The Good Life

Chapter 63

”Mar…” Bruno hugged her from behind burying his head into her neck. She could feel his heart beating faster than it usually did. She let him hang onto her as she finished picking up a few things throwing them in his suit case knowing that it made him feel better.”I’m going to miss you.”

”Bruno…I know you are. And you’re going to be okay. And only gone for three weeks…” she turned around to hold onto his face. ”You have done this three times before. Nothing is different about it.” Yes there is. She continued to think. Rosie gets it this time. She hasn’t stopped crying…and I need him..but I told him to go…”There’s no reason for you not to want to go…” Rosie came running in the bedroom wearing one of his new tour t-shirts at least 10 sizes too big for her. She had on the hat he was going to wear to the airport and she twirled around in a circle singing one of the songs he had written for her.

”Daaadddd…don’t goooo…let me comeeee….” she cried. Marla picked her up and hugged her tightly.

”It will be okay, mama. It will be okay…he’ll be home soon.”

”It will go so fast you won’t even know it…” Bruno told her trying not to cry.

”Stop! Don’t do that!” Marla exclaimed feeling her eyes getting heavy.

They heard the front door open and lots of noise. His bodyguard walked in. ”Ready, bro?” he asked.

”Yeah..let’s go before these two end up in my stuff…” he said holding onto Rosalia. Marla took a hold of her when they got to the door. ”I’ll miss you…” he told both of them kissing Marla getting in the car.

”Mommaaa…we can’t cry. Daddy told me not to cry.” Rosie said walking back into the house with his hat on. Marla took the hat off her daughter’s head placing it on the table. She felt a sudden rush of memories coming back to her…all the way back to 2011 when she took his hat their first night out. She picked up the hat playing with the brim.

”I’m not going to cry…” she told herself.

**

Later that day Marla sat a big conference table next to her sister in law and across from several stakeholders to speak about upcoming events and programs.

”We would need a counselor….or several…” the older female stakeholder said. ”If you want to provide direct services….and it would make everything just so multifaceted…” she told them.

”Well..that shouldn’t be a problem. We can get them right away…” Marla responded.

”Marla..you don’t have your license do you?” another person asked.

”No..no..I don’t.” she said in a sad tone. ”It really wasn’t ever anything I wanted to do…” the female stakeholder handed her a piece of paper pointing to the bottom of the page.

Program will pay for supervision and licensing requirements.

”We know you know the organization and if we can get one person who is qualified to supervise..this would be a great opportunity for you…”

”Marla! Come on…you have to do it!” Jamie told her.

”It’s a lot of time..and with Bruno being gone…I want to be there for Rosie…I…”

”Marla…you can totally do it…” Jamie pleaded. ”You would be the best choice…even the people you know don’t know the organization like you…”

”Oh my god…can I think about it?” she asked.

”No..the deadline to submit the RFP is in two days….we have to do it now..” someone answered.

”Oh my god…..okay. Okay. I guess you can call me Marla Gonzales-Hernandez future LCSW.” she answered.

**

Marla glanced at the clock laying on the couch watching How I Met Your Mother reruns to see how late it was in New York, where Bruno was. She sighed heavily looking into her daughter’s bedroom where she was stretched out sideways on the low lying bed. Oh my god. You are your father’s daughter…she thought going into the bathroom. She went into the bottom cabinet to grab some toilet paper seeing a pregnancy test fall out. ”What the hell…let’s see if I’m pregnant…” she said to herself. She took a deep breath placing the test on the counter running out into the living room where her phone was suddenly ringing.

”Hiiii…” she said into the phone.

”Marlaaaaa..I miss you.” he told her.

”I miss you too, but suck it up, you baby. It hasn’t even been 24 hours.” she told him.

”Okay…I might have been a little dramatic.” he laughed at her.

”A little? How about a lot?” she asked him.

”Okay..a lot…” he answered.

”Bruno…I think I did something stupid today…” she started to tell him.

”That’s for me to do.” he answered.

”No…like really stupid..I told the board that I would get my license…” she told him standing up to go into the bathroom.

”Mar…that’s good. You’re an amazing therapist. You know that right?” he told her.

”Bruno…it takes like two years to get a license and so much other stuff..I just..it’s a huge commitment that I don’t know I can…..oh my god….” she picked up the pregnancy test staring at the results with her mouth open.