I nodded at the woman and pretended Luke didn’t exist.
“Frankie, can I talk to you for a second?” I said, holding the army brochure like a weapon, smiling big and scared.
“Sure, Cass,” Frankie said, his brows furrowing. “Be right there,” he called, and Luke and the woman made their way into the house.
“First of all, hi,” I said, and laughed for no reason, nervous.
“Hi,” Frankie, said, laughing with me. “Good to see you after an ‘eventful’ night.”
“Right, about that . . .” I had bent the brochure into a cylinder.
“Sorry. Again. Also, please tell me we’re going to get to see you play before we ship out.”
“Yeah!” I swallowed. “I mean, no, but that’s also kind of why I’m here.”
“What’s up?”
“I found out I have diabetes, and—” Frankie’s face twisted in concern. I stopped him. “No, it’s okay. I’ll be okay. Hear me out.”
“But that’s so scary,” Frankie continued, softer.
“It is. And I just lost my day job.” Before Frankie could pity me further, I said quickly, “So here’s what I’m thinking. With your army contract, married couples get two thousand dollars extra a month, and the spouse gets covered under your health care. So, like—” I paused, smiling with my teeth, my gut sloshing. “So what are you up to tomorrow?”
Frankie squinted, smiling. Then an expression of understanding passed over his face. “Wait, is this a proposal?”
“N-not like that,” I stammered. “We go to the courthouse. We get a marriage certificate. I’m your legal spouse. We split the money.”
“Cassie,” he said.
I handed him the brochure. He flattened it out of the crumpled mess.
“It’d be so easy,” I pushed, on the verge of pleading. “We wouldn’t even have to pretend for that long, because you’ll be overseas.”
“Housing and subsistence benefits for married couples?” Frankie laughed, incredulous. He stared at the paper. “Where did you get this?”
“Armando gave it to Nora that night at the bar.”
“Fucking Armando.” He shook his head. “Cass—but, like, why? Why are you even considering this?”
A knot of regret was already forming. This wasn’t how I’d pictured this going. I pushed through it. “My health insurance is fucked, and if something were to go south with my diabetes, I couldn’t afford it. Especially on top of my student loans.”
Frankie exhaled. “Why don’t you just get a new job?”
A flat laugh escaped me, thinking of the hospital room. This is a good hobby. “You should talk to my mother.”
“There just has to be another way.”
“I’ve been living the other way, Frankie,” I said. I felt the desperate edge to my voice. “It sucks. I did everything right. I went to college, I paid my own bills, I took care of myself. I had a career. Even when I was doing everything right, things went wrong. They’re going to go wrong again, especially now that I’m sick. So I might as well pursue my passion instead of grinding away at some buffer job that will get me nowhere anyway.”
He stared at me, opening his mouth to speak, then closed it.
I lowered my voice. “All you would have to do is sign some papers before you deploy. When you come back, I will get divorced, anything you want.”
Frankie handed me back the brochure, and crossed his arms over his Captain America T-shirt. He kept looking back at the house as I spoke, as if he were afraid of someone inside. “Cassie,” he said, then pushed air out of his mouth, shaking his head. “I want to help you. I really, really do. You’re like blood. I would do anything for you.”
“Those are things people say when they’re about to say no.” I could hear it in the air, his refusal. I was already thinking of ways I could pull it off as a joke. But if it were a joke, I wouldn’t be getting tears in my eyes. Damn it. I just asked someone to commit fraud so I could afford to have a disease.
“If things were different, I would,” he said, reaching a hand out to touch my arm. “I’ve got Elena to think about now.”
“Elena?” I asked, swallowing the lump in my throat.
“My girlfriend,” he said, jerking his head toward the house.
“Oh, of course!” The woman in turquoise. “Of course. Well.”
“We’re pretty serious.”