Carter let them walk through the doors first. There would be a video camera or two running in the room, so he’d see their faces after the fact. They stepped into the room, hand in hand, then stopped dead and stared. There weren’t ten people there, or even twenty.
There were forty-seven of their classmates in front of them. Plus a couple of dozen babies, children and spouses. Carter. Michael. Sophie. The entire class.
Carter could see his classmates’ faces as they processed the sight of Michael and Sophie together – truly together. Then the roar went up. They were supposed to yell “surprise,” but everyone went nuts, and it didn’t really matter anymore. Against impossible odds, they were all back together again. Then again, they’d never truly been apart.
-
A few hours later, Carter came over to sit on the floor beside Sophie. Ana sat in one of the few chairs. She never should have flown here from S?o Paolo nearly seven months pregnant, but there’d been no stopping her.
“Hey.” Carter kissed Sophie’s head as he settled down, beer bottle between his legs.
“Hey, yourself. I can’t believe you did this.” She looked out to the back deck where Michael was sitting in a patio chair, nursing a beer and laughing over someone’s story. “Look how happy he is.”
“I’ve never seen him this happy. But it’s not just all of us being together again. It’s you. You make him happy. I never thought you two could be in the same room without murdering one another, and now you’ve gone and proven me wrong.”
She smiled and looked back out at Michael, her heart in her eyes. He suddenly looked up through the patio door. He had his sunglasses on, so Carter couldn’t see his eyes, but he was looking at Sophie. Carter wondered if he and Janet looked like that when they were together. He hoped so. A sniffling sound broke the moment, and everyone looked at Ana. She waved her hand at them and blew her nose.
“Nothing, nothing. I have pregnant woman hormones...” She broke off in a little sob, and Carter jumped to his feet, rubbing her shoulders. “I can’t believe you two are finally together,” she said. “Do you remember, Sophie, on the very first day, at the lunch table together? When Michael was looking at you?” Now both of them were tearing up. Women.
“I remember a great deal about Michael and Sophie on the road.” Carter let his mind wander back ten years. “All those times you two fought. The times I had to negotiate peace treaties between you. How many times did you come crying to me about the shitty things he said to you?”
“You’ve always been there for me,” said Sophie. “I love you for it. But we’ve all changed. Michael and I are very happy now.”
Carter smiled. “I know. All I’ve ever wanted for you – for all of us – is to be happy.”
“Speaking of happy, have you talked to Viktor?” Ana started a bit of juicy gossip about one of their classmates, and Carter decided to mosey along like a good host. He walked back toward the front of the house. Janet was coming downstairs holding baby Mike, who had just had lunch and a nap. Carter held his arms out eagerly for his boy, who greeted him with a wide smile.
“Hey, big boy.” His small son patted his face. “Come see Daddy for a little bit.” Carter kissed Janet, who went to sit with Sophie. He was looking for a sunhat in the front closet to put on Mike’s bald head – he was taking after his daddy in the hair department, it seemed – when a little body collided with his legs.
“Hey there, sport.” He shifted Mike in his grasp and reached down to steady the gorgeous dark-haired boy who had just crashed into him. The boy looked up shyly, then scampered back to his mother. Carter straightened and saw Mirielle.