Breaking Down

Chapter 8

8

Tyler

I stared at her with wide eyes, sure I hadn’t heard her right. “What? Jail?”

Gabi brushed a loose strand of her hair back and glanced to her feet before returning her gaze to me. “Yeah. Hm, you should be aware of all the consequences of this deal.”

Shit, this thing kept getting more and more complicated. “Give me a sec,” I muttered as I tried to sort through the thoughts swirling in my head.

“Sure,” she said.

Risk going to jail? Was this worth it? I had been convinced that accepting Gabi’s deal was a good solution. My only solution, actually, but now I wasn’t so sure.

“Just … let me say this,” Gabi said. “If we do our parts well, if we pretend well, if we fool even my family, the immigration officers won’t know. They will believe what we tell them. As long as we do this right.”

So, when out with witnesses, we had to be kind to each other, sit together, stand side by side, smile at each other—there were plenty of couples who didn’t kiss or even touch much in public. We could be one of those—and we had to nail the answers to the interview questions. I could do that, right? For money? For a debt free life? For vet school?

“All right,” I said, still feeling wary about this, but trying to push through. “And after the interview?”

“Nothing much. If the interview goes well, I’m given the green card. After that, we need to stay married for two years. Once the two years are up, we get a divorce, which should be quick, and done. We both go our separate ways.”

That did sound too good to be true. Two years and a couple of months until I was debt free. It sounded like a dream, to be honest.

The yes was on the tip of my tongue, but I still had to get some things straight. “What about your family?”

“What about them?”

“You’ll just get married and they won't be pissed with you about that?”

She bit her lower lip. “Sim, bem, I kind of thought about that and had an idea.”

“I’m listening.”

“We can elope today. Right now, if you want. The sooner we get married, the faster this thing will go and the sooner we’ll be able to get a divorce. But you’re right, my family would freak out if I showed up married. So, we can elope today and talk to an immigration lawyer next week and get everything moving, but I think we should lie to my family.”

“Lie …”

“Sim, hm, we could tell them that we are engaged and will be moving in together, but we aren't in a rush to get married. They don’t need to know we eloped, and they certainly won’t find out about the green card process unless we tell them about it.”

“Or if an immigration officer thinks it’s necessary to interview them. Or come to one of our gatherings.”

“Not if we fool them.” She cringed, as if she didn’t like the idea of fooling anyone. “If we nail the interview questions, if we show them pictures of us together during the next few months leading to the interview, if we post these pictures on social media, they will believe us.” She sighed. “It’s not the most noble thing. I hate having to lie to people like that. I’ll hate lying to the immigration officers, probably not as much as I’ll hate lying to my family, but it’s for a good cause. We won’t be hurting anyone. I’ll be able to follow my dreams, and you’ll get the money you need. No harm done.”

She was right, of course, but a sham marriage was a hard thing to swallow.

“Why can’t we tell your family we eloped?”

Her eyes bulged as if that idea hadn’t even crossed her mind. “My family would freak out. Really, like a full-blown freak out with lots of yelling and disinheritance threats. My parents would fly here and my father would certainly try to drag me back to Brazil by my hair.” She shook her head. “Besides, they know I want to live here. The moment I tell them we are married, they would be onto us. They would know I married you for the green card and … I don’t know what would happen. Just know that it wouldn’t be pretty.” She snorted. “And trust me, when we tell them we’re engaged, they will already freak out. Just not as much.”

“But won’t your family think you’re engaged to me to get married and get a green card?”

“Probably, but I have an idea for that.” I stayed quiet and let her continue, “Besides the green card suspicion, they will probably bother us about a wedding date. We can tell them we’re not in a hurry. Some couples get engaged and don’t get married for years. We can pretend to be one of those couples. At first, we can tell them we’re waiting a year or so, so there’s no rush to organize a wedding. And when it gets closer, we postpone it a couple more months. Then, we'll postpone again and again, until the two-year mark is up. Once we’re divorced, we can tell them we broke up. They will never have to know.”

“But what will happen after? How will you explain suddenly having a green card after the divorce?”

Shit … I hadn’t thought about that part. “Maybe … my job will be going well and I can lie that the company sponsored a green card for me.”

Job? She already had a job here? I c****d my head, watching her sad eyes. “You don’t look happy about it.”

“About the lying part, no, I’m not. I’m close to my family. They mean everything to me, and it’ll be hard to lie to them, but I think it’ll be worth it. And like I said, we won’t be hurting anyone.” She gasped. “Meu Deus, your family. What about your family? Won’t they be pissed at you too?”

A big frown settled between my brows. “There’s only one person in my family, and I don’t think he’ll care.”

She mirrored my expression. “Is that a good or bad thing?”

I shrugged. “It’s neither. Like I said, don’t worry about it.”

“Okay,” she said, sounding unsure, but she didn’t push it. Instead, she changed subjects. “We should talk about living together …”

“Yeah, I know. I think you’ll have to move in with me, but …” I shut my mouth. I didn’t want to tell her why I needed the money and my most-of-the-time-absent roommate. Not yet, at least. “My apartment isn’t in the best neighborhood and it’s small and old and messy.” And I hadn’t paid rent in forever and had just received a letter telling me I would be evicted if I didn’t pay for it soon. But, with the money I received from her as soon as we got married, I could pay all the rent I owed and even pay a few months in advance. Or … “What about if we looked for a better apartment in a nicer neighborhood first and then moved in there?”

She smiled at me and my breath caught. Damn, she was pretty. “That sounds good. Though, we can’t take too long since we’ll already be married.” Her voice caught on the last word. Her smile faded. “So, are you ready?”

My mind spun. That was a lot to process. Get married? Meeting her family? Lawyer? New apartment … It was too much, too fast. Then, I remembered that one hundred thousand dollars would be hitting my account by this evening, and I could make a lot of things work with that. I could pay my rent. I could pay my utility bills before they were cut off. I could buy some f*****g real food and go grocery shopping for real, fill up the tank of my truck for the first time in over a year, and work a little less.

I sighed, knowing all too well that there was no decision to be made here.

I stood. “All right. Let’s do this.”