But Katy was surprised by David’s silence and obvious upset. It didn’t seem like him at all; even through all the incidents they’d dealt with so far, he’d been able to remain cheerful and optimistic.
“How did things go with Bell?” she asked after a few minutes of silence. She had been so caught up in telling David about the photographer that she hadn’t thought to ask yet. But now, as they walked through the dewy morning light in the park, she wanted to check up on him.
David paused before answering, as if he was considering his response. “I, uh . . . I’m still thinking it through,” he said cryptically. “But, if you don’t mind, could we talk about it after all this? It’s not as important, not really.”
Something about his tone gave Katy the impression that he didn’t want to answer any more questions on the subject. Which seemed odd, since he hadn’t explained why Bell wanted to see him in the first place. But she respected his choice. When he needed to talk about it, she would be there.
They walked for a bit longer in a charged silence until David changed the subject.
“So do you believe this Marty guy?” he asked. “I mean, do you think he’s telling the truth about the memory card?”
Katy shook her head in uncertainty. “I don’t know. But if he still has the files, I don’t see why he would’ve even bothered calling in the first place. He could already have them sold.”
“I didn’t see anything get left behind when we fought,” David replied. “But it was dark, and memory cards are small. So maybe we’ll find it.”
But his voice didn’t sound hopeful. The change from his usual comforting tone just made the whole situation feel worse.
When they made it to the meadow, all that remained of their romantic evening were a few left-behind strawberries and an impression in the grass where the blanket had been. Standing there at the site where things had briefly felt so perfect, Katy was filled with anxiety and shame, the sudden terror of the flashbulbs lighting up the night shocking through her stomach all over again.
She squeezed her eyes shut and willed the memories away. They had more important things to tend to now. But David noticed her discomfort and, true to form, soon he was next to her, his arms wrapping around her, comforting her gently. Katy breathed out and allowed herself to lean into him briefly.
“We’ll get through this, Katy. No matter what,” he said, his mouth near her ear. “And don’t let this put you off picnics entirely. I make a mean pasta salad.”
Katy chuckled as David kissed her head and then pulled away, heading to where he must’ve been when he and the photographer collided. He knelt down as Katy walked up behind him. David’s fingers moved through the grass until he found something. As he pulled it up to show Katy, her heart fluttered with excitement. The memory card?
But it was merely a piece of black plastic.
“From the camera,” David clarified. “It must’ve been right here.”
Katy dropped to her knees beside David and began to search the ground. If they were going to find the memory card, it would be right here. And if they found it, the nightmare could finally end. Things could go back to normal. Katy and David could resume their romance and pretend like nothing had ever happened.
If.
22
David
“It’s not here.”
David had come to the unfortunate conclusion some time ago, but he hadn’t wanted to say anything until he was completely sure. He and Katy had searched a huge portion of the meadow, from the place where the camera broke to various possible escape routes the photographer could have taken, in case it had fallen as he walked away. But they had found nothing but occasional pieces of black plastic.
The memory card was gone.
Looking over at Katy—who hadn’t yet responded, still poking through the grass—David felt a rush of sympathy and regret. She was so close to feeling assured that the photos would never be published. She had probably felt so much hope during their walk over and the early parts of their search. But over the past half an hour, David had watched that hope drain out of her. It was painful to witness.
And to top it off, you haven’t even delivered the rest of the bad news.
David didn’t want to lie about his experience with Bell. He wanted to be honest with Katy, to express his anxieties and woe. The allegations were still echoing in his mind. The shock and pain were still fresh.
But Katy had so much weighing on her right now. She was already stressed about one massive disappointment; why hand her another so soon? Besides, David wasn’t sure how to phrase what he needed to say. He wasn’t sure he wanted to talk about it at all. Everything he had gone through in the past day still felt like a bad dream that he was going to wake up from.
But he knew better than to pretend none of this had happened. This was how things were going to be now. His internship offer had been rescinded, and they weren’t going to find Marty’s stupid memory card with the photos that by all accounts should be private.
He was feeling, well, kind of bitter about it all at the moment.
Looking at Katy, however, reminded him that he had to stay strong. He had to be there for her, even if he wasn’t feeling particularly optimistic about anything right now. He didn’t want Katy to suffer more than she already had.
After he had taken a few hours to process what happened with Bell, then he’d be able to talk to her about it. He just wasn’t ready yet.
David stood up from where he’d been crouched, dusted grass bits off his knees, and made his way over to Katy. She had her head bowed as she peered intently down, walking over the same path, the grass already worn down by her fervent pacing, searching fruitlessly for a small rectangle of plastic. David set his hand on her shoulder.
“Katy,” he said gently.
She sighed and stopped, looking over at David. “It has to be here somewhere.”
“If it’s here, it’s buried somewhere in the dirt. We’ll never find it.”
“But what if somebody else does?” she asked, her voice fearful, her eyes wide.
David shook his head. “If we couldn’t find it after thirty minutes of searching, then I don’t think anyone is going to stumble upon it by accident.”
Katy looked back down at the ground. David reached forward to gently grab her chin, pointing it up until she was looking at him again.
“It’s going to be okay, Katy. That memory card was either smashed or buried. No one is going to find it.”
Katy’s gray eyes stared up at David, heavy with disappointment and doubt. He leaned forward and rested his forehead against hers. He wanted to take her pain away. He wished he could reset the whole bloody day, go back to a time before the paparazzi, before the cheating allegations, before things had fallen apart so quickly and spectacularly.
But as long as he had Katy, everything was still okay. And he was grateful for that.
Katy pulled back and looked up at him again, this time heaving a deep sigh. “You’re right. We’re not going to find it.”
David couldn’t help but notice that her tone was far from hopeful. “Let’s go back home, Katy. I can make you breakfast, or we can go sit somewhere. I just want to hold you for a while.”
She cracked a tiny smile, though it looked forced, and gazed back in the direction they had come from. “I have a call scheduled with our family lawyer.” She inhaled slowly. “But I’d rather be with you. Can you come over afterward?”
“Of course.” David didn’t have to think about his answer. He would rather not have to leave her at all, but he knew that dealing with the legal side of the issue would be important for Katy and her family. And he’d be able to see her again in only a few hours. “Are you ready to go back?”
Katy took another deep breath and then nodded, her eyes still turned away.
* * *
“Cheating? That’s ridiculous!”
From his desk chair, Zeke was wide-eyed and indignant on David’s behalf. David had caught him studying when he
arrived back at the Wolf Club, and while he appreciated the importance of coursework, he hadn’t been able to hold in the secret any longer. He had to talk to someone about it.
Or he probably would’ve exploded.
David merely shrugged at his roommate’s ire. That was how he felt, too. But what could he do about it now? It sounded as though the appeals process wasn’t viable for this particular application. And what would he have even said in his defense? If it wasn’t for the debacle with the cameraman, David knew that he would’ve been going over and over evidence in his head all day anyway, trying to find ways to prove his innocence.
“What was the evidence against you?” Zeke went on.
“They had an original source that they thought I copied from. I saw it. Some academic blog from a European professor. There were some of my lines in there, word for word! I just don’t understand how it happened. I didn’t cheat. I swear it.”
“Maybe you could reach out to that professor to see if somehow he copied from you. To give you a chance to defend yourself.”
“If somehow that were true, I doubt he’d go confirming it. But the blog was posted the day before my paper was turned in anyway. He has the upper hand,” David replied.
“Email the department. Put in a complaint or something. You shouldn’t lose your internship over baseless claims, David.”
David sighed. “But they don’t look baseless at all. They look ‘airtight,’ like Bonnar said.”
“But David,” Zeke said, his eyes worried, “you know that’s not true.”
Exactly! David shook his head in frustration, the thoughts of resistance still spinning around his brain. Can you really just give it up? The internship you’ve been striving for all this time? He felt shaken, destabilized. Either it was a horrible coincidence that no one would ever believe, or someone had worked deliberately against him.
How could he prove it?
The one thing he knew was, though this worried him, he had to stay strong for Katy. Especially because, at moments like these, it felt like she was the only thing that mattered.
“What did Katy say about it?” Zeke asked, as if sensing where David’s thoughts had wandered.
Another thing to worry about. “I haven’t told her yet.”
Zeke stared at David without speaking, but David knew exactly what he was thinking.
“Look, I know,” David followed up. “I know I need to tell her. I’m just . . .” He swallowed, looking away, not liking putting words to the feeling. “Embarrassed about the whole ordeal. I wish she didn’t have to see me like this. I don’t even know how to say it.”
“Tell her like you told me,” Zeke replied firmly. “Katy knows who you are. She’ll know that this isn’t true. You just have to trust that.”
David nodded, though his eyes stayed focused on the floor in front of him. His friend was right. Even though they hadn’t known each other long, David felt like Katy knew him better than anyone else in the world. Surely she’d know that cheating and lying wasn’t his way.
“When are you going to see her again?” Zeke asked.
David picked up his phone and checked again. Still nothing from Katy. It hadn’t been that long since they had parted ways at her doorstep, but he was already impatient to be with her again. Especially with everything that was currently going on.
“That’s a good question,” David replied, stuffing his phone into his pocket.
“Well, in the meantime, do you want to study for Bell’s midterm with me?”
David sighed. At the moment, he didn’t even want to think about Bell or Harvard. “Actually, I think I’ll take a walk for now. Clear my head,” he replied. Even if clearing his head didn’t seem like a realistic possibility, he needed to get out of his room for a while. He needed to be alone. At least until he could be with Katy.
“Okay, man,” Zeke said. “Just know that I’m here for you if you need me.”
“I appreciate that, mate,” David replied. And he did. He stood and walked to the door.
Outside, even the early signs of spring couldn’t shake the cold feeling that had settled deep inside of him. Just a day ago, everything had been going so well. And now it almost felt like forces were conspiring against him and Katy. How could so many things be going wrong so quickly?
Still, he felt lucky. It seemed likely that the photos themselves would never be published, which would save Katy a great deal of grief and shame. If only they had the memory card itself, he knew that they could both rest easier.
As David walked aimlessly, he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. Finally. He had been waiting for Katy’s call. He pulled his phone out, and right as he was about to answer, he glanced down at the screen. It wasn’t Katy.
Another international number.
Not again. Who is it this time? Mia with bad news? Yvette with more insulting insinuations?
David exhaled, letting the phone continue to ring. He had a mind to just let it go to voicemail. Whoever it was, he really wasn’t in the mood to talk at the moment.
But, in the absence of anything better to do, he couldn’t really see the harm. He answered.
“Hello?”
There was a pause on the other line, a pause so long that David pulled the phone back to make sure the call was still connected. He repeated himself.
“Hello?”
“Yes, is this David?”
David’s breath caught. The accent had surprised him. It sounded . . . Brazilian. But if that was the case then this must be . . .
“Sorry,” the man’s voice clarified. “This is Marcos Moreno. I’m looking for David Rosen.”
“Marcos,” David breathed out, almost involuntarily. He felt his lungs compress from the exertion. He had to steady himself on his feet to keep from falling over. My father. I’m on the phone with my biological father! This can’t be real.
“You must be David,” Marcos replied cheerfully. It is real! “I hope you don’t mind that I got your number and took the initiative to call. But I heard you were looking for me, so I thought perhaps you wouldn’t mind.” His tone was accented but almost aristocratic, and his English was impeccable.
“I’m glad you called,” David said breathlessly. It was unbelievable! “And I, uh,” he sputtered. But he stopped, having no idea what to say next. What do you say when you talk to your long-lost father for the first time? How could David possibly make casual conversation in a situation like this?
“I’m sure this is strange for you. Frankly, it’s weird for me too. I didn’t even know you existed until yesterday . . .” Marcos went on, his voice trailing off.
“How did you find me?” David asked, trying to keep his tone controlled. He could’ve been shouting, for all he knew.
“I have a friend in public records. She said my old marriage license had been requested and provided me with a contact, so I did some digging myself. Spoke to your PI. She was a little reticent to give me your number, but I told her that you were looking for me anyway, so why not let me surprise you?”
David nodded to himself as he worked through the story. It seemed strange that Mia would’ve given out his information, but then again, he couldn’t really complain. Marcos’s reasoning was sound: David was looking for his father. Who cared who called first? Marcos went on.
“But now that I know about you . . . well, you’re at Harvard, right? Massachusetts? Please, come down to Brazil. All expenses paid. How soon can you come?”
David wasn’t sure how to respond. It still didn’t even feel like it was actually happening! How long had he waited for this moment? Decades? Of course he wanted to go meet his father. But with midterms coming up and Katy needing his support here in Cambridge, the timing couldn’t be worse. And everything was coming at him so quickly and unexpectedly. He felt physically dizzy from just the phone call.
“Dad. Um. I mean, Marcos,” David began. It didn’t feel quite right to call him by his first name, but Dad . . . he couldn’t really wrap his brain around it. “I’d love
to.”
He meant that. He couldn’t imagine actually meeting his father after so many years of wondering. But . . . ”I just don’t know when I can come yet.”
“Sure. And I understand,” Marcos said, only a hint of disappointment evident in his voice. “I searched your name online, and I see that you’re a college student. And also that you have a . . . let’s just say, exotic taste in women.”
David smiled. A dad joke. Fitting.
“But we have a lot to talk about, and doing it over the phone doesn’t seem right,” Marcos went on. “So the first chance you get, I hope you’ll take me up on my offer. I want to meet you in person.”
“Of course,” David replied. “The first chance I get.”
“Until then, David.”
After the call ended, David stood frozen for a few long seconds. But once he had collected his thoughts, he knew exactly what he needed to do. He needed to talk to Katy.
23
Katy
“Chin up, Princess,” Katy’s lawyer, Rourke, comforted gently. “With Marty, at least, this documentation is incontestable. He signed, and we’ve already wired the money from the trust. This whole sordid affair will soon be nothing more than an embarrassing memory.”
Somehow, Katy doubted that. Even if the photographer never released those photos, this memory would probably always be a source of pain and shame. It had been an assault on her privacy—not just that, on her bodily autonomy. But as long as the pictures never got press, she could deal with the rest privately.
“Thank you for your help,” Katy said to her lawyer. She ended the call and turned back to her laptop. To pass the time while the lawyer drafted the non-disclosure agreement and copyright transfer, she had typed out a furiously honest email to Marty Elgin. In it, she didn’t hold back even one iota of truth. She’d explained how she’d felt that night, told him what she thought of his morals and ethics, and called him some impressive insults to boot.
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