Confessions of a Bad Boy(76)

“Happy,” Jessie says, her face glowing with pride and tenderness. She squeezes back. “A little overwhelmed, but happy.”

“Do you want me to print a picture?” the technician asks.

“Oh yes,” we say in unison, before Jessie continues. “There’s someone who’ll kill me if he doesn’t see one.”



We walk hand in hand toward the benches by the beach. Kyle’s already there, an empty taco plate and half a basket of tortilla chips in front of him. We approach him on his blind side.

“Is this some kind of joke?” I say, once we’re in earshot. He looks up suddenly and spreads a wide grin over his anvil-jawline.

“What do you mean?”

“Isn’t this the same bench we sat on when you punched the living shit out of me?”

Kyle laughs and embraces Jessie warmly before we clasp hands.

“Kyle probably remembers the tacos more than the fighting,” Jessie says as she sits down.

I sit beside her, my arm instinctively going around her shoulders to pull her toward me, but then I quickly pull away. Kyle groans and laughs.

“Hey, you can touch each other in front of me, you know. I’m over it.”

Jessie looks at me and laughs, before going in for a kiss.

“Okay, now that’s getting a little gross,” Kyle says, blocking his view with his palm.

Jessie laughs again, before reaching into her bag.

“We got you something,” she says, pulling out the sonogram picture.

“Whoa!” Kyle says, grabbing it from her and holding it up to the light.

“That’s the head. And you can see its hands there,” I say, pointing them out.

“Shit,” Kyle says, breathlessly. “The kid looks like me!” He lowers the picture, but keeps it held in front of him, his eyes glancing at it every once in a while. “I can’t believe I’m gonna be an uncle.”

“You are.”

“Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl?”

Jessie and I glance at each other.

“No,” she says. “We decided we didn’t want to know until it’s born.”

“Why?” Kyle asks, frowning as if we just told him we hope it’s a cat.

“It’s just cooler that way, dude.”

“Yeah. It’s a surprise.”

“Shit. I’d have thought you two would be sick of surprises by now. I know I am.”

Kyle looks at the picture again and I nudge Jessie, swapping a quick smile at his look of child-like fascination.

“You’re still helping us move some more stuff to the house this weekend, right?” Jessie asks, pulling Kyle’s basket of chips toward her. She dumps salsa on them and digs in.

“Sure,” Kyle replies, looking up and smiling. “So how is it? Living in the old place?”

“It’s like coming home,” Jessie says.

“As if it couldn’t get any weirder. My best friend, my sister, my old house, a kid on the way. I’m starting to feel like a third wheel.”

“Maybe we just need a fourth, dude.”

Kyle chuckles.

“Not with my schedule.”

“I’m gonna get some real food,” Jessie says, pushing the chips away and turning to me. “I’ve got a craving for something spicy. You want anything?”

“Sure,” I say. “Get me whatever you’re having. You’re gonna eat half of it anyway.”

Jessie smiles and leans in. “Aw. That’s what I like about you. So giving.” She kisses me quickly then steps away toward the taco stand. I watch her go a while before Kyle calls for my attention.

“Bro. I wanted to tell you something.”

I look at Kyle’s expression, the sudden seriousness in his eyes, the way he’s leaning forward as if hiding something.

“What?” I say, leaning in, too.

“I say this man to man, okay? However much you might not like it, it’s important that you hear it.”

I take a moment to let him know I get it.

“Okay. Go ahead, dude.”

Kyle shifts slightly, his eyes flickering away, then back onto my face.

“That day, here, when I punched you, was the worst day of my life.”

“Dude, it’s cool, you don’t—”

“I do. I have to say sorry. ’Cause the truth is that I did it deliberately.”

“What are you talking about?”

Kyle shifts again and looks at the taco stand to make sure Jessie’s still there.

“You think it was easy to bring myself to hit you? It went against every instinct in my body. But I did it anyway, you wanna know why? Because I wanted to see if you meant it.”

“Meant what?”

“That you loved her.”

“You punched me as a test?”

Kyle nods, and I exhale loudly.

“Jessie had a big crush on you as a teenager. For years. She thinks I didn’t know, but of course I did.”

“Yeah. She told me.”

“It almost tore her apart. And it tore me apart, ’cause you were too busy chasing tail to even notice. I wanted to make sure this wasn’t a rerun of that. That this time it was a two-way thing.”