Her eyes stung and she blinked rapidly to clear her vision. “This is… it’s amazing.”
He looked pleased. “I tried to get photos of everything. There are a lot more that we didn’t manage to put up. And videos. I have hours and hours of videos.”
As heartwarming as the photos were, something about them made her uneasy. It took her several moments to see it. None of the photos had Maggie in them. Even photos that Catherine might expect her to be in, like holidays and birthdays. There was no sign of Maggie at all. David had carefully edited all traces of her from his and Aimee’s life. Catherine was equal parts touched and disturbed. Was it so easy to erase someone from your life? Had he done that with her while she was gone?
Aimee came trotting downstairs in jeans and a T-shirt. “You found the pictures!” She smiled and bounded over. She hovered there, tension rippling through her, as if on the edge of a decision, then reached out to give Catherine an enthusiastic hug.
“I love them,” Catherine said, returning the hug tightly. This was the sort of hug she’d dreamed of while she was away, unrestrained and affectionate.
“Well,” David said, clapping his hands together like a master of ceremonies, “now that you’re home, what do you want to do first? Do you need to rest a bit?”
“I’ve been ‘resting’ for three weeks now.” Catherine smiled. “I’m so glad to be here, I don’t even know where to start.”
“Let’s show you the rest of the house.” David offered her his hand and she took it, twining their fingers.
“I did live here before, you know,” Catherine couldn’t help but tease, but David’s offer made it obvious: right now, she was still a guest in her own house.
He recognized his misstep and tried to make a joke of it. “Well, yeah, of course, but… I don’t know. This is just so much more room than you’re used to, I want to make sure you don’t wander off and get lost.”
“All right, all right. Commence with the grand tour.” Catherine played along with him, but couldn’t help but wonder, now that she was home, how long it would be before this really was home.
4
AFTER UNPACKING WHAT little she’d taken on the mission with her and calling her sister, Julie, Catherine went downstairs for dinner. She’d been expecting to cook, but when she walked into the kitchen she was greeted by the sight of Aimee at the oven and the scent of roasting onion and garlic.
“You’re just in time,” Aimee said, setting the pizza on a cooling rack before grabbing a salad from the refrigerator.
“Oh, that smells good,” Catherine said appreciatively.
“Thanks!” Aimee said. “How’s Aunt Julie?”
“She’s… good. She can’t wait to get here for your party.” Julie was coming for Aimee’s graduation party in a few weeks. Once Catherine had gotten back in radio contact and learned how close it was to Aimee’s graduation, her biggest wish the rest of the way home was to make it back in time. After so many years away, she was desperate to be there for at least a few of the milestones in her daughter’s life. She had, and even though it was still weeks away, Catherine could barely wait. Along with wanting to celebrate with Aimee, she’d missed Julie desperately, missed that connection to one person who knew her so intimately, and had for so long. Their phone conversation, though… it had been rougher than Catherine expected.
“Have you told her yet?”
Julie sighed. “The doctors aren’t sure yet how best to approach it. There’s no precedent for this, obviously.”
“I miss her.”
“Cath, I see her every few days, and I miss her.” Julie’s voice was soft. “She’s not really there anymore, most of the time.”
The diagnosis had come about a year before Sagittarius I’s launch, a few months after Nora began to get more and more forgetful and erratic: early-onset Alzheimer’s. Catherine had wanted to back out of the mission. Nora was the one who spelled it out on Catherine’s last visit home. “Cathy, you’re leaving for six years. Anything could happen to any of us during that time. Hell, you know the chances of you not making it back. Whether you go is your call. Don’t change it because of what might happen while you’re gone.”
And so she’d gone, and nine years later, she’d lost more than she’d anticipated. Her mother was still alive, but so far gone that the confusion of learning that her presumed-dead daughter had returned could be too much for her. Catherine might never get to see her again.
“Mom?” Aimee interrupted her gloomy thoughts, holding out a stack of plates for her to carry.
“Yeah, sorry. Julie’s good. She misses you guys.” Catherine quickly changed the subject. “How long have you been cooking?”
“Awhile… And I remember that pizza used to be your favorite, so…”
“It is! And this looks way better than any delivery pizza. This is like magic, I swear.” Catherine gave Aimee a quick one-armed hug, pressing a kiss into her hair.
“Cooking is just science, Mom.” Aimee was smiling as she said it, her cheeks turning pink. “Um, Maggie taught me a few things, but most of it I learned from you,” she quickly added.
Maggie’s a better cook than me. Why am I not surprised? But Catherine forced a smile onto her face. Maggie had been part of the family; ignoring that didn’t do anyone any favors, not even Catherine. She ruffled Aimee’s hair, and Aimee ducked away with a grin. “I’m going to be learning from you now, looks like.”
“Anytime you want a lesson…” Aimee teased.
They walked into the living room where David was sprawled on the couch. He sat up to make room for them. “Don’t let her fool you,” David said. “A ‘lesson’ means she’ll make you chop all the vegetables while she does the fun part.”
The three of them spent the evening curled up on the couch together the way they’d spent so many weekend nights when Aimee was younger. Aimee and David stumbled over each other to tell Catherine stories of things she’d missed while they ate dinner.
“So most freshmen arrive on campus a week before classes start for orientation,” Aimee said.
“You’re coming with us,” David said to Catherine. It wasn’t a question.
Catherine laughed around a mouthful of pepperoni. “Of course! Are you kidding? My genius kid is going to MIT—I want to see where she’ll be living.”
Sitting here with the two of them, Aimee sandwiched comfortably between her parents, Catherine felt ready to throw herself into the busy life of a mom of a college-bound senior. She was looking forward to meeting Aimee’s friends at her graduation party, though the irony wasn’t lost on her that every person there would know her daughter better than she did.
“Last slice.” David held up the pizza plate. “Who wants it?”
“Ooh, me,” Catherine said. She’d forgotten how good a hot, greasy slice of pizza could taste.
Two hours later, it turned out she’d also forgotten how much she could regret that same slice of pizza (or three). Standing in the master bathroom she’d shared with David for years, she was hesitant to open the medicine cabinet. It felt, somehow, as though she were snooping. It wasn’t just pepperoni that had her insides in an uproar. In a few minutes, she would go back into the bedroom to share a bed with someone for the first time in years. She hadn’t even been this nervous the first night they’d spent together.