missing you-petra solano

ii. chapter two

In a motherly fashion, Alba set a large plate in front of Jane, the latter who pushed it away rather quickly.

"No thank you, Abuela. I'm not hungry." Jane gave her grandmother a slight smile of appreciation.

"You're eating for two now." She, not so subtly, reminded her granddaughter.

Jane's smile became more reserved and cautious. "Yes, I know, but that is not gonna be the focus of everything moving forward. I'm gonna...I'm gonna get back to my life. In fact, that's the reason why I called this emergency family meeting. Michael, welcome to your first family meeting."

Michael nodded appreciatively. "Happy to be here. Proud to be representing the male point of view."

"Dude, no." Isabel disapprovingly shook her head. "Don't lead with that." She glanced down at her watch.

2:49 PM

"Can we hurry this up? I have somewhere important to be."

"Right, sorry." Jane apologized. "So, I just wanted to go over the plan. All right? The most important thing is that this...event...doesn't derail my life. Nothing else has changed, all right? I'm almost at the finish line with college. I got a good job. I'm engaged to a great guy. Sure, there are a few logistical things I'm gonna have to do to make sure it...stays in good health, like I set up a sonogram, for instance. But other than that, nothing has changed. Got it?"

"Can I just say one thing?" Alba prudently asked.

"Yes, go ahead."

"You should keep the baby." She blurted out quickly in Spanish.

"Abuela!" Jane exclaimed frustratedly.

"It's a free country! I can see how I feel-"

"It's Jane's choice!" Isabel cut in, still speaking in Spanish.

Michael looked around lost, lacking the bilingual ability everybody else in the room had. "W-what did she say?"

"She said that I should keep the baby!" Jane translated.

"Oh! No, she's not keeping the baby." Michael, flustered and panicked, responded.

"Oh, I think she should."

"Stop, Abuela." Jane snapped. "I'm not gonna keep the baby." She continued sternly. "I-in fact, we're not gonna refer to it as a baby. We're gonna...we're gonna call it something else. W...we are going to call it, uhm..." Jane looked at her mother, receiving flashbacks to her quinceñera when she had performed 'Milkshake,' one of the most popular songs in the country at the time. "A milkshake. And I can't wait to give that Milkshake to its rightful owners- good people who really want it."

"Okay, I'm gonna go." Isabel stood up suddenly, making her away around the room to say goodbyes. "I don't want to be late."

XXX

"Hey, Liz." Isabel sat down in front of her wife's grave. "Sorry I'm late, I had to go pick up your favorite flowers." She dug a small hole to hold the tulips. "Only reason you loved these was cause of that stupid joke." She couldn't help but chuckle. "God, you were so bad with jokes, but you thought you were hilarious. I didn't have the heart to tell you otherwise."

Isabel had only started to dust off the top of the tombstone when a cemetery employee approached her.

"Excuse me, Miss, but we're closing up now."

"Okay, thank you." Isabel stood up, trying to contain her tears. "Happy 27th birthday, Liz. Te amo, mi vida."

"I'm sorry for your loss." The cemetery worker said sympathetically. "Was she your sister?"