Page 41 of The Broposal

“What an introduction!” Leti waved Blaine’s hand away to hug them both before getting swept off into another conversation.

“See you at the wedding!” Zane said as he and Blaine gave Han and me quick hugs before heading off.

“That was sweet,” I said, and Han nodded.

“You wanna go?” Han asked.

“Oh, definitely!” Even if I didn’t remember those guys, a gay wedding would be the perfect way to test out our new fake-relationship skills. Plus, seeing a wedding in action would surelygive us some much-needed inspiration. It was actually pretty perfect.

Whenever Han and I shared a shift, we usually stalled in the parking lot before work. Han liked to shoot the shit to get his pre-work jitters out of the way, but today he was unusually quiet. He just stared at WhatsApp without typing or reading anything.

“Everything okay?” I asked. We’d been sitting silently for way too long.

“Yeah,” Han said, but I wasn’t convinced.

I didn’t say anything. With Han, the best way to get him to talk was through silence. Eventually he went on.

“I haven’t told my parents yet. Still haven’t even called my mom back.”

“Are you nervous?” Han wasn’t extremely close with his parents, but I would have thought he’d tell them about getting married.

“It’s… complicated.” Han ran a hand through his hair.

“It’ll be okay. Everyone’s buying it. Your parents will, too.”

“I’m not worried about them buying it. I’m worried about… I mean, I don’t need their blessing like you did with your parents, but it’d be nice. I just don’t know how they feel about… you know, gay shit.”

“Want me to be there when you tell them?”

“Nah, I think I want to do it on my own. Thanks, though.”

Han’s alarm went off, which meant it was time to get out of the car to start our shift. We did so hand in hand, our icebreaker to the fake relationship now that we were engaged. Tatiana and Julia, one of the older servers here, rushed over and hugged usboth. Julia squeezed so hard, I thought my arm might bruise in her grip.

“Congratulations!” Tatiana said, not looking even a little jealous. I wondered if that bothered Han, but he didn’t seem to notice. “I knew Jackie was onto something about you two.” She tapped her nose like she had us all figured out.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were gettingmarried?” Julia squealed. Then she pulled out her phone and showed us a video from Instagram of our engagement. Someone apparently filmed it, and it was getting around.

“Han surprised me,” I said, batting my eyelashes at Han. He looked like he was trying to hold back a smile.

“When’s the wedding?” Julia asked.

“We just got engaged.” Han laughed. “Still have to plan it.” I realized then we’d actually have toplanthe wedding. I’d been so focused on the immigration side, the USCIS interview and green card application, I didn’t know the first thing about wedding planning.

“Well, we’re celebrating after work. There’s a cake in the freezer, and Daniel said we could have some ice cream for the special occasion!” She gestured to Daniel, who gave a thumbs-up from his open-door office.

The first few hours of my shift went by in a breeze. Some of my favorite customers were in, and they tipped generously. It slowed down after the lunch rush, but a couple of hours before the end of the day,sheshowed up.

With Bryan.

I rushed into the kitchen so they wouldn’t see me, then peeked out from the corner, making sure to stay hidden. The two of them got seated just like any other customers. Jackie laughed at something Bryan said, then brushed a piece of hisshaggy blond hair behind his ear. A pang of jealousy tugged at my gut.

Was Jackie really petty enough to bring the guy she cheated on me with to my place of work? I got her message loud and clear. If I was going to hurt her, she was going to hurt me right back. It was working.

Then again, maybe it had nothing to do with me. Maybe she’d moved on, and she was with Bryan now. Either way, I wasn’t exactly prepared to face Jackie. Instead of going out to greet them, I stopped Tatiana as she brushed past me.

“Trade tables with me?” I tilted my head in Jackie’s direction.

“Oh, shit…” She looked like she was holding her tongue. “Yeah, I got you.”

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