“Most of the river is pretty timid,” Daniel begins. “But this one section gets a little crazy, so be careful going down there. Make sure you unhook from your party, or you’ll all go down together. Now just have fun, and we’ll have a little campfire at the end. I already left the van on the other side so we can easily return. Sound good?”
The group collectively cheers.
“What the hell is this, Sof?” Silvana moans as she looks down at the oversized shirt covering her expensive bathing suit underneath.
“What’s the problem?” Valentina asks.
Silvana’s face flushes.
“Nothing. I just think it’s…different than what I expected.”
“It’s just Valentina messing with me,” Sofia laughs. “It’s funny!”
Sofia puts on the penis hat and drinks her spiked tea through one of the straws. Valentina snaps a selfie with her. I feel a pang of envy inside my gut. Based on her grimace, I’m sure Silvana feels the same way right now.
Silvana grabs her tube and walks over to the other bridesmaids.
“We should hook together. The three of us,” Sofia exclaims excitedly.
“That’s a great idea! The Three Amigos!” I add.
I grab one of the already-inflated tubes and hand it over to Valentina. Sofia grabs herself one and hands me another. We dock our floats near the shoreline and walk back near the group. Everyone is either applying sunscreen, taking selfies, grabbing some last-minute drinks, or waiting for more instructions. Valentina leaves for the snack station to grab two more iced teas. I walk over to my bag and pull out Roberto’s journal while Sofia’s distracted by her bridal party. It’s weird seeing her in a normal, albeit ridiculous, shirt. She almost looks like an average person who doesn’t have a ton of money. It’s kind of nice. Like we could actually be related or something.
I flip through the pages, passing all the delicious recipes, random journal entries about his day, photos of me as a kid, and one picture of my mother holding me. Nothing is sticking out to me. I turn the page once more and find a phone number written in the book. It’s his handwriting, for sure, so it’s not someone else who wrote it. There’s a star scribbled on each side of the number.
“I got our drinks.”
“Sh,” I say, pulling Valentina down to the picnic table with me. “Look.”
“A phone number. How intriguing! Should we call it?”
“There’s no way it’s still in service,” I conclude.
“Isa, hasn’t our family had the same numbers for decades? I mean, isn’t your mother’s phone number the same as it has been since you were a baby?”
“Okay, yes,” I admit. “You call, though. I can’t. I’m scared.”
“All right.” She chuckles and pulls out her phone.
I hold my breath, and she presses the numbers and puts her phone against her ear.
“Valentina? Why are you calling me?”
I hear the muffled words spoken, and panic rises in my throat. Valentina knows the person. Maybe she’s been hiding something from me this entire time. Have I been trusting the wrong person with this information? Has she been leading me astray this whole time?
Valentina, confused, looks down at her phone, and her eyes widen.
“Oh, hi, Maritza! It was an accident, sorry.”
She quickly hangs up and stares at her phone.
“I didn’t even notice that the number was already saved on my phone when I dialed it. It’s your aunt Maritza’s number.”
I stare at her phone, trying to process this information. Why is her number in my father’s journal? Why is it labeled as “important?” What am I missing here?
“Do you think—”
“That my father was in love with Maritza? Maybe they had a secret love affair? God, I fucking hope not. I’m going to investigate a little bit.”
