She looks up at me, still cradled in my arms. “I think you mean, Mrs. Ramos.”
I can’t help but smile.
“Why are you blushing?”
“Because I like how my last name sounds coming from you.”
“Me too.”
I wait until Sarina is asleep before I sneak away to the kitchen to call my sister. I’m sure Sarina will be filling her in on our decision to make what started out fake into something real, but she’s my sister, and I want her to hear it from me first.
The phone barely rings twice when she picks up. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, no, everything is fine.”
“Why are you whispering then?”
“I don’t want to Sarina to hear me.”
“Okay,” she singsongs.
I sigh into the phone. “Yeah, so there’s something need to tell you.”
“She already filled me in about the whole fake marriage thing.”
Lorena can be very hard to read, especially in the rare instances you can catch her on the phone. She is saying everything so calm and matter of fact, I can’t tell what’s going through her head.
“About that. I don’t know how fake it actually is.”
“Oh?”
“Matter of fact, it’s not fake at all. We’re staying married.”
“Seriously?” There’s unexpected excitement in her voice.
“Yeah. We decided tonight to give it a go.”
A laugh echoes through the phone. “Who would have thought that you of all people would marry out of order.”
I can’t help but share in her laughter. “I know. It’s definitely not how I pictured it going. I actually never imagined I’d evenget married. Not with how much I work, and everything that I promised…” A sudden lump lodges itself in my throat tightening it.
“Dad would be so proud of you, I hope you know that.”
“I hope so.”
“And I know if he were here, he’d be ecstatic for you, as unconventional as it’s all been. For too long you’ve sacrificed for everyone and haven’t prioritized yourself. I’m okay. Ma is okay. We just need and wantyouto be okay.”
“So, you’re not mad?”
“What? That I get to go on double dates now with my best friend and other best friend?”
I hear Tino shout in the distance, “Hey what about me?”
She mutters under her breath for him to be quiet.
“Not to get all mushy but yes, as much as we bicker and get under each other’s skin, I’ve always seen you as one of my best friend’s not just my at-times-annoying-and-overbearing brother.”
“Why thank you, I am so honored by your back handed compliment,” I joke.
