ATONEMENT (10 page)

“I’ll work on it.”

                          Alfonzo smirked, “You better.”

“Shit,”
Domingo grinned,
“I
t’s good to see
cuz
.”

“
Same here but
don’t let me come back for this shit again
,
I might
put a serious
hurt
ing on
you,
for real
!
”

                                      
***

Alfonzo
arrived home
with lofty expectations. All
he wanted to do was kiss his kids good-night, climb in bed with his wife and fall his tired ass to sleep
. Instead,
he noticed Jessica’s car
, walked inside the house and found a trio of conspirators waiting
.

‘I can’t catch a break today!’

Jessica,
Emilio and his wife
turned simultaneously in his direction.
Whatever
prompted
this
gathering
he got the feeling he wasn’t going to like it.

Selange remained seated on the sofa.
“Hey,
what happened to you
?”

H
e’d changed
clothes and
cleaned up on the plane but the
angry red bruise on his face couldn’t be disguised. He shrugged, “Nothing, what’s going on here?”

Alfonzo’s eyes didn’t miss how tired his wife appeared. She looked under tremendous strain
.
Could this meeting have
anything
to do with it, he wondered?

Emilio rose, “I wanted to talk to you and your wife.”

Alfonzo walked into the center of the room, put his hands in his pocket
s.
“Yeah, about what?”

Jessica for the first time since he’s known the
girl was quiet. Alfonzo’s
jawbone
clicked
tight. He
wondered why she
needed to
hold
his wife’s hand. W
hat
was so bad
she
required
moral
support
, or did
someone die
and they were there to gently break the news
?
But, no
,
that couldn’t be it, this
involved
Emilio
which kind of killed the question.

“Jessic
a and I wanted to tell you
we’
re
a couple.”

Alfonzo’s
face
tighte
ned
. Okay, he figured
as much, he wasn’t blind
,
besides
from Emilio’s face he could discern more was coming.

“And we got an apartment together last week.”

Last week, he was slipping
, that he didn’t know
. Shit was going on right under his nose
.
No wonder
Jessica decided to stay in
Bayamón
after getting her degree. She got an apartment downtown, near her new job, he knew that much –but he didn’t know she was
shacking-up
with
Emilio.

Selange released Jessica’s hand and
went to her husband
, “Hun, Emilio and Jessica
wanted us to know first about their relationship
because they don’t want it to affect Emilio’s job
. They’re hoping you’ll listen and not get upset.”
Her eyes were on his flashing blues. They were warning signs of his
impending loss of control. She could tell, that’s why she stood there, making sure he didn’t hurt Emilio. “Just listen, okay?”

He relaxed his stance, “I’m listening Emilio, is there more?”

Jessica was up,
at her man’s side. Alfonzo and his wife were facing their younger counterparts. He found
it
an
unbalanced
face-off because t
hey all knew something
which
he did not
. “Damn people, quit with the
episodic
build-up and get to the point, for crying out loud!”

“Primo, I’m pregnant.” Jessica said bluntly. “I wanted to come and tell you myself. Emilio hasn’
t done anything wrong so don’t be mad at him.”

“How far along are you?”

“
About
three
and a half
months
.”

Alfonzo’s eyes went naturally to her stomach for
visual
proof
, he couldn’t tell, the cut of the
blouse
disguised any baby bump
. Alfonzo assumed they’d recently started going out, not that they’d been hooking up for…he counted backwards…since the summer…since Miami. He’d been screwing Jessica the whole time
, really? Now he was pissed.
His fist landed in the young man’s face before Selange blinked
. T
he kid took it, even managed to stay on his feet.

“
W
hat the
hell
you do that for…you’re wrong…you know that?” Jessica exclaimed. She moved closer to her man as if she could protect him from Alfonzo
.

“I asked if there
’s
anything
you wanted to tell me months ago,
didn’t I Emilio?”

Emilio
rubbed his
chin
, “Yes.”

“
And w
hat
was
you
r
answer
?”

“
No, e
verything
’s
fine.”

“You
sh
ould
’ve
told the truth, then.
” He looked at Jessica, “I punched
your
man
chica
because you’re not
a skank
he
needs
to be ashamed of. If he care
s
about you he
sh
ouldn’t give a
damn
who kn
o
w
s
it
, including me
.  Getting you k
nocked up
shouldn’t be the reason he’s
fess
ing
-up
now,
comprende
prima
?”

“Hun,
calmarse.
You’re going
hard!”

Damn right he was going
hard;
he’d
been in a
long meeting this morning, traversed the Atlantic, rumbled with
Domingo and
came home to more drama.
His cousin was pregnant, his aunt and mom were sure to assign blame and they’d point the finger
at
him. Who
cared if Jessica was having a baby, she was an adult and honestly he was
n’t
surprised
.
The lie out of Emilio’s mouth is what triggered his fury. Heck,
he was
grumpy, hungry and
tired!

Alfonzo stepped close to Emilio’s face and
the
young man
didn’t flinch
which earned him
another
half a point
in the
respect
category
.
“Treat my cousin right, one hint you’re not and
we rumble.
From now
on
when you
got
something important to
say
to me
,
don’t hide behind
women.
A
pproach me man-to-man,
comprende
?”

“
Sí
!
”

Alfonzo
grinned
. He like
d
the kid
but the dude had to man-up
.
Anyway,
Emilio was going to have his hands full with Jessica,
though. He must really care about
the girl to
voluntarily subject himself to
that
big mouth day after day.
Alfonzo figured h
e’d made his point.
“
Bienvenidos
a
nuestra
 
f
amilia
.
W
elcome to our family!” He said and then
took his butt to bed.