His Proposal

His Proposal - 24

At the entrance of the botanical gardens, Jai takes his card out of his pocket and places it on the counter.

"You don't need to pay for us. I can do that."

He shakes his head. "No, I want to do this. I want to show your brother that I'm not a bad guy and that he shouldn't believe everything he reads. Most of the things are fabricated bull made up by people that want some extra cash in their greedy hands." Jai looks around. "For all, we know there are some reporters hanging around this place. You'll be in the papers with me. They're going to dig into your past."

Looking at him. "I don't really care. It's not like they're going to find anything interesting about my family, except my parents, were murdered in a home invasion and I was left with my two younger siblings to care for." I whisper in his ear. "It's not like anyone's going to find the proposal right?"

He nods. "I made sure that no one except the lawyer, you and I know the existence of it."

"Chloe, can we take a photo in front of the statue together?"

Smiling, I say. "Sure," I give Jai my phone. "Can you take a picture of us?"

Jai takes the phone from me and he takes the picture of my family.

A woman walks over with her husband. She asks. "Can I take a family photo for you?"

Jai nods. He gives her my phone and he walks over to me. He wraps his arm around my waist and smiles as the woman takes our picture. He walks over to her and takes the phone from her.

She looks over. "You've got such a beautiful family." She says to Jai.

Jai smiles. "Thanks, I'm a lucky guy to have them."

Nate looks at me. "Is he kidding?"

Covering my brother's mouth, I say. "Nate, stop trying to cause problems. There's no need to."

He pulls my hand off his mouth. "I think I'm going to go to school. It looks like you've got everything under control with this guy. When he leaves you don't come crying to me. I will stand away from you and tell you "I told you so."

Shaking my head. "What's wrong with you, Nate?"

He yells. "You! Since Aleysa got sick again you've forgotten about me. You spend all your time at the bar and at the hospital. You haven't even come to one of my games. Mom and Dad made time for me. You don't."

I look away from him.

He's not wrong. I've been ignoring him. I thought he was happy with living with his best friend and his family.

"Nate, are happy staying at your friend's house?"

He shakes his head. "I want my family back. I miss being with Aleysa and you. We're a family."

I didn't know he was feeling this way. He never told me.

"I'm sorry, Nate." I run my hand through my hair. "I didn't know you felt like this. How about I go to your next game. Tell me when and where it is and I'll be there in 'My brothers a Quarterback' t-shirt."

He laughs. "I don't want to see you in that. That would be as bad as seeing Mom wearing my number on a tank top when she came to my games."

Smiling at him, I say. "I wish I was there to see more of your games over the years, but I had to work."

Nate touches my arm. "I know, Chloe. You had your own life to live. I was proud that my big sister was doing well for herself."

I didn't do that well for myself. I just managed to have enough money to buy food for a week.