Page 78 of The Broposal

Within fifteen minutes, I was knocking on Bryan’s door, ready to deck the dude if I needed to. Jackie opened it. She had tears streaming down her face.

“Are you okay?” I asked, pulling her in for a hug.

“I’m okay. Let’s just get out of here,” she said, and we did. I noticed she was carrying my backpack over one of her shoulders. “I should probably give this back to you…” I’d forgotten I’d left it at her place the night I’d proposed to her. And clearly she’d taken it to Bryan’s.

“What happened?” I asked when we got in my car, throwing the backpack into the back seat. She hadn’t stopped crying. “Did he hurt you?”

“What? No. Why would you think he hurt me?”

I shook my head. I guess I worried too much. She had called me crying in the middle of the night. Maybe it was just me wanting to believe Bryan was a bad guy to make myself feel better about being cheated on.

“Why are you crying, then? What’s the matter?”

“I’m pregnant and drunk. Not a good combination.”

“Jackie—” I started, but she interrupted.

“Don’t. I know I shouldn’t drink. I had a moment of weakness. You stayed with Han, and I wanted someone who wanted me back, so I came here. And Bryan was drinking, so I started drinking. I don’t know. I’m a terrible person.”

“Are you sure you want to keep it?” I asked, wondering if her drinking was some kind of subconscious act of sabotaging the pregnancy.

“I’m keeping it,” she muttered. “Not that you care.”

“What? You know I’m going to help you, Jackie. What are you talking about?”

“You didn’t break up with Haaaaan!” she wailed, tears coming out of her eyes again. “I want this baby to have two parents!”

“It will!” I shouted, frustration welling up in my chest. “Hell, it’ll have three, with Han helping out.”

“Shut up! God, Kenny, shutupaboutHan!”

I shut up, driving the rest of the way to Jackie’s house in silence. When the car stopped, Jackie didn’t move to get out.

“Do you need help?” I asked.

“I didn’t…” She hiccuped. “I really didn’t want to do this.”

“Do what?”

“I’ve been so nice and patient with you about this whole thing, but I’m not going to put up with it anymore.” She wiped the tears from her eyes. The sadness in her face was replaced with a cold, heartless expression.

“What are you talking about?”

“I could report him, you know.” Her eyes narrowed in on mine. “I could call that hotline and make him go away.” Her voice cracked just a tiny bit, but I didn’t buy that it was real for one second. “But I don’t want to do that.”

“What are you saying?” My chest tightened so hard, I could barely breathe. There was no way she was implying what I thought she was.

“You know what I’m saying, Kenny. Break up with him. I don’t want to have to escalate the situation, but I will.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I was shouting now. How dare she? I had never even told her Han was undocumented. Maybe she was just bluffing? I could bluff, too. “He’s a citizen. What would that even do?”

“I’m not stupid, Kenny. He’s a fucking illegal.”

“We have an immigration lawyer. He’s getting his green card. You can’t touch him.”

“How do you think that’ll go if I open my mouth about how you wanted to marry me right before you proposed to Han? How is it gonna go over if I tell them you’re only marrying him so he can get his green card?”

“I’m not, Jackie, I swear!” Did she know? How could she know?

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