David couldn’t help his conspiratorial grin in return. He patted the space beside him on the bed. Katy stood and walked over to him, and instead of sitting on the bed, she dropped down into his lap, the slender curves of her thighs and butt pressing suddenly, sensuously against him.
“Oof.” David exhaled as Katy’s weight settled onto him, as much from exhilaration as from effort.
“Hey!” she admonished playfully, slapping David’s shoulder. “Are you saying I’m too heavy for this? My mom always said I was too skinny.”
“You’re just right,” David said fiercely, leaning in to kiss her, crushing her little gasp of surprise with his mouth.
With his hands exploring her waist, his lips parting hers and his tongue in her mouth, he felt his phone buzz in his pocket again.
Ugh. Please don’t let that be who I think it is.
Katy felt the vibrations, too. “Is that you?” She moved off of him and onto the bed beside him, giving him access to his phone.
But David hesitated. He’d been hoping to have the opportunity to tell Katy about Yvette’s intrusion before he had to admit to it, like it’d look like he was doing now. After all, he hadn’t been trying to hide it. He’d just been having so much fun with Katy that he hadn’t wanted to spoil the mood yet.
He reached for his phone and looked at it. It was just as he feared. An international number. David stared at the phone while it rang, trying to decide what to do. Should I answer? Let it ring? Toss it out the window?
Katy looked at David curiously. “Don’t you want to talk to Mia?”
Yeah, that’s what I thought, too. Before I got disappointed. “I’m not sure it’s Mia. I need to tell you something.”
But Katy shook her head, perhaps not understanding him. “David, I recognize that number. It is Mia. Answer it.”
So then maybe the second number from earlier had been Mia, and not Yvette calling from another number. He didn’t want to answer Yvette’s call before he could tell Katy about their earlier conversation, but he also didn’t want to miss a call with more information about his parents. Taking a breath, David answered before the caller could hang up. Here goes nothing.
“Hello?” David asked, and winced to himself when his voice came out much more anxious than he meant it to.
“Señor Rosen, is this a bad time?”
David exhaled in relief. “Mia.” He put the phone on speaker.
“I tried calling earlier,” Mia went on.
David was quiet. He still needed to tell Katy about Yvette, just so there’d be no secrets between them. But he wasn’t going to do it with Mia on the phone. She went on.
“I don’t have much more, Señor, but I do have a small lead that I wanted to share. A more specific location.”
So this call, too, was about Marcos. David’s father.
“My colleague in Brazil knows your paternal grandfather. He lives in Salvador on the Atlantic coast of Bahia.”
Bahia, Brazil. I wonder how soon I could go.
“But I must warn you, Señor,” Mia went on. A small frown spread over David’s face. Warn me? “The Morenos in Bahia might be involved in crime. I couldn’t find any legitimate business for them, and their declared tax statements and revenues look fraudulent.”
David felt his heartrate accelerate. “What does that mean?”
“It means I need to do more research. I don’t know if your father is in Bahia now, but it looks like he has family there. Which means you do, too. And that’s a start.”
David stared at the phone screen. “Thank you, Mia,” he managed.
“Señor,” Mia said in farewell. Then the line went dead.
“Bahia, Brazil,” Katy repeated. “Wow. How are you feeling?”
David didn’t answer. His mind was already racing three steps ahead. Instead, he hopped off the bed. “Can I use your laptop?”
“Of course,” Katy answered.
David was on the laptop before she’d even finished answering. He pulled up a browser and searched for Bahia.
“Damn,” he said aloud. Salvador wasn’t some tiny part of Brazil. It was the capital of Bahia: a huge city with millions of people. There was no way David could just go traipsing down and expect to find his family with no other clues.
Katy appeared over his shoulder. “What did you find out?”
“It’s too big to go in blind,” David replied, running his hand through his hair semi-consciously. “I need more information.” He sighed, staring at the laptop. Pictures of Bahia were on the screen, showing him tourist attractions like pristine oceanside resorts and historic lighthouses. But beneath all of the whitewashed touristy photos and hotel links, David spied a news article.
“Homicide in Salvador Up More Than 20%”
“Are you going down there?” Katy asked.
David turned to look at her. “Well, of course,” he replied. What else would he do with this information? He wanted to meet his family, not just learn their names. “As soon as Mia can give me something more specific.”
Katy glanced at the computer screen, and David wondered if she was looking at the same article headline that he had seen.
“But . . . what if it’s dangerous?”
“Every big city has violence,” he pointed out. “It doesn’t mean nobody should go there.” And going to find my father . . . well, it would be worth the risk.
“That’s true,” Katy replied with a sigh, looking away. “But what about school? It’s not like you can just ditch all your classes and fly to Brazil on a whim.”
David sighed. As much as he itched to drop everything and follow the leads Mia sent him, that was a better point. He’d spent so much time and effort trying to polish his internship application to perfection. He was doing so well in classes. And he had midterms coming up.
“Well, I don’t want to mess anything up here at Harvard,” he replied slowly. As much as I want to get down there already. “I’ll just have to find a way to get to Brazil that doesn’t hurt my academic record.”
Katy seemed to sense his impatience. “Hey. Maybe, if we find out more before spring break, you could go then? If you want, I could go with you!”
David turned from the computer to look closely at her. She looked serious, thoughtful . . . supportive. A rush of warmth suffused his core. “Really? But what about your parents?”
Katy shrugged. “I know that this is really big for you—and I want to be there. I can always plan a short visit to see Mama and Papa over the summer. Besides, if it’s going to be dangerous, I should probably be there to protect my prince charming.”
David chuckled a bit at her joke, but he was distracted from it by the appreciation and love that overwhelmed his heart. He couldn’t believe that Katy had done so much for him and was still willing to do more. He’d never had that kind of support.
And speaking of that . . .
It was time to get this off his chest. “Katy, I want to tell you something.”
She stared patiently, looking relaxed yet inquisitive, while he mustered the courage to go on. He knew Katy would be reasonable and understanding. But he couldn’t help but feel guilty that he even had to bring it up.
“Remember the French woman I told you about? Yvette? Well, she reached out to me. Got my email address and sent me a message. I just deleted it. But she got my number somehow and called me today. I told her to buzz off. But I wanted to tell you.”
Katy nodded in understanding, though David thought there might be a hint of pain in her expression, too.
“Thank you for telling me, David,” Katy replied. “It’s kind of tough to hear that people are willing to go so far now that you’re famous, but . . . You know I trust you, right?”
“That’s not all, though. She can be pretty”—David struggled to find a word that encompassed all of Yvette’s venom—“vindictive. She might try something again. With me, or even . . . with you.”
Katy furrowed her brow. “Something like what?”
“I don’t kno
w. If she finds your number like she found mine, she could call you and try to . . . well, I’m not sure what she’d do. Try to get between us somehow. I just want you to know in case she tries anything,” David finished. Anxiously, he awaited Katy’s response.
“You really think she’d try to mess things up for you like that? After so long?” Katy pressed.
David looked down. “She wasn’t a very nice person.”
But Katy placed a reassuring hand on David’s shoulder. And when he turned to look at her, he was surprised to see that she was wearing a little grin.
“Doesn’t sound like you have very good taste in women,” she replied.
David laughed in relief at Katy’s response. “It’s gotten better.”
13
Katy
“I know you’re going to do great on that paper,” David said as he gathered his things to leave. “But don’t put it off for too long.” He winked, stirring something carnal in Katy.
She rolled her eyes playfully. “Thanks, Professor. I think I’ll be okay.”
“Hmm, that has a nice ring to it,” David mused, lingering in the doorway and looking down at Katy. “Professor Rosen. Say, maybe you could earn some extra credit for my class, Miss Katy.”
“Don’t you have classwork to attend to?”
David grinned. “Unfortunately.” He bent down to kiss Katy goodbye and then disappeared down the hallway. Katy watched him go longingly, wishing she had more time for fun. But her paper wasn’t done yet, and she had other readings to attend to on top of that.
Unfortunately indeed.
She sat down in her desk chair and then turned back to the computer screen. David had left the laptop up, reminding Katy of the strange and exciting news they had just heard. Bahia looked like a beautiful part of Brazil with a vibrant culture. Salvador, in particular, looked lovely. But Katy found herself feeling . . . well, reticent. It also looked like a dangerous place for some of its residents. What if David stumbled into a bad neighborhood? What if David’s family was in the bad neighborhood?
Or what if David’s family was the bad part of the neighborhood?
Katy felt bad for even thinking that. But Mia was not one to mince words. And she was very good at her job. If she thought that David’s paternal family was involved in an illegitimate business, then Katy had reason to believe her.
What was an illegitimate business, anyway? The mafia? A crime ring? Katy didn’t even want to consider it too deeply.
Given the suddenness of the news, David was taking everything quite well, but she imagined that it must still be somewhat nerve-inducing and strange for him. It certainly would be for her. Katy was privileged in so many ways, but one advantage that she perhaps had never properly appreciated was that she knew exactly where she came from. In fact, Katy had a professional-grade genealogy that went back hundreds of years, documented by historians and geneticists alike. She knew her mother and father and had grown up with them all her life. She knew who she was, even if she didn’t always feel like the label fit.
What must it be like for David, whose own origins were a mystery?
She closed the browser and found herself facing her Comparative Lit paper again, trying to re-focus. Ugh. If I wasn’t excited about doing this before, I’m definitely not in the mood for it now. Katy stared blankly at the screen. The paper was mostly finished. She just wanted it to be perfect before she turned it in through the online portal, which meant it probably needed at least one more read-through and some honest edits. Katy started reading from the top.
By the second sentence, she realized that she didn’t have it in her at the moment. She could stare at the words on the page all she liked, but they felt meaningless to her, like a whole different language. She had too much on her mind at the moment.
When she walked downstairs in a daze, Cassie was preparing herself dinner in the kitchen.
“Want some ramen?” her cousin asked as Katy walked in and sat at the bar. “I decided to switch it up a little, so I added a spoon of fresh tamarind and some spring onion.” Cassie proudly held out her bowl for Katy to peer into. Then she grabbed her chopsticks and began to pull up a long, dripping bite.
“I see you’re sticking to a traditional college diet,” Katy quipped.
Cassie slurped up her noodles and began to wrap another bite around her chopsticks. “It’s definitely not Lorrellian cuisine, but I manage.”
Katy chuckled and then rested her chin in her hands, staring straight ahead and zoning out a bit. She couldn’t stop thinking of Bahia and David’s father. And her offer, of course.
Were they about to go to Brazil together? Would Mia find out more before spring break?
“Hey. Everything okay?” Cassie asked.
Katy shrugged. “Yeah. Everything’s fine.”
But Cassie knew Katy too well. She set her bowl down. “Do you want to talk about it?”
Katy smiled. “Guess I’m an open book.”
“Well, we have been best friends for almost two decades,” Cassie replied with a wink. “Is it about David?”
Katy didn’t feel comfortable talking to Cassie about David’s private details. She glossed over it. “He might need to go out of town for spring break. And I might go with him.”
Cassie’s mouth dropped open. “And not come back to Lorria? I thought we had plans.”
Ugh. I forgot. “Oh, Cass. You’re right. Well, nothing is set in stone yet. I might still come back home for the break.”
Cassie nodded, looking like she was nursing a wound. “I don’t want to guilt you or anything. But I was really looking forward to it. And with my parents canceling all the time and all . . .”
Katy grimaced. Cassie probably thinks I constantly put her on the backburner for David. And that’s not fair to her. “I don’t know yet, so let’s not worry about it. I want to visit home, too. Maybe it’ll still work out that way.”
But Cassie didn’t seem comforted. She turned back to her noodles somewhat despondently. “I just miss hanging out with you is all.”
“Well, why don’t we watch a movie or something? Have another girls’ night?” Katy suggested.
Cassie’s face lit up in excitement. “Yes! Tonight! I need a break from studying anyway.”
“Oh,” Katy said slowly. “Well, I have to finish my paper for Bissenhof tonight. It has a midnight deadline. But tomorrow?”
Cassie rolled her eyes playfully. “You still have a few hours. And I know you’re almost done with it anyway. Come on, we can watch something short. Come on. Please?”
Katy sighed. But honestly, she didn’t have any desire to work on her paper. Not after slaving over it fruitlessly for the past few hours. Maybe this way she’d at least be able to return to it with a fresh perspective.
“Okay,” Katy relented. “But I only have a couple of hours, and then I have to get back to work.”
Cassie grinned. “Deal.”
* * *
Katy came to groggily. The sun was peeking through the window blinds in their spacious living room, reflecting off of little specks of airborne dust and turning them into glitter.
She stretched and got her bearings. I must’ve fallen asleep on the couch last night. She sat up and stretched. To her right, Cassie was still sleeping. Her cousin snored loudly, one hand still resting in her now-stale tub of buttered popcorn. Katy chuckled to herself at the sight. They must’ve fallen asleep during the movie.
But then the memory from the day before hit her. The call from Mia. The possibility of going to Bahia for spring break. The guilt-tripping from Cassie.
Oh, wow. It’s almost nine in the morning. If I had slept any later, I might have missed . . .
Katy sat bolt upright, feeling a chill spread through her entire body.
Professor Bissenhof. The paper. The deadline!
She hadn’t turned in her paper. Despite writing it far in advance and all of the warnings from Bissenhof about the implausibility of passing his class without this paper, she had missed the
deadline anyway! Her professor’s words rang in her head: “I don’t accept late papers.”
Katy could’ve cried. Instead, she jumped up and ran upstairs to her room. She wasn’t going to start crying yet. Not until she had at least tried to turn the paper in.
She fired up her laptop, her fingers frantically tapping at the keys. She had wanted to do a final edit on the paper, but there definitely wasn’t time for that now. And if I had just turned it in when I finished it, I wouldn’t be in this mess!
Katy saved the file and then hit print. Her desktop printer whirred to life, spitting out a fresh copy. She snatched it and raced out of her bedroom, not bothering to change clothes or brush her teeth. As she threw her boots on at the door and crashed out of the house, she heard Cassie, half-asleep still, calling groggily out after her, “Katy, where are you going?”
As Katy raced down the sidewalk, she cursed herself. I should’ve said no to the movie. I should’ve stood up and gone upstairs when I realized that I was getting tired. I should’ve turned in the paper when I finished the first draft!
She knew that she only had herself to blame, even if hearing big news with David and being guilted by Cassie had contributed to the end result. And that made her feel even worse.
Katy tore through the Old Yard, not caring who saw or what they would think, and raced up the steps to Bissenhof’s building. She knew that he would be in office hours right now, and she prayed that somehow, she’d be able to convince him to accept the paper. She had never failed a class before. She didn’t want to start now.
Katy raced up three flights of stairs until she got to Bissenhof’s office. She rapped on the door and tried to catch her breath.
“Come in!”
Katy fumbled with the knob, trying to steady her breathing. Though maybe if he knows how fast I just ran to get here, I’ll have a better chance convincing him . . . ugh. She opened the door.
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