The Reunion (Part 1)

chapter 28

-"This is my Charlie when he was born," Carina said, holding up a picture of the little guy.

- "He was beautiful, and I don't mean that in a polite way, because babies are often... Ugly. But Charlie was really beautiful."

- "he is, isn't he?"

- "yes, very handsome"

- "do you want to see Charles?"

- "yes, I do"

- "it's not an obligation"

- "show me the man who had the life I wanted to have" replied Maya in the hope of making the brunette smile.

Carina had found a picture of the three of them, a few pictures away.

"Is that Charles?!" Said she shocked when she saw the man

-"Yes, I warned you that he looked a little like you, like he could be your brother... By the way, how is Mason?"

- "He's fine, he works in an art gallery. You remember my mom didn't come to the Olympics, she stayed home with him, that weekend he had his first exhibition. Now he is in Europe for almost two more months..."

-"I hope that I can see him again..."

- "Do you have any other photos?"

- "of Charles?"

- "no, of Charlie"

- "yes... This was for his six months, we had gone to Italy to see my father."

- "your father?"

- "a year after... London, my mother left my father and she and Andrea came to live in Wisconsin."

- "oh... And you couldn't have..."

- "Oxford is a really good school..."

- "and then what?"

- "then... I became a teacher, I met Charles... And after Charlie, I never imagined myself doing my life again... I had been in love..." She made as she raised her hand to put it on Maya's cheek, but came to a halt, "...I had had a child... I, I couldn't... I can't, I can't be... Happy, what kind of mother would that make me?!"

- "a human being?"

- "you don't understand Maya, I wish it was that simple..."

- "and why did you stop being a teacher? It's all you ever wanted to do."

- "I tried to go back to a college, after, after, Charlie, but seeing kids every day, seeing teenagers, which my baby will never be.... It was too painful, I had a breakdown, and a few months later I applied to Relentless.com. Andrea works there, he was happy with his job so I applied to London. For Learning Manager then my supervisor moved on and someone who has no reason to live outside of work always makes a good impression, so I became Regional Manager within a year. Then two years later, I became European manager, and a few weeks ago, North America and Europe manager... And I could choose where I wanted to work... I could have stayed in London, the city that took my baby... Or come and work at the head office..."

- "in Seattle..."

- "in Seattle... Where I had long sought to come... Where I... Where you were..."

- "so... Why didn't you talk to me when you saw me at the firehouse?"

- "I left when I saw you with... Her. It had been thirteen years, Maya, so you must have had a life... By the way Captain, congratulations, I was always impressed with you... Youngest captain in Seattle and a woman."

- "How do you know all this?"

- "it's easy to find information about a famous person."

- "I'm not famous"