Page 12 of Yours, For Now

Her face hardened as she gazed at me. She pressed her lips into a thin line. "I guess we can't tell them."

A hint of sadness permeated the laugh that escaped my lips. Her family had put us in an awkward position with their assumptions and ill favor of Lina.

My folder was still on the table and I grabbed it. "Can you imagine?"

The silence that followed my question hung heavy with tension. I lifted my eyes to Lina; she looked back at me with a calculating gaze. The folder grew colder in my hands.

"I was joking." My body stilled as I tracked her face.

"No, what you were wasright. They might say no to the project if they realize we're not together."

"If that changes their mind, then they're even worse than I thought." I jumped to continue when she remained silent. "I'm sorry, I know I'm talking about your dad but—"

It seemed that I had gotten it wrong. She fisted her hands at her sides and squared her shoulders.

"That's not the point of this conversation." Her body stiff, she turned back to the table and closed the laptop, staring at me the entire time. "The point is that they are worse than you think, and they will think I am the problem, that somehow it's because of something I did that we're not dating."

"Oh, c'mon—"

"Did you hear them just now?" She grabbed the remote and turned the TV off, pressing hard on the plastic device like she wanted to suffocate it. She threw it back on the table. "They didn't have to say it in as many words, but the only reason they're doing this is because they think you'll keep me in line. As if. Fuck!"

She grabbed the back of a chair, her knuckles white as she squeezed the top edge of it.

Shock at the absurdity of the situation slowed my senses. The only part of me that seemed to be working were my lungs, which went into overdrive.

"Okay, let's talk this out," I said when I could use the air in my chest for something other than hyperventilating. "I'm not saying you're wrong about your dad and uncle, but Iwasjoking. We have to tell them we're not dating."

"They'll think we're lying— or were lying at some point— either way, they'll take it poorly. And they'll blame me for it."

"They'd be wrong to blame you. But if we don't tell them the truth and let them believe we're together, then we're actually lying. Then they would have something real to blame us for."

"Omission is a negotiation tactic." Her voice deepened, a certain hoarseness to it.

"A dirty one." I could see my dad in my head as I said that. I could see my mom judging me for choosing to lie, if we did what Lina was suggesting.

"I know!" She turned back to me, and her light brown skin seemed a bit gray. "I don't want to lie! But I also don't want them to dismiss my idea because it's mine, because I'm a woman, or because I'm single."

"They shouldn't!"

"But theywill. Gabe, I invited your company to this project because I know what it can do for us. That included the power to help convince my family that this is the right way to go, to grow. I've tried so many times, but— they dismiss me. I've written and planned so many ways to make this happen and you know what they've done each time? Pat me on the head, told me to find a boyfriend, and sent me back to do follow up calls to deal with clients. They have let my words and my plans rot on their desks. I thought—" her voice broke, but when she spoke again she'd firmed it up. "I thought that if a bigger company came to support my idea, they'd finally listen. It's so close. I want this so badly. And I can't have it because I'm a single woman. God."

She closed her eyes and the frustration on her face dropped a ton of lead on my chest. My lungs went from overworking to shallow attempts.

I bit the inside of my lips. "There has to be another way. Lying about this— it's preposterous. Lying about it won't change how unfair the situation is to you, but we won't be honest throughout the process. Do you even realize how it would damage the trust people have in me and in my family's company if it came out that we were lying about being together?"

"Honesty is getting me nowhere!" She slapped the air with the back of her hand, half shaking her hand to the sky. "I've built my career in this industry that I actually like. I love this, Gabe. I want to work here. I want to grow this company. But I've worked at it for twelve long years, biding my time, trusting my cousin won't come back, banking on my dad and uncle being too tired to keep denying me one day, and this is what I get?!"

I crossed my arms and stared at her, torn.

"We need to expand." She pursed her lips. "It's the next logical step in making this company succeed. Recover from—" she shook her head. "Do something to sustain the business beyond small deficits and once in a while exceptional profits."

"That I understand." I tapped my fingers against my arms. "It's the right move for a company like yours. Much better than doing it alone. And it's a good plan for me, too. It would help me secure the steps I'm taking. The issue isn't with that at all, or I wouldn't be here."

"I don't know why you're here. You could have sent someone several levels below yours in the company, but you chose to be the one involved. I hope it means this matters enough to you to reconsider, because I don't see any other options. I wanted your company to back me up as a business. My dad and uncle want you to back me up as a person. Fundamentally, they don't trust me because I'm a woman, while you get implicit trust because you're a man. And they think because we're together, I'm going to be the woman they want me to be and I'll put my head down and listen to you." She stopped in the middle of her tirade, the gray intensifying on her skin. "I'm gonna be sick."

"No, no." I stepped in closer and put my hands on her shoulders. I squeezed and rubbed and did my best to give her a breath of support, even if we weren't close enough for the friendly gesture. "There's gotta be a way. Maybe if I bring my dad and we talk to your dad and uncle… explain why they should…"

Even as I said the words I could imagine their response. Two machista Latino men, being told by a larger company that they're doing business wrong. The same company that had tried to buy them out in years past, and could acquire them in a heartbeat. It didn't bode well.