Thirty minutes later, Maria and Joey Amato arrive with their two daughters, Carly and Kaylee, in tow. Both Carly and Kaylee can’t be more than seven. Carly, with her blond curls and hazel eyes, resembles Joey, while Kaylee resembles Maria with her tan skin, dark brown hair, and almost black eyes. Within minutes, the girls are running around the studio, shrieking with joy when they see the huge windows and fancy equipment.

Maria shoots us an apologetic look. Joey glances back at the door, as if already reconsidering their decision to come to the studio.

“I got this,” Celeste says, setting her camera down on the kitchen table.

I watch as she kneels down and stretches her arms out toward the screaming children in a “come here” gesture.

“Hey, girls,” she says in a soft, gentle tone I’ve never heard her use before. “Why don’t you come here for a sec?”

Surely that won’t work… I don’t even finish my thought before Carly and Kaylee run to her and take her hands.

“How are you two doing?” Celeste says, gently swaying both their arms back and forth.

“Good!” declares Carly.

“I’m okay,” says Kaylee.

“Well, that’s good to hear,” Celeste says to Carly. With a smile, she then tells Kaylee, “And I hope your day gets better, sweetheart. We’re going to have some fun today, okay? My name is Celeste. And my friend, Gemma, and I are going to interview your mommy and daddy for a few minutes.”

Carly claps her hands in excitement. “An interview! How cool!”

“Right? Well, you’ll be able to watch the video with them after it’s done, on Valentine’s Day! Won’t that be neat? But before you can do that, we need your help. All right, girls?”

Kaylee shyly nods and smiles up at Celeste, absolutely smitten. And I don’t blame her. Celeste is always charismatic, but like this, she’s mesmerizing. At this moment, we’re all caught under her spell.

An alternative timeline flashes in my head, one where Celeste didn’t disappear and she and I stayed together for the last eight years. We’d probably have kids by now, either through adoption or other means. Back when we were in college, Celeste would always talk about how much she wanted kids of her own someday. And even though I myself have always been more ambivalent about them, I was still looking forward to getting to that point with Celeste one day, back when I thought we had a future together.

“I have to get your parents ready for the big interview,” I hear Celeste say to the kids. “But meanwhile, why don’t you two play some fun games on my tablet with Gemma over there?”