The Proposal(27)

“Carlos!” Jessie smiled up at him. “I was wondering when my good-for-nothing cousin was going to stop by.”

He set the bags down on the coffee table and leaned in for a hug.

“What’s your blood pressure right now?”

Jessica pulled away.

“Come on, Carlos. This is your cousin, not your patient. Take a deep breath.”

He knew she was his cousin. He wouldn’t be half as worried if she were his patient.

“Don’t give me that ‘take a deep breath’ nonsense. Come on, what’s your blood pressure?”

Jessie reached for her bottle of water and took a swig.

“Now that we’re on the topic, what’s your blood pressure, Carlos? When’s the last time you went to the doctor?”

“Oh my God, Jessie, don’t do that right now. This is serious!” Jon shot a look at him, and he realized that snapping at his pregnant, sick cousin probably wasn’t the right move.

“Yes, yes, I know it’s serious. Can we get to that?” She pointed at the bag on the coffee table. “What’d you bring me? Wait, I mean . . .” She arranged her face into a perfect fake look of surprise. “For me? You didn’t have to bring me a present, Carlos! No really, you didn’t! Okay, fine, if you insist.” She grinned at him. Despite his irritation with her, he couldn’t keep from grinning back. “How’d I do? Did I look just like Taylor Swift?”

“Fantastic, you were perfect. No one would have known the truth.” He gave up on the medical questions for the moment and handed her the carefully wrapped stack of books. “Here, dig in.”

She squealed and tore into the wrapping paper. He had to remember to thank Nik for getting the bookstore to wrap the presents. He would have just handed Jessie the bag.

“Oooh, I’ve been wanting to read this book! I didn’t know it was in paperback, awesome.” She tore through the books, and when she looked back up at Carlos, he was surprised to see her eyes full of tears.

“You asshole. These are all so perfect. Thank you.”

She reached her arms up, and he hugged her again, longer this time.

“I know how you feel about being bored, so I thought some reading material was in order. I’ll be around all weekend, so if you get tired of reading, I can come entertain you.”

She narrowed her eyes at him.

“What do you mean you’ll be around all weekend? Angie told me you were leaving tomorrow to go up to Berkeley for Drew’s engagement party.”

He had forgotten he’d told Angie about that. Damn it, why did she have to tell Jessie everything?

He shook his head.

“Oh no, that’s not this weekend. She must have heard me wrong. That’s in a few weeks.”

Would she buy that?

“I always know when you’re lying; you know that, right? I refuse to let you miss out on your best friend’s engagement party. I’ll be fine. I have Jon here, and Angie is fifteen minutes away, and my mom and your mom and God knows how many doctors. You can’t hover over me like this for the rest of my pregnancy.”

There was no way he could go; she knew that.

“Jessie. Come on. I can’t leave now; you know that.”

She set her mouth in that stubborn way she’d been doing ever since she was a toddler.

“No, I don’t know that. As a matter of fact, here’s what I do know: if you try to come over this weekend, I’m not even going to let you in my house. So you might as well go to Berkeley because you’re not going to see me if you’re here.”

He turned to Jon, hoping he would talk some sense into her.

“You know she’ll do it,” Jon said.

Unfortunately, he did know.

“Fine.” He shook his finger at her. “But I swear to God, Jessie, you had better text me if anything happens. Promise me.”

She rolled her eyes at him.

“I promise. Are we done with that?”

He nodded.

“Now!” She pointed to the cupcake bag, just out of reach. “What’s in the pink bag?” He sighed and pushed it toward her. Leave it to Jessie to keep her mind on her presents.

“Oooh, it’s heavy. Hmmm, what place did my hipster cousin discover?”

“I’m not a hipster!” he yelled. This is what he got for his pains.

“Carlos. You hang out in Silver Lake. Come on.”

“I have a perfectly normal haircut! I don’t have a beard or Warby Parker glasses! I never wear a hat.”

She laughed harder and looked at Jon.

“I love doing this to him. He gets so mad every time!” She pulled the cupcake box out of the bag and opened it. “Oooooh. Red velvet cupcakes! And . . . is that Funfetti? Gourmet Funfetti cupcakes?” She took a cupcake from the box and took a bite. “Oh my God. If this is what hipsters eat, I’ve changed my mind about them; I want you to be the hipsterest hipster in all of Los Angeles if you’re going to bring me baked goods like this. Jon, you’ve got to try one.”

He grinned at the look on her face and at the frosting on her nose. He was so glad he’d been able to make her happy, even though he was still furious at her. The cupcake store had clearly been a good idea. Another thing to thank Nik for.

“So I heard you picked up a girl by using my story. You’re welcome.”