Chapter Thirty Kenny
CHAPTER THIRTY
KENNY
I woke up in the middle of the night to a phone call from Jackie. The alcohol had worn off, and in place of the light floating feeling, I had a dry throat and a throbbing headache. I gently unwrapped myself from Han’s embrace and rolled over to take the call.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m at Bryan’s. Can you come pick me up?”
“Seriously, Jackie?” I asked before realizing I couldn’t be mad about it. Even if Jackie cheated on me with Bryan, we weren’t together anymore. Still, calling me to pick her up from his house was pretty inconsiderate. Then again, when had I ever known her to be considerate?
“Please, Ken…” Her voice shook like she was crying.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“I’m okay. I’m drunk, and I want to leave.”
“You’re drunk?” I asked. I didn’t know too much about pregnancy, but I did know alcohol wasn’t exactly a prenatal vitamin. After getting the address, I said, “I’m on my way,” and hung up the phone. I didn’t trust Bryan not to take advantage.
When I rolled back around, I met Han’s worried eyes. “You good?”
“I’m good.” I debated keeping my errand from Han to keep the peace, but he deserved to know. “I just need to pick up Jackie really quick. She’s drunk and needs a ride.”
“She’s drunk?” Han asked, his voice still raspy from sleep.
I nodded.
“Okay. I trust you,” he said, and I responded by giving him a quick kiss on the lips, and he smiled wide.
“Are you still drunk?” he asked.
“No. Are you?”
“No.” Han kissed me again, and I sank into it, my stomach fluttering wildly. We were kissing each other sober, for absolutely no reason other than that we wanted to.
“I’ll be right back,” I assured Han, who went back to sleep almost immediately with a smile on his face.
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, shut up about Han !”
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?
“It doesn’t matter. You need to break it off. He can get his green card legally —”
“You know it’s not that simple, Jackie!” I shouted.
“— or , I can tell them all about your lies.”
“You wouldn’t” was all I could bring myself to say.
She got out her phone and started dialing. I grabbed it out of her hand. She actually had the immigration and customs enforcement number saved to her contacts. How long had she been planning this?
“Break up with him, and I won’t,” she said, her words slurring together. I couldn’t bet Han’s citizenship on the fact that it was just a drunk threat and not a real one. She had the number saved.
“You know how fucked up this is, right?”
“Well, what else am I supposed to do? I told you already, this baby needs two parents. Two parents who are together ! I don’t want this kid to be split into two homes like I was. We should be the ones getting married, not you and Han! You really left me no choice here. So… you have to leave him. I need him out of the picture so we can raise this baby right.”
I punched my steering wheel.
“Oh, come on , I’m not asking for anything unreasonable here. We could have a stable, happy life together. I still love you, you know. And I know you still love me. That kind of love doesn’t just go away overnight.” She reached for my hand, but I yanked it away.
“Don’t—” I started, before deciding not to piss her off. “I’ll break it off, okay?” I said. “Now, will you please get out of my car.”
“Kenny, I have no other options!”
“Just leave me the fuck alone!” I cried, tears streaking down my face for the second time that night.
Jackie sighed. “You’ll understand eventually.” She grabbed her phone out of my hand and got out of the car, slamming the door shut.
I drove home with a lead foot, much faster than the speed limit. I wished I could have a do-over on this whole night. I couldn’t break up with Han… but I couldn’t let Jackie report him, either. Instead of going inside, I pulled into my parking spot and started sobbing.