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“Missed you too.”
He gives Raf the same level of hug and then offers us each a beer. We take one but I give a stage sip to keep up appearances.
It’s a small gathering tonight. Just me, Raf, Dad, his moms, and my brothers. Joaquín is back in DC still and Ivy is in Guatemala. They’re both aware they’ll be getting a video call soon. Only Joaquín knows why.
Speaking of brothers…
“I thought we were going to be the last ones to show up,” Raf says. “Where’s Jonah?”
“Late as always,” Dad smirks. His features haven’t changed much over the years. Still a wide smile—once so rare that you’d forget his deep laugh lines around the corners of his mouth existed. Still dark brown hair now with a smattering of white around his temples and fading into the sides.
He looks…a lot better than I’ve seen him…ever. There’s a liveliness to him making him seem more youthful. His clothes look new and fit properly. He’s only fifty-six, but when he smiles like he is now, he looks so much younger.
When Jonah makes an appearance an hour later, his shaggy blonde hair is still slightly damp from the obvious shower he took recently. The sun is already lowering, casting this old, forested suburban neighborhood in a beautiful pinkish glow. The yard lights I strung up last year adding to the ambiance.
Ana has been forcing Isaiah to learn to dance with her, which has been comical to say the least. Between their height difference, Ana’s bouncy personality and his grumpy one, it’s been a special night already.
But when Ivy video calls me at our pre-scheduled time, my heart starts to pound in my ears. When Raf sees my phone, he bites his lower lip. “It’s showtime, Angel,” he whispers.
Nodding, I slide open the call and see Ivy’s beautiful face light up the screen. “Ah!” she screams. “How are you? How’s everyone? Let me see everything!”
Chuckling, I say, “We’re good. Here, I’m going to set you down so you can see everyone.”
With Joaquín on Raf’s screen too, he sets down his phone and my entire body temperature drops as stage fright takes over. A big warm hand finds the space between my neck and shoulder, and I look up at my friend standing next to me with a steady smile.
Like he always does.
“Can you?” I plead in a whisper. “I don’t think I can do it.”
“Of course. I’ve got you,” he whispers back, then turns down the music on the speaker next to where we’re standing.
“What’s going on?” Dane shouts, then notices the phones on the table pointing toward us. “Who’s on the—” He perches around, leaning over Jonah like he doesn’t exist. “Joaquín?”
“Oh,” Joaquín says, his voice cracking. “Hey, Dane.”
“How are you? What’s going on?” he asks in an uncharacteristically joyful way.
“Okay! Everyone please take a seat,” Rafael announces. “We’ll let everyone catch up on the phones in a minute. But first, we have some news we want to share.”
Ana rolls her eyes. “We already know you two moved in, mijo.”
“It’s not that. We, um…” His shaky hand moves from the crook of my neck and slides down my side to my stomach. “We’re having a baby together.”
Silence.
Silence for all of three seconds before chaos erupts.
Screaming loud enough to puncture eardrums, Ana stands, then squats, repeating the process over and over again as Christina clutches her chest, then clutches Jonah by the arms while still staring at us.
Then the questions start shooting in like machine gun fire.
“Are you fucking serious?”
“What the fuck?”
“How did this happen?”
“Can I be your doula?”
