Page 59 of Someone to Call My Own

I had looked at her with a deadpan expression and clapped my hands slowly at her performance. Emory had told me all about his mother and her bullshit behavior. Audrey McIntire-Whelan flinched like I had slapped her. I wasn’t through though.

I had leaned closer to her and said, “Our government trained me how to kill someone and make it look like an accident. Fix things with Emory or fucking walk away for good. Your hot and cold routine isn’t welcome in our lives.” So far, she attempted to get on board.

“Yes,” Emory said, “but she’ll be on her best behavior with granddad around.” I didn’t want her toactlike she loved Emory; I wanted hertolove him.

“Are you hungry or something?” I asked when he scarfed down the rest of his hotdog. “Do you want another one?”

“No,” he said around a mouthful of hotdog. He held up his finger for me to wait while he chewed the last bite before washing it down with a long drink of soda. “It’s almost the seventh inning.” As if that explained a damn thing.

“What? Are you eager to sing ‘God Bless America’ or something?”

“Um, no.”

I narrowed my eyes because he suddenly looked nervous. What the hell was going on?

“I want to be ready in case the Kiss Cam is aimed at us.” Emory reached into his pocket and pulled out a tube of lip balm and smeared some on his lips.

“Well, you might want to get rid of that mustard smear,” I said, gesturing to his upper lip before I handed him a napkin.

He looked up at the jumbotron and said, “Oh, it’s about to start.”

“Em, baby, this might be San Francisco, but it’s not likely that… Fuck!” I pointed at the giant screen as I stared at my stunned image on display for the entire ballpark, possibly the world, to see. Beside me, Emory grinned like a loon as he reached into his pocket for something. Over our images, it didn’t say “Kiss Cam,” it said, “Jon, Emory has a question for you.”

“Jon?”

I tore my eyes off the screen and looked at Emory. He lowered himself to his knee between the rows of seats while people around us cheered him on.

“Will you marry me?”

I smiled so wide that it felt like my face was about to split in half. “Yes!”

Emory slid the ring on my finger, and I pulled him to me for a kiss. I showed some restraint due to our location, but I was sure he knew that I would express my happiness in more depth when we returned to our hotel room.

We received a lot of congratulations from the fans around us, some funny looks too, but we ignored them. When the game resumed after the seventh inning stretch, I looped my arm around Emory’s shoulders and pulled him into my side. I rested my cheek on top of his head and looked up at the sky.

Thank you for sending him to me, River. I promise you that you won’t regret it. Be good to my brother.My mouth fell open in shock when a small light shot across the night sky. It was probably a NASA satellite, but I chose to believe it was River answering me. And why the hell not? I never thought I would have someone to call my own either.

“This was a magical night,” Emory said happily.

“It’s just the beginning, baby.”

The End!