Bent not Broken (101 page)

Ava walks backwards, away from us. I open the door to my truck for Jess and she climbs in.

“Drive carefully. Love you guys,” Ava yells again and waves, this time turning around completely and walking down the sidewalk toward the library. I watch my little sister disappear into the sea of brick buildings. Jess leans her head back against the seat and closes her eyes, and I know that it’s going to be a quiet ride home.

****

It’s hard to believe that Christmas is already upon us. I finished my last class and now officially have my degree in Fire Sciences. The physical aptitude test was last week, and I passed with flying colors. I interviewed for a firefighter position and am now just waiting to hear from Chief to see if I’m hired.

Jess finished her first semester at Santa Ruiz State University, and in true Jess style, she completed eighteen credit hours. Nothing like piling on the classes her first semester; she’s always been an overachiever. I spent the last week looking for the perfect promise ring to give Jess for Christmas. This was, singlehandedly, the most stressful thing I’ve ever done. I chose a vintage-style ring, with a small princess-cut center diamond and smaller diamonds circling around it in the shape of a square. The band splits from all four corners and is gorgeous. It’s a smaller version of what I’d want to give Jess when I actually propose to her.

Today is Christmas Eve, and as usual, it’s always busy. Mom made our traditional Mexican dinner: tamales, green chili enchiladas, rice, and beans. Jess and Ava always help Mom prepare the food. After dinner, all the women baked traditional American desserts: cookies, brownies, and fudge, followed by us all going to midnight mass. As we leave the church, I see Jess leaning her head against the passenger window, and I can hear her faint breaths. I run my knuckles down the side of her cheek, which wakes her, and she offers me a small smile.

“Tired?” I ask.

“Yeah, it’s been a long day.” She rubs under her eyes with her fingers.

We pull into her driveway, and she starts opening the car door when I say, “I’m going to run home and grab a change of clothes. I’ll be back over in just a couple of minutes, okay?” Chief is working again tonight, so I’m staying with Jess. I hate leaving her alone.

“Okay,” she offers quietly.

“Don’t fall asleep.”

Sighing, she looks at me and says, “Not tonight. I’m too tired.”

“That’s fine; just don’t fall asleep.”

It’s almost two in the morning, and the adrenaline coursing through my veins has me wide awake. I say a small prayer that she doesn’t fall asleep before I get back. I shove everything in a backpack. Dad is arranging gifts that we’ll open in the morning under the tree. It doesn’t matter that we’re all adults, Santa is alive and well and delivers gifts to the Garcia household every year.

“See you in the morning, Dad,” I whisper as I open the front door to leave.

“Night
, Mijo
. Don’t be late tomorrow.”

“We won’t.”

I can see the light is on in Jess’ room as I jog across the street and up her front lawn. Warm air hits me as I enter the living room and I can hear the bathroom sink running, and assume Jess is getting ready for bed. As I open the bedroom door, I see that it’s dark, with the exception of a small bedside lamp that is on. I quickly take the ring out of my bag and hide it under the pillow. Climbing into Jess’ bed, I wait for her to return.

“There you are,” she says as she enters the room, closing the door behind her. She walks to the bed, crawls in beside me, and snuggles up with her head resting on my chest. She runs her hand up and down my chest, spreading a small chill across my flesh. Her eyes are closed, but her hand is still rubbing me slightly.

“Hey,” I whisper, shifting slightly under her.

“Yeah,” she says quietly without opening her eyes.

“Do you have any idea how much I love you?”

Smiling with her eyes still closed, she rolls her head slightly, pressing a kiss to my chest.

“Yeah, I think I know. Do you know how much I love you?” she asks me in return, opening her heavy eyelids.

“I’m hoping I’m about to find out,” I say, pushing myself up. “I’ve known you for almost fifteen years. Every day that I’ve known you, I’ve cared about you and wanted to protect you.” Sitting up, she looks slightly scared, and her tired eyes are now full and tense.

“I want to be the man that loves you, forever. I know we’re young, and I know we have a lot to do before we commit to anything more permanent than what we have already, but…” I pull the small package out from under the pillow and hand it to her. “Open it.”

Fumbling with the packaging, she unties the bow and rips at the corner of the package, tearing all the paper off in one swipe. She pulls the top of the black box off, looking up at me when she sees the small velvet box inside. Pulling it out, she flips open the top of the velvet box.

“Oh my God,” she gasps.

“It’s just a promise ring. There will be a better ring someday. But for today, I promise you that I love you with everything that I am, and I want you to know that it is only you; it has only ever been you that I love.” Swallowing a lump in my throat, I stop. Tears spill out of her eyes, and I reach to wipe them off her cheeks.

“I want you to remember this moment—right now. How much I love you.”

A sob falls from her throat, and she lunges her body at me, hugging me and crying into my chest. When her crying fades, she pulls back from me.

“It’s so beautiful,” she says, looking at the ring that is still sitting in the box. Pulling it loose from its perch, I kiss her finger before I slide the ring on for her.

“Don’t ever doubt my love for you. Ever.”

“Never,” she says, pressing a kiss to my lips. This may be the best Christmas ever.

Chapter 13

Jess

Walking down the quiet hallway of Jefferson Hall, my shoes squeak against the freshly buffed marble floors. Sunlight peeks out from under my academic advisor’s door. I stand there for a second before I knock.

“Come in,” I hear Janet’s cheerful voice say. Turning the knob, I push open the door to find Janet sitting at her desk, strumming away at her keyboard. Her chair swivels around, and she stands to shake my hand.

“Hi, Jessica! Nice to see you.” Her handshake is firm and fast. This woman is seriously amped on coffee or energy drinks, or really just likes to work during the holidays. “Take a seat,” she says, pointing to the chair that is perched next to her desk. Setting my purse on the floor next to the chair, I lower myself down, crossing my legs. Janet sits confidently in her chair, clicking away with her computer mouse.

“Thanks for stopping by to meet with me over the holiday break. I was reviewing this semester’s classes and your previously earned credits. Because of your dual-credit classes that you took in high school, you’re nearly done with your sophomore year of college,” she announces.

“Huh?”

“You did take dual-credit classes in high school, correct?” She lowers her glasses at me, waiting for me to validate her statement.

“Yes.”

“Well, when you started here this fall, you were only a few credits shy of an associate’s degree. With the amount of hours you completed this first semester, you’re well on your way to completing your sophomore year of college by the end of next semester.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Nope, kiddo. You are ahead of the game; well ahead of the game. At the rate you’re going, you’ll be graduating almost a year and half ahead of schedule.”

“Really?” is all I can muster. One might be excited about this, but I’m scared shitless.

“Well, this is why it was so urgent that I see you right away,” she says, looking back to her computer screen again, still clicking away with that damn mouse. “I see you have declared yourself a Broadcast Communication major.”

“Um, yes,” I validate, fidgeting with my fingers, still in complete shock at the news that’s just been dumped on me.

“Well, darling, you need to start considering an internship. You need to build your resume. There are classes on campus for which you should register to take for the fall semester, but let’s get you a head start on an internship. It is a required part of the degree. They are difficult to come by. The sooner you start looking, the sooner you’ll land something. I’m worried if you wait until next summer, and don’t find anything, you’ll push back that graduation date over a silly internship.” She’s clicking away on her computer and talking at the same time. “Now, I’ve got a few contacts I’m going to e-mail you. Some are out of state.”

My heart stops. “Out of state?” I whisper.

Janet stops typing and looks up at me. “You don’t
have
to go out of state. I’m simply telling you that I have some contacts out of state. If you can line up something at a local television or radio station here locally, then, by all means, do so. What I am telling you to do, is get something lined up for the summer, and soon.”

My mind is in a million different places right now, and I’m beginning to panic.
Shit
. I have to get an internship lined up quick, and I’m not leaving Santa Ruiz. I’m staying here with Gabe.

“Okay, I’ve just sent you an e-mail with a couple of different internships that are available to students of SRSU. I’d love to sit down with you after the holiday break to discuss your plans for the summer and see if I can be of any assistance to you. Sound good?”

“Yes, thank you. This was really unexpected news.” I pull a tight smile onto my face. There goes a relaxing Christmas break; I’ll now be too fucking stressed out about applying for summer internships. Grabbing my purse from the floor, I leave Janet’s office as fast as I can.

Walking to my car, I feel my phone vibrating in the pocket of my jacket. A million thoughts are running through my mind. Sliding into the driver’s seat, I pull the phone from my jacket and click the e-mail icon. There sits the e-mail from Janet.

Jessica,

It was nice to see you today. Per our conversation, I have enclosed a list of internships that I know are accepting applicants. Please read each description carefully for requirements needed to apply.

I skim the rest of the letter until I get to the bottom where I see an attachment to the e-mail. I click the attachment, which opens another letter. My eyes run the length of the page, and all I see are:

Phoenix, AZ….

Albuquerque, NM…

Dallas, TX…

Wilmington, NC…

Hattiesburg, MS…

I’m not leaving Gabe, even for a summer, which means I need to find something local, and fast. I call Gabe and wait for him to answer.

“Hey, baby. How’d the meeting go with your advisor?”

“Hey.”

“Everything okay? You sound upset.”

“I’m okay; just stressed out.”

“What happened?”

“To make a really long story short, she wants me to find an internship for this summer. I’ve got so many credits that I’m almost done with an associate’s degree.”

“That doesn’t sound like a problem to me. Why are you stressed?”

“Because it’s all happening so fast. She sent me a list of internships, and all of them are out of state.”

“Aren’t there any around here?”

“Maybe, but I’ll have to find it myself.”

“So do it.”

“You’re not helping me calm down.”

Gabe starts laughing into the phone. “Just try to relax, babe. We’ll talk about this when you get home. Worrying right now isn’t going to help you.”

“I know, it’s just…the thought of leaving you scares me.” I wait for him to respond, but when the silence continues, I wonder if the call was dropped.

“So then don’t take an out of state internship. We’ll find you one here.”

I can almost hear him smiling through the phone. Breathing a sigh of relief, I find my nerves settling just a bit. I love that we’re a team, and in this together.

“I’ll be home soon.”

“See you when you get here. And, Jess.”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t stress. It’ll all work out. It always does.”

“I hope so,” I mumble.

Chapter 14

Gabe

As I wait for Jess to get home, I sit on the tan plush couch in her living room, anxious to share my news with her. I’m worried that she’ll still be stressed when she walks through the front door and I want her happy.

“What are you doing here?” she asks, stepping through the front door. She sets her purse on the sofa table and kicks off her shoes.

“Nice to see you too,” I mumble, seeing her mood hasn’t changed since we spoke.

Frowning, she turns and walks over to me, leaning down to give me a kiss. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for it to sound like that. I’m glad you’re here. I’m just surprised to see you, that’s all.”

“I let myself in. I wanted to be here when you got home. Have you calmed down at all?” I ask, not sure I want to know the truth. After pulling her arms out of her jacket, she hangs it on the back of one of the kitchen chairs. Walking over, she throws herself down on the couch next to me.

“Actually, yeah. I can deal with finishing school early. I just didn’t want to have to leave you for a summer for a stupid internship. As long as I can find something here, I’ll be fine.” She reaches out to touch my hand.

“Don’t stress over it. It’ll work out; it always does,” I remind her again.

“I know. How was your day?” she says with a sigh.

“Good.”

“Oh, yeah. What did you do?”

“Watched some TV, went to the gym, and got a phone call,” I say nonchalantly.

“From?” Her voice is full of curiosity.

“The Human Resources Department from the City of Santa Ruiz.”

“And?”

“I got the job.”

“I’m so proud of you, baby!” she squeals. “I knew you’d get it. When do you start?” She leans in, planting kisses all over my face. Her mood shifts considerably.

“Beginning of January. Chief is giving me the rest of December off.”

“Good. We’ll have the next few days to celebrate.”

“I know a few ways we can celebrate. You know what they say relieves stress, right?” I say, and then kiss her.