Page 71 of The Broposal

“Where’d your fiancé go?” Leti asked when they noticed Kenny walk out the door.

I felt my face get hot. I, of all people, should have known where my “fiancé” was headed, but I had no idea. All I knew was that Kenny better not have been driving anywhere, since he was drinking. In fact, I felt the need to go out and check up on him.

“I’ll be right back,” I said, and hoisted myself up with a crutch, then made my way to the door as quickly as I could. I didn’t have to go far, though, because Kenny was sitting against the wall.

With Jackie.

I made sure to walk out and close the door behind me so no one would see her before I said anything. Even then, I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to be mad that Kenny would ditch our “bachelor” party for his ex, but how could I be mad? Jackie was pregnant with his kid, and the marriage wasn’t even real. I had no right.

“Han, I’ll be back in a minute, I promise. We just need a second to talk. Don’t tell anyone she’s here,” Kenny said with a pleading look in his eye.

“Are you serious?” Jackie said. “I have every right to be here. I think it’ll take more than a second, don’t you?”

“It’s our bachelor party,” Kenny said, and Jackie’s face went red.

“Han. Go inside. Now. This is between me and Kenny.” There was venom in her voice.

“If I’m not back in five minutes, come and get me,” Kenny said, and Jackie gave him a feral look that gave me goose bumps. I knew Kenny had meant that he didn’t want to lose track of time, but it made the situation feel that much more dangerous.I didn’t want to leave Kenny alone with her, but I didn’t know what else to do. Someone else would come out and discover Jackie if I didn’t go back inside soon.

“I’ll come back in five minutes,” I said and went back inside, closing the door behind me.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

KENNY

Are you fucking kidding me? I said break up with him, notget married!” Jackie’s voice was dangerously loud. It was a good thing Nacho and his mariachi band were playing music inside, or everyone else might have heard.

“I told you I wasn’t leaving him!” I whisper-yelled. “Can you please keep it down?”

“Why, so no one sees you with me? If we have a kid together, people are going to have to see us together. You can’t be embarrassed to be seen with the mother of your child.”

It wasn’t that I was embarrassed, but I didn’t want Han’s family, or mine, getting the wrong idea. I so badly wanted to just tell her to leave and go back inside with Han, but she was right. We were having a kid together, so I had to play nice with her. “I’m not embarrassed of you,” I muttered.

“It sure seems like you are.” She crossed her arms.

“I’m sorry,” I said. I always found myself apologizing to her, even if I wasn’t totally sure what I’d done wrong.

Then Jackie started crying. I just sat there for a moment, not knowing what to do.

“Will you just hold me?” she cried. I wrapped my arms around her and let her cry into my shoulder. “What are we going to do?” she asked.

“I’ll get a better-paying job…” I said. “Han said he’ll help out, too.”

She choked on her sob. “Don’t talk to me about Han right now!”

“Okay, sorry.”

After a few moments of crying, she looked up from my shoulder and into my eyes. Hers were red and puffy, like this wasn’t the first time she had cried over this. I felt so guilty for not having been there.

“I’ll go to your appointments with you,” I said, feeling my words starting to slip into each other a tiny bit.

“Are you drunk?”

“Uh, maybe a little,” I admitted.

Jackie didn’t answer, just kept staring intensely into my eyes. Then she leaned forward and pressed her lips against mine. I was so surprised at first that I didn’t move. Her cheeks were wet with tears, and her face was warm. Warm and soft. Then the door opened.

I quickly pushed Jackie away. It was Han.

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