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Chapter 3. Reestablish
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     I hadn’t seen Catalina since sophomore year in high school. I don’t even remember the last day she was around. One day she was there, the next day she wasn’t. She just left without saying where she was going.

     She was dating my best friend Jeff at the time, and he never really got over how she could just take off without even notifying him about it. No matter how much we looked into it, we just couldn’t figure out where she went.

     When I saw her stand at the airport, wearing her uniform with the green Starbucks apron, I got a pretty good picture at what she had been up to. At first we just stared at each other. Catalina pulled herself together first. “Fred?” Two seconds of silence occurred before she changed her tone of voice. “Lex.”

     I was afraid she would still hold a grudge against us, for the way Fred and I got together. Fred used to be her boyfriend back in early high school. After a few unfortunate events, he and I started dating instead. It all happened very fast, and we both cheated on our (at the time) significant others so we could be together. Catalina never really forgave me for that, and she left only two months later.

     “Catalina?” Fred repeated, looking slightly shocked.

     “Yeah, it’s me. What are you guys doing here?”

     “Just flying,” Fred answered shortly. “Why are you here?”

     “I work here. Hi, Lex.”

     I snapped out of my thoughts and smacked a sincere smile onto my face. “Hi! Is this your son?”

     My second thought was about the baby. What if it was Fred’s? What if it was Jeff’s? But, then I remembered Jack saying he was two years old. Catalina left over three years ago, so it didn’t add up correctly in the end, luckily.

     “Yeah, his name’s Jack. I thought I’d lost him, but…”

     Fred interrupted. “We found him. We were just about to go and find you.”

     “Oh. Well, thanks.”

     The two of them glanced curiously at each other, while I didn’t know where to look. Catalina didn’t seem to be angry. After all, three years is a long time. I was quite certain she had other things to worry about now, more important than some high school feud. Fred stepped over to her, and I followed him. “He’s adorable,” I finally said.

     “Yeah, he’s great,” she smiled back. “He just… Sometimes when I look away, he takes off. Luckily, I don’t have to bring him to work very often, but you know…”

     “Is he home with his dad?” Fred wanted to know, sounding suspicious.

     “No.”

     “Are you married?” he went on, ignoring how I kept squeezing his hand. I had already observed that she wasn’t wearing a wedding ring, and if Fred had just tried harder to think about it, he probably wouldn’t have to ask. I nudged him in the side with my elbow. “What?”

     “No, I’m not. Are you?” She was addressing Fred with the question, not me or us both at the same time.

     It was the first time I ever saw Fred look guilty over the answer. “Yeah.”

     “That’s nice,” Catalina smiled. “Are you married, Lex?”

     “Yeah,” I replied with much more confidence than Fred.

     “To who?”

     “Uh, we’re married to each other,” Fred explained, I could hear his voice crack the slightest bit. “Why haven’t you been in touch with us?”

     If Catalina was surprised by our announcement, or upset, she did a great job disguising it. “Oh, I’ve been busy,” she laughed. “You know, life got in the way.” The little child, still wrapped up into his mother’s arms, leaned into her ear and whispered something.

     Suddenly another thing dawned on me. “Does he know who we are?”

     “Why would he know that?” Fred responded in Catalina’s place. “He just met us.”

     I gave Catalina a questioning look. She shrugged. “Yeah, I guess he does. I mean, I tell him sometimes, about you. All of you; the others too.”

     “So, you show him pictures or something?”

     “Why?”

     “I was just surprised about how he wasn’t too shy to approach us. It would make more sense if he knew who we were, right?” I pointed out. “I was just curious.”

     “Yeah, I showed him pictures, but I don’t think he remembers from that. He’s only two and a half.”

     Fred and I exchanged a look, and my mind started to count automatically. “So, when’s he born?” Fred asked instead of trying to figure it out himself.

     “July sixteen,” she said and shifted the weight on her arm. “Look, I have to get back to work. It was nice seeing you again.”

     She turned on her heel and left in a hurry. All Fred and I could do was to go back to searching for our gate. We didn’t say anything, and it didn’t take too long before we could sit down and just wait for our plane to board.

     Fred opened his mouth first, breaking the silence. “What’s July minus nine?”

     “You mean in months?” I mumbled back.

     “Yeah.”

     “October. When did she leave?”

     “December,” he replied. “Remember? She never came back after Christmas Break again.”

     “I remember.”

     Fred gazed out through the window. “Lex?”

     “Yeah,” I said breathlessly, knowing what he’d say next.

     “I was still with her in October.”

     “I know.”