I guess it was easy to assume they could get Eva back since she was married to John Callahan at the time but they never even gave Gillian/Esta the opportunity with how they wrote her off.
Although hearing what they eventually did to Edmund and Edmund/Maria maybe there was a tiniest little bit of luck there.
The Crystal Ball was always a big event for Ryan/Gillian even when they weren't together. The 2000 ball was essentially the catalyst for Ryan realizing he wanted Gillian back. Although it would have been nice if she didn't need to get engaged to someone else for it to happen lol. Would have been good to see that continue.