Alice gripped my hand tightly as we made our way up to the door of a small, quaint coffee shop. I pushed open the door and instantly started scanning the room.

Although I hadn't seen Sally in years, it was hard not to recognize her. Her long, light brown hair had grown grayer over the years and she had more crinkles around her eyes, but her warm smile had remained the same.

She sat at a table with a little girl who couldn't be too many years older than Alice. I identified the little girl as Estelle, Percy's adorable half-sister. She had Sally's kind eyes and smile and her father, Paul's, dark hair.

When Sally's eyes met mine she instantly dropped her conversation with Estelle and waved us over towards her, her face lighting up at the sight of Alice.

"Annabeth! Oh, it's great to see you again!" Sally said as we reached the table. She immediately stood up and wrapped me in a hug. "And this must be Alice."

Alice, without thinking, nodded and instantly hugged Sally. Sally beamed as she hugged her back.

Alice wasn't a shy kid by any means, which she had clearly inherited from Percy. Part of me thought she'd be uncomfortable in this situation, but she proved me wrong.

"Hello, Alice. I'm, uh, your grandma, I guess," Sally said, her face turning a light pink. "You can call me whatever you want, okay? Sally, grandma, anything like that works. And this is Estelle, your aunt. Estelle, come over here..."

Estelle jumped off of her chair and straight to her mother's side. She instantly waved at Alice and then up at me.

"Annabeth!" she cheered as she rushed over to hug me.

My eyes widened as I returned her hug. "You remember me?"

Estelle nodded. "Yeah! And I've seen your pictures, not to mention Percy talks about you constantly!"

Before I could respond Alice jumped back into the conversation.

"I have another auntie," she said proudly.

Sally frowned. "Another? You have a sister, Annabeth? I always thought your only siblings were the twins, did one of them get married—?"

"Auntie Thalia!" Alice burst out, interrupting Thalia, who didn't seem to mind. Instead she burst out laughing.

"Oh, Thalia! I remember her! She scared Percy half to death," Sally said with a grin. Oh, how Thalia would love to hear her say that. "Estelle, why don't you go show Alice the play area, okay? The grownups have a lot to catch up on."

Estelle nodded at her mother before ushering Alice off to a nearby play area the coffee shop had filled with toys.

"Paul's already over there, so don't worry about them being alone," Sally said as she saw me peering over at Alice.

I nodded as I sat down at the table, nervously tapping my fingers in an attempt to calm myself down even though Sally was being so nice. "So, how have you been?"

She shrugged as she tucked a loose strand of her graying hair behind her ear. "It's been good. My books are still being published, Paul is great, Estelle is great. And, Percy, well, you know how he's doing. I'm so proud of his job. And, well, when he told me the news....god, I almost had a heart attack."

"Yeah, I get it," I admitted, my heart racing. "And I'm sorry. I should've told Percy. I was just some dumb eighteen years old. I was terrified, and I didn't know how he'd react, and there was the matter of college and all that—"

"Annabeth, I'm not blaming you."

Sally gently placed her hands on mine and smiled kindly. "Annabeth, I understand why you did what you did. Sure, I would've loved seeing Alice grow up, but you can't change the past, so don't beat yourself up over it."

A smile erupted on my face as Sally spoke. I'd practically forgotten how amazing she was. "Thanks, Sally. That....that means a lot to me."

"I wish Percy would've ended up with you," Sally said wistfully. "I know high school relationships don't always last, but you two...well, I can't speak for you, but I do know how much Percy loved you."

My face turned red as Sally took a sip of her steaming drink. "Sometimes I wish that, too, but I can't change the past. No matter how much I want to. Right now we're just focusing on this whole parenting thing together, and there's our project..."

Sally nodded before placing her drink down. "Oh, yes, how could I forget? The project. How did you manage to land that? Last I heard of you you were moving away to California, and now you're designing a building?"

"Uh, yes. I'm an architect," I responded with a small sense of pride. "This is my first time I've managed and designed such a big project like this. Building is already happening and I'm more than excited."

Sally and I spoke for what seemed like hours until Estelle and Alice ran up to us, Paul on their trails. After a brief exchange with Paul Alice and Estelle started complaining of their exhaustion and wanting to go home.

After another round of hugs and goodbyes, I grabbed Alice's hand and headed home.

And after seeing Sally, although she was nice as could be, it only reminded me of a life I could've had. One where I had brunch with her every weekend and she would bake us her magical blue cookies.

But that wasn't an option anymore, so I pushed the thoughts out of my mind and somehow managed to focus on my project and not on Percy, which seemed physically impossible.