Page 34 of The Broposal

“You ready?” I asked Han.

“Should we do this another time?” Han asked.

“I don’t think so, but we can wait here for a minute,” I said, secretly grateful for an excuse to stall so I could get my shit together for Han’s sake.

“Just for a minute,” Han said, blowing out a slow breath.

“Hey, they love me, remember?” I showed off a toothy grin.

“You’re right, you’re right. Let’s just rip off the Band-Aid,” Han said, and we jogged to the house to keep as dry as possible from the drizzling rain. Han stood frozen in the doorway, so I knocked on the door myself.

A muffled “Come in!” came from the living room, so I opened the unlocked door and followed Han inside.

“Hey, Tío Nacho,” Han said, and I waved. Nacho nodded a greeting without looking away from the football game on the TV. A timer went off as we walked into the living room, the spicy smell of chicken and green chile filling the small house.

Before I knew it, a baby was placed in my arms by Han’s tía Mary. “You wanna go with your tío?” she asked in her baby voice, but I was already holding him. It felt like an honor being called the baby’s tío. Mateo immediately reached for me, giving me a huge toothless smile. “Can you two watch him really quick? I gotta get the enchiladas. Hope you’re hungry!” She was already back in the kitchen and carefully taking enchiladas out of the oven by the time she finished talking.

“Sure,” I said redundantly. “How you doing, little man?”

“Mami! Who’s here?” a voice called out from the laundry room.

“Your primos!” Tía Mary’s voice boomed, even though the laundry room was connected to the kitchen. Mary and Ignacio—

Nacho for short—had basically adopted me as another nephew, so I called them my tíos just like Han did.

“Oh, hey, Han! Hi, Kenny! Sorry you got stuck with my baby! I’ll grab him as soon as I’m done loading the dryer.”

“It’s cool. I like hanging out with Mateo, isn’t that right?” I asked in my baby voice, and he answered by grabbing my glasses with his sticky baby hand. “Hey, I need those to see!” I said playfully, and Han grabbed the glasses from Mateo’s grip, replacing them with Nacho’s car keys from the wall—Mateo’s favorite toy. Han cleaned the glasses with his shirt before carefully putting them back on my face.

Leti came running out of their room and hugged Han frombehind, then took Mateo from my arms and started cooing at him. Between me, Han, Mariana, Leti, Tío Nacho, and Tía Mary, that baby must have been the most loved child in all of New Mexico.

Once the enchiladas had cooled, everyone gathered around the dinner table. I wasn’t so hungry because of all the fruit I’d nervously eaten earlier, but Han’s tíos weren’t the type of people you could refuse a meal from either, so I ate anyway. With Mary’s cooking as good as it was, I wasn’t complaining.

I waited for Han to make his announcement, but he kept his mouth full, surely a strategy to keep from having to talk.

Mariana scoffed at her phone before dropping it not-so-gently back onto the table.

“What’s wrong with you?” Nacho said through a mouthful of enchilada, spots of sauce clinging to his mustache.

“ICE raided a quinceañera. A fucking quinceañera! Look.” She turned her phone so everyone could see a video of what should have been a party. But half the adults were being handcuffed, and the quinceañera and the rest of the kids bawled their eyes out.

“Are you kidding? Why am I not surprised?” Leti huffed. Nacho grunted and shook his head while Mary clicked her tongue. My cheeks got hot. How much more evil could you be than to use a fifteen-year-old’s coming-of-age celebration to rip the family apart…?

My fork trembled in my hand as I looked at Han, who hadn’t even stopped eating. He didn’t usually show much emotion, even if hehadto be feeling it.

“Let’s not discuss these things at the table, okay?” Mary said, her gaze set on Han, who didn’t look up from his plate as he shoved a spoonful of refried beans into his mouth.

A guilty look shot across Mariana’s face as she mouthed,Sorry.I wondered if Han would change the subject with our announcement. Any minute now. Right?

But even as everyone’s plates were picked clean, nothing. It wasn’t like Nacho and Mary wouldn’t be accepting. They’d raised Leti, who was practically the queerest person you could raise. I texted Han in case he was having second thoughts.

Kenny: we still doing this?

Han: can you?

I reached for Han’s hand under the table and squeezed, then rested our hands on his bouncing thigh, which finally slowed down. I cleared my throat.

“Um, we wanted to tell you all something,” I said, then pulled Han’s hand up from under the table and held it between our plates for everyone to see.

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