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“So where was your dad in all this?” I asked.
She breathed in through her nose. “Gone. My parents divorced when my mom was pregnant with Benny. I haven’t seen my dad in almost thirty years.”
“Where is he?”
She shrugged. “Back in El Salvador? I don’t really know. I don’t care. I think he has like, a whole other family. Anyway, Mom always had more than one job until she started nursing. Then she got hired by these rich white people when their grandma got too old to live alone. They trusted her. Mom took care of that lady for six years. She was really good at it. When the lady died, she left my mom some money. Mom used it to help put me through school and buy the house we’d been renting. The one I’m in now.” She looked at me as we walked. “Anyone who says money isn’t everything has never had to live without it.”
We walked for a moment in silence.
“Well, I still wouldn’t punch you in the face,” I said. “But I would work hard enough so you’d always have everything you need. I’d go hungry so you could eat.”
She gave me an amused look. “I wouldn’t let you go hungry for me,” she said.
“I know. That’s why I’d never tell you.”
“You wouldn’t tell me?”
“The truest sacrifices are the ones no one knows anything about.”
She paused. “Jacob, you are too pure for this earth.”
I laughed a little.
She glanced over at me with a small smile. “You know, I actually believe that you’d do that, and most of the time when men say valiant things, I don’t.”
I looked down at the paved path. She had no idea the things I would do for her.
“Given this backstory, I’m a little surprised that it was me and not you naming our kid Xfinity to save money,” I said.
“I would gladly sacrifice myself, but I’d never sacrifice my kid,” she said. “The whole point is to give them a better life than the one you had.”
“She could have a good life named Xfinity.”
“Yeah, but maybe she’d have a great life named something normal, like Ava.”
I smiled. “Okay,” I said, glancing at her. “We’ll name her Ava.”
She twisted her lips into a smile. “Good. Ava Xfinity—Ortiz. I’m not taking a man’s last name, and I’m not letting my kids do it either.”
“You didn’t take Nick’s last name?” I asked, glancing at her.
“I did. And then I had to change it back. When Mom got married, she took my dad’s last name too, and then she had to change it when he left, which meant she changed my last name also, which was of course her dad’s last name. I’ve had three different last names in my lifetime and it’s all been to carry on some stupid patriarchal tradition. I will never do it again.”
I shrugged. “Okay. I’ll take your last name, then.”
She laughed, but I wasn’t kidding. I glanced at her. “You know, if you really wanted to show Amy, we could drag this on a little longer. Maybe say we’re engaged. Get married. Have a few kids.”
Live happily ever after…
“Ha. Don’t tempt me. I’m petty and I love a long con.”
I chuckled. My phone vibrated in my pocket and I pulled it out and checked the screen. Jill.
“Hold on, I have to take this. Jill?” I said, answering the phone.
“Where are you?”
“Wakan. With Briana. Why?”
