’s home.”
“Mama!” she squeals her first word, her face beaming as I pick her up and she takes my face into her tiny hands, staring deep into my eyes.
She knows. And now she’s able to say what she’s known all along.
I squeeze her tight. “I promise to never leave you again, baby girl.”
“Mama,” she repeats, her eyes getting sleepy. I set her down gently back in her crib and pull her favorite blanket over her.
“Night, night,” I say softly as I watch her eyes flutter, and then shut. I wait, watching over her until I hear her breathing become heavy with slumber.
Back in my bedroom, I slide back into bed and inch my way over to John, grabbing his long arms and wrapping them around me tightly, wiping the tears from my eyes on my pillow. I promise to never forget this moment.
He stirs. “Hey there,” he whispers as he kisses my bare shoulder, turning his body and engulfing mine.
“I’ve missed you,” I whisper back, trying to conceal the sob rising in my throat.
“I’ve been right here the whole time. I was just waiting for you to notice me,” he says as he runs his hands through my hair.
I slide my hands under the covers. “Come here. I’m ready to give you your birthday present,” I say and kiss him like it’s the very first time.
Epilogue
Six Months Later
“Got it, yes. I understand. Thank you!” Casey says before hanging up the phone and spinning her chair around to face Rachel, a huge smile on her face. “We did it!”
Rachel leaps over the stack of Entertainment Weeklys and Varietys on the floor next to her desk, grabs Casey, and they jump up and down like two schoolgirls who’ve just won a foursquare match. “I told you we could make it happen. C&C Productions is now officially in the game!” she cheers, referring to the meeting they’d just secured with HBO to pitch their first television series.
When Destiny and Charlie walk in a few minutes later, they’re greeted with a shout. “We got the meeting with HBO!” Casey yells and they all embrace in a group hug. “Thank God for Destiny and her contacts!” Casey adds. From her long stint with Casey, Destiny knew the assistants in practically every office from West Hollywood to Santa Monica, and understood they held the coveted key to their bosses. Thankfully, she’d leveraged many of her relationships and called in several favors that helped get the production company off the ground, earning her the long overdue title she deserved: vice president of development. “I’m not getting your coffee ever again, bitch!” she’d said, laughing as she spun around in her new desk chair, holding her hands over her head like a child riding a roller coaster.
Destiny had been Casey’s first call the morning she and Charlie decided to go into business together. “We can’t do this without you,” Casey pleaded, knowing full well that to make this work, they’d need someone like Destiny to keep them on track.
“You can’t afford me!” she joked before agreeing to join them for brunch to discuss coming on board. Casey told her that she’d be an equal member of the team, giving her a percentage of equity in the company as a bonus. Destiny had been loyal to her for years, even when Casey may not have deserved it, and Casey wanted to repay her with more than just money.