Page 68 of The Broposal

My phone’s constant buzzing on my nightstand woke me up long after the sun had risen. My body obviously needed the rest, and I wasn’t about to fight it. Since I’d found out about my mom three days ago, sleep was a little harder to come by, so one in the afternoon still felt early as hell. I checked my phone to see a random number lit across the screen. In my half-asleep haze, I answered it.

“Hello?” I mumbled, my morning voice making it clear I’d just woken up.

“Hi, Alejandro? This is John Jones, Cedric’s friend. I assume he told you about me?”

“John Jones?” I asked, still half asleep.

“That’s right! Sorry to call on Thanksgiving. I can do pro bono for a friend, but I still have a full client list.”

I rubbed my temple with my free hand. I sure as hell never heard of anyone named John Jones. I vaguely remembered Kenny telling me to expect a call today, though. As soon as thememory hit, my morning fog vanished, and I almost fumbled off the bed trying to straighten up. “You’re that lawyer, right?”

A chuckle, “Right! I’m calling for our consultation. Is this a good time?”

I sat up straighter, like that might make my voice sound less groggy. “Yeah, it’s a great time. Thanks so much for calling, Mr. Jones.”

“Great! I have a few questions for you if you don’t mind…”

Mr. Jones went on to ask me a bunch of the same questions the USCIS officer had asked the other day. About a half hour passed before I had answered all of them.

“Excellent! Excellent, excellent. You’re in a great position here, Mr. Torres. You’re already way ahead of the curve since you’ve gotten started on your application early. While there’s not too much else you can do until after you’re officially married, you’re still in a great spot. Now, you’re going to be tested on civics and your English—which I don’t see you having any problem with—but other than that, you really shouldn’t need me unless you run into any trouble. If I’m wrong and the process isn’t as smooth as I think it’ll be for you, feel free to give me a call and we can go from there, all right?”

“Wow… thank you so much. Thank you. I’ll definitely do that.”

“You have a great day now.”

“You too…”

I could hardly believe the relief that flooded over me when I hung up. A professional immigration lawyer said we’d have no problem. A real professional told me we would be set. Even knowing about Jackie’s baby. He’d actually said it looked great that we were planning on fighting for custody. This was going to work out. And more than that, it was going to beeasy. I reachedfor my crutches against the wall and maneuvered myself into the living room, where Kenny was watchingUp.

“Hey, Han…” Kenny scrambled to change the movie when he saw me come out of the room. Apparently,Upwas too sad to expose me to right now. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine,” I said automatically. “Just got off the call with your dad’s lawyer friend.”

Kenny raised an eyebrow. “And?”

I went over to the couch and plopped down next to Kenny, forcing Luna onto his lap so I could sit. “He said we don’t need him, but to call if anything goes wrong. He seemed really optimistic about the whole thing.”

“That’s awesome!” Kenny’s smile seemed to take over his entire face, and I grinned back.

Kenny wrapped an arm around my shoulders and squeezed me in a side hug.

“So…” He ran a hand through his hair. “I heard from Jackie…”

I lifted my head, waiting for him to go on.

“She’s keeping the baby, for sure now.”

I nodded. “We’ll figure it out. You’re not alone, okay, bro?”

Kenny rolled his eyes, but after a second he gave me a sad smile. “I know I’m not. Thanks. And… you’re not alone either, okay? I mean it.”

I knew where Kenny was trying to go with that, so I grabbed the remote and pulled upFast Fiveon the TV. It was a change from the “I need to cry” kids’ movies Kenny was probably expecting me to pick, but whatever. I didn’t need to cry. I needed a distraction.

While the movie played, I couldn’t shake the guilt welling up. Kenny was going through with the marriage, but I had to wonder if Jackie was the one he really wanted to marry. The lastthing I wanted was to be the reason Kenny didn’t get to have the family he’d dreamed of, even if she was the reincarnation of the devil herself. I wasgladKenny wasn’t marrying her, obviously, but I didn’t want it to be because ofme. I wanted it to be because Kenny knew he deserved better. Maybe he did know. I hoped so. And part of me wondered if this would be something Kenny might hold against me in the future, if it would be a source of bitterness that would eventually tear us apart.

I knew I owed Kenny way more than I would ever be able to pay back, and I didn’t know how to cope with that. And it wasn’t like I could just talk to Kenny about it, either. No matter how guilty I felt, I desperately needed him to go through with this. I couldn’t risk talking about it with him if it might make him change his mind. Besides, anything serious I would try to say would just lead to Kenny trying to get me to talk about my mom again, which I really wasn’t trying to do.

It was all giving me a headache. Or maybe that was because I hadn’t had my caffeine fix for the day. The second option was solvable, so I went with that one.

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