Chapter Thirteen #2
Valentina looks me up and down, framing my body with her hands, pretending that she’s taking a photo. I decided to wear a bright yellow Chanel bikini top with high-waisted bottoms I borrowed from Maria, worn under my hiking shorts.
“No. I have no idea what the hell I’m doing. I am fully in freak-out mode right now.”
“You’ve got this, Valdes. It’s just like standing on a board. Except you’re on top of the water. And said water is probably freezing like it was earlier this morning.”
“Great,” I take a deep breath. “Okay. I can do this. This is fine. Right? I’ve got this.” I pause, then add, “But if I fall in, I’m dragging you with me.”
Valentina gives me two enthusiastic thumbs up, and I can’t help but smile, though I avoid meeting her eyes.
Ever since she said those words—“maybe I do see myself with someone else”—I’ve been thrown completely off balance.
I keep replaying it in my head, wondering if I misheard her, but the way she looked at me makes me think otherwise.
My nerves feel as if they’re buzzing just under my skin.
It’s not just the paddleboarding I’m nervous about—it’s her.
Every time she’s close, my heart races and my palms sweat.
I’m sure she can sense it, but part of me hopes she can’t.
I’ve been avoiding her gaze, worried that she might see through me, that she’ll catch on to how much her words have unraveled me.
* * *
“Hey, everyone,” Sofia begins. “Welcome to our Jack & Jill Bachelorette Party Shindig Extravaganza—okay, I don’t have a cute name for it.”
A few guests laugh, mostly her bridesmaids.
“First of all, I want to thank you all so much for joining me. I know it’s going to be a tiring but also a super fun day. Okay, Daniel—it’s all you.”
“Thanks, babe! Morning, friends! So, the first activity on today’s schedule is paddleboarding. We’ll be grabbing our boards and paddles and launching from the beachy part of the lake where the Adirondack chairs are.”
He points across the camp, making me wonder why they’d set up the boards over here if we would have to carry them so far.
“After a few hours of paddleboarding and relaxing on the lake, I’ll rally everyone up, and we’ll move on to river tubing. I’ll give more instructions when we reach that point, so don’t fret. After that, we’ll finish the night with a campfire and s’mores! Sound good?”
Everyone cheers.
“Sorry, I can’t hear you. This is Sofia and Luciano’s wedding. We just got cashmere scarves in our wedding-favor bags this morning. Can I get a little bit more energy?”
The men start whooping loudly, pumping their fists in the air like a pack of wild wolves. The girls scream at the top of their lungs with woos and ahhs.
“That’s more like it! Follow me!”
As we are about to head out with the group, Valentina nudges me in the ribs.
“What?”
“Did you forget already? We need to find the next clue.”
“Oh! You’re right. I can’t believe I forgot. I guess I’m just so excited about today. The real camping experience I’ve been looking forward to all week. All right, let’s look for the next clue.”
I rush over to my bag and pull out the journal, placing it on one of the picnic tables.
Silvana sneers. “Are you two coming?”
“Yeah, Silv. A little later. Just go on ahead,” Valentina replies blandly.
Silvana scoffs and keeps walking. I can’t help but feel smug.
I flip through the pages slowly until I feel something strange on my finger. I immediately pull my hand out and step away from the book.
“What happened?”
“There’s something in there,” I whisper in horror. “It touched me. It was hairy.”
“What?” Valentina chuckles.
“Check for me, please?” I beg, feeling completely freaked out.
“Seriously?” She laughs. “All right, fine.”
She reaches through the pages until she finds the page with the furry creature inside. She turns to the page. There’s a lock of hair taped to one of the pages.
She smirks. “I found the monster.”
“Shut up,” I whine. “It felt weird.”
I step closer to inspect it further. There’s writing above it in Spanish.
“First haircut, 2001,” I read.
“Is this your hair?”
I look closer at the hair. It’s pin-straight and brown.
“Have you seen my hair?”
I hold up a few strands, showcasing the tight tendrils from my thick head of hair.
“What about your mom?”
“She also has curly hair, and wouldn’t it be weird if he kept a lock of her hair?”
“Maybe.” Valentina pauses. “Unless it was her first haircut since moving to the country. That would be a cute memento.”
“You’re probably right, but it’s not her hair either. But it could be either a child’s or a woman’s hair from when they came to the country.”
“So if it’s a woman’s hair, a lover, if you will—”
“I will not,” I insist.
“—then it could be either Mariposa, Maritza, or Rosita. We’ve already ruled out your mom. So Rosita or Maritza.”
“Or someone we don’t even know,” I note.
“Correct, but unlikely. We’re Latino. We know everyone in the New Jersey area. I doubt he was having an affair with some random person and kept a lock of their hair in his journal for years.”
“Okay, fair,” I say. “If it’s a child’s hair, it’s either from me, Silvana, or Sofia.”
“What about Maria, Yolanda, and Araceli?”
I shake my head. “They were already older by then. Like, practically teenagers. The note about it being the first haircut? That’s obviously the kind of thing you say about a toddler or a little kid.
And the hair is so fine—like baby hair. Plus Silvana and Sofia are both the closest to my age.
It wouldn’t make sense for it to belong to an older cousin. ”
“That makes sense,” Valentina says.
“And we know it’s not me,” I add. “I have baby pictures of me with hair so curly I looked like a little grandma with a perm. So it’s Silvana or Sofia. But why?”
“That’s the second thing we’d need to find out. For now, let’s try and find out who it belongs to and get this dreadful activity-filled day over with.”
I stuff the lock of hair into my bra, making Valentina chuckle. We grab our boards and join the group.
“How cold do you think that water is?” I ask, remembering the scene from Titanic.
“Probably the same as a few hours ago,” Valentina says.
“Morning, prima,” Sofia says. She and Luciano wave as we approach them.
She looks so effortlessly bridal in her white one-piece and matching cover-up. Luciano looks like a Greek statue come to life. If you looked up the definition of a power couple, I’m almost entirely sure it would just be a photo of Sofia and Luciano wearing these outfits.
“Hey! Paddleboarding, huh?”
“Yeah! This will be fun,” Sofia says, beaming.
“Have you ever done it?” I asked.
“Would you be shocked if I said no? I was too scared to do it with the other campers when I was younger, so I’d sit it out. I always wanted to, though. Have you?”
“I’ve done it once or twice, actually,” I lie.
The second the words come out of my mouth, I instantly regret it. I can’t stop it—like word vomit.
Now I have to show off any skill I learned from the videos I watched the day before and this morning, prepping for this specific excursion.
Luciano can’t see me as a liar. I mean, any more than I already have been to everyone here.
Valentina looks over at me and raises an eyebrow.
Crap. She definitely knows I can’t paddleboard.
“I’m not very good, though,” I blurt, trying to save myself.
Sofia grins. “I’m sure you’re great.”
“Yeah, Isa. I bet you’re practically an expert,” Valentina adds, grinning mischievously at me.
She is thoroughly enjoying this train wreck.
“Well, maybe you can teach Luciano and me a few things?” Sofia insists.
“She already promised to teach me,” Valentina chimes in and winks at Sofia.
“Oh. I see! Well, I’d still like to join. It’s been a while since I’ve had some cousin time with Isa.”
She was right. It has been years. The last time I was in the same place as these two was at our quinceanera, and, well, we all know what happened.
Ever since our moms had that falling-out, we’ve kept our distance, whether we wanted to or not.
Being back here now, with both of them, feels like stepping into a past I thought was long gone.
Since I arrived at camp, I felt as if I was invited out of pity, thanks to Maria.
It didn’t even occur to me that Sofia might actually want to spend some time with me.
I feel the pressure to impress her, but there’s also this nagging desire to just have fun, like we did when we were kids—staying up all night, watching movies, and eating way too much pizza.
After Daniel gives us thorough instructions, we rush toward the lake with our boards, our toes digging into the sand the camp placed at the edge of the shoreline to mimic a beach.
The water is freezing. The sensation shoots through my spine like a jolt of electricity, and my stomach immediately sucks in.
I try not to show it. We place our boards on the top of the water and climb on.
Daniel instructed us that we could stay on our knees or stand up and use the boards traditionally, but I start on my knees since I am still unbelievably terrified.
I hope I am doing a good job of hiding that fact.
Valentina gets on her board almost effortlessly, stands up, and begins paddling around. I roll my eyes. Of course, she can paddleboard. Valentina can do anything.
“Are you ready?” Sofia asks excitedly.
“Let’s do it, prima!” I cheer like a war cry, waving my paddle in the air.