Maybe in Another Life

The narrator is seated in an aisle seat on an airplane headed toward Los Angeles, and her seatmate is a woman who is terrified of flying. Trying to console her, the narrator makes small talk with the woman to distract her as the plane takes off. The narrator tells the woman she is originally from LA and has spent the past nine months in New York. The narrator mentions that her parents and little sister moved to London when she was 16, leaving her in the care of family friends. She explains she has moved from city to city throughout her twenties, and that no place has ever felt like home.

At the airport, Gabby is holding up a sign that reads the narrator’s name, Hannah Martin. Hannah has not seen Gabby in person since her wedding two years ago, though they video chat every Sunday. Gabby is a petite, slim, Black woman, the opposite of Hannah, who is tall, curvy, and white. They have known each other since they were 14. At 16, Hannah moved in with Gabby’s family when her own family moved to London so her sister Sarah could attend the Royal Ballet School.