four years.
“My grandpa watches The Price is Right all day! He smokes cigars and calls his neighbor a jerk,” Carson says proudly, making the other students giggle.
“We don’t say jerk,” I state.
“My papa smells like fish!” Helena proclaims, again sending another round of laughter through my room.
I smile, listening to them all share their stories, not even worrying a second that we’ve reached the end of our time on the rug. But coloring and working on word association for the letter P can wait a few more minutes. The train wreck that is my life can wait. Spending the morning with these precious little beings is my top priority, and their laughter does wonders for my soul.
Today, they’re just what I needed.
“Happy Birthday to Gwen, Happy Birthday to you!” the crowd sings, bringing a smile to my face. I bend forward and blow the two candles. A three and a zero. In that exact order.
“Happy Birthday, sweetheart,” my mom says, wrapping her arms around me and pulling me into her petite frame.
“Thanks, Mom. So glad you guys could be here,” I tell her, glancing around at the familiar walls of Twist of Lime, my favorite local hangout. Well, it used to be my favorite. Now, it seems to hold too many memories of my past. I haven’t been here in nearly a year, and when my sister informed me we were headed here, I tried to back out. I didn’t want to come.
Not without Harrison.
“Look! Aunt Tina is here! Let’s go say hello,” Mom says to Dad, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him toward the front door.
“Here,” my little sister, Gabriella, or Gabby as I call her, says as she thrusts a plate of chocolate cake in my hand. “I can’t believe my big sister is finally thirty.”
“Me either,” I reply, shoveling a bite of the rich chocolaty cake into my mouth before I say too much.
“Stop being so damn gloomy, Gwen. It’s a celebration,” she argues, firmly planting her hands on her hips.
“You look like Mom when you have that face,” I inform her, my mouth full of dessert.
She gasps. “Do not!”
I can’t help but laugh. “Do too. You’re gonna be just like her,” I tease.
“Not me,” Gabby says. “You’re just like her.”
The thought stops my fork and causes my heart to stutter. I used to think just that; that I was just like her. Married at twenty-two to the love of her life. Maybe a baby on the way not too long after. Of course, my dream turned out much different than my mom’s. My dream was a cute little dark-haired, dark-eyed son or daughter running around who was the spitting image of his or her father. Actually, that was both our dreams. Though, he’d argue the baby would look just like me.
Twenty-five.
That’s when we thought it would happen.
But life stepped in.
Harrison became the most sought-after trainer at the gym. Even though, as the boss, he had control of his hours, he was busy, his schedule packed. Then the owner approached with the offer: Buy the gym and keep it local. A large corporation wanted it, but the man who built it from his blood, sweat, and tears didn’t want that to happen. Together, we made the decision that forever altered our lives. All Fit became his—ours, technically. Even though my name is on the business, I’ve never had anything to do with it. Even now, after the divorce, he insisted I stay on as co-owner. A silent partner, if you will, that could receive a small check of the profits each year.
With that one life-altering change, everything else became modified as well. Our dream of becoming parents at twenty-five was pushed to twenty-seven. Then twenty-eight. He started working six and seven days a week, more hours than any one person should. It was for the business, I know. The gym took off, and in a way, so did my husband. That one single gym will branch into two, and eventually three. In the last few years, All Fit has become a household name, including fitness videos, vitamin supplements, and other tools to improve the mind, as well as the body. The business is growing in leaps and bounds, and by the end of the year, there should be two additional All Fit locations joining the flagship location.
I’ve always been proud of him and probably always will be. His dream wasn’t to own a gym and watch it grow like weeds in a flowerbed, but it