Page 124 of Hail Marry
I shake my head silently, eyes wide. Luca gave Dallin a scholarship?
“That’s why he said to tell your husband thank you,” Angela explains.
“I thought he wanted to thank him for playing with them a couple times a week.” I’ve got a knot in my throat as I think about how Luca pulled this off without me knowing. To be fair, it’s not as if I check our bank account often.
But with all he’s got going on right now—practice, getting ready for a season that could end before it even begins, preparing for the interview that’ll decide his future—he found the time and sacrificed the precious money to make a few kids’ dreams come true.
How did I get lucky enough to almost get run over by that semi?
Angela smiles. “I’m sure Dallin’s thankful for that too. You’ve both made a big difference in his life, you know. You’re a real power couple.”
My smile fades slightly. Her comment reminds me of the conversation I need to have with her. “Hey, so, I…can’t come in tomorrow.”
She shrugs. “It’s Friday. It’s usually our lightest day.”
I nod. I could leave it at that, but it feels dishonest, and I’m so tired of feeling dishonest. “The reason I can’t come in is because Luca and I have an interview with immigration.”
“Okay. No problem.” She doesn’t know what the upshot is of this.
“It’s a serious one,” I say. “A marriage fraud interview. I don’t know how it’s going to go, but it could end badly. I just…needed you to know. I want to work here so badly, and I hope I can continue to, but I’ll understand if that’s not possible. Depending on the outcome tomorrow. And if Luca gets deported…”
Her brows knit. “That might happen?”
I nod, blinking away the burning in my eyes. “If it does, we’ve promised we’ll find a way to be together, wherever we have to go to make that happen. I probably should’ve told you when you offered me the job, but?—”
“I understand, Tori,” she says softly. She looks at me, then sighs. “If our immigration system wants what’s best for this country, they’ll see the value you two bring.”
I try to smile, wishing I could trust whoever interviews us tomorrow to prioritize that over everything else. For now, though, I just want to go home and snuggle up to my husband in our house on the beach while that’s still an option.
28
LUCA
I may never beable to feel my hand again with the way Tori’s squeezing it while Preston talks to the secretary at the immigration office.
She directs us to the waiting room—the same one we waited in just over a month ago for our initial interview. So much has changed since then. For the better, definitely. But this next few hours could potentially wreck that.
“Wasn’t Zach planning to come?” Preston asks as he takes a seat.
“Yeah.” I check my phone for any messages from him. “He must’ve gotten caught up.”
Tori grimaces at me, and I know what she’s thinking. Zach chickened out. He’s been hard to get ahold of since Tori kind of got after him for his part in all of this and we discussed considering telling immigration the truth.
“They should call us in in the next few minutes,” Preston says, taking a look at his watch. Despite working with him for months, this is the first time we’ve met him. He’s every bit the clean-cut lawyer I expected, with precisely combed hair, an Armani suit, and a crisp, light-blue dress shirt. He’s here to act as legal counsel to us, which we have a right to, apparently. “I’m gonna take a quick bathroom break before we go in.”
Tori and I both nod, and he walks down the hallway.
I’m grateful to have a couple minutes with just the two of us.
“You’re crushing my hand,” I say.
“I know,” she says, her grip not loosening at all. “Consider it payback for crushing me when we met.”
“I need that hand to catch footballs, you know,” I say.
Her eyes lock on mine, and both of us are thinking the same thing: not anymore.
“What do you think?” she asks.
