10

Philadelphia International Airport

David’s father lit up the moment he saw them.

David, on the other hand, instantly went dark. What in the world are they doing here? he privately groaned.

“Hey, over here,” Charlie Harper yelled from across the lounge area, waving them through the crowd that was waiting for the next flight.

Dr. Shirazi raced right over and gave his old friend a bear hug. “You really made it!”

“Are you kidding?” Charlie laughed, slapping his old friend on the back. “Marseille and I wouldn’t have missed this for the world!”

“Yes, thanks for inviting us, Dr. Shirazi,” added the young woman standing beside Charlie.

“Well, you’re very welcome, young lady,” Dr. Shirazi replied. “But I’m sorry—you can’t possibly be Charlie Harper’s little girl.”

She smiled.

“Look at you—you’re lovely. How could you be related to this guy?” Dr. Shirazi joshed, slapping Charlie on the back.

“Obviously I take after my mother,” she quipped.

Dr. Shirazi laughed from his belly as David winced with embarrassment.

“Well, that would explain it,” the doctor chuckled, giving her a hug. “How old are you now?”

“I just turned fifteen in June.”

Azad elbowed David in the ribs and raised his eyebrows. It wasn’t nearly discreet enough for David.

Then Saeed leaned over to his brothers and whispered, “Don’t get ideas, Bro. I saw her first.”

David felt the blood rush to his ears, his neck, and his face. The young woman before them was certainly attractive in her faded blue jeans, cream fisherman knit sweater, and worn tennis shoes, her brown hair pulled back in a black scrunchie. But she was an interloper on a guys-only fishing weekend, and now these two morons were angling for something other than walleye and northern pike.

Dr. Shirazi shook his head. “How long has it been since I’ve seen you all? Five or six years?”

“As a whole family, that’s probably true,” Charlie replied. “I think this one was still in grammar school when you last came for Thanksgiving.”

Dr. Shirazi sighed. “Please, please forgive me for letting so much time go by.”

“Oh, my friend, there’s no need,” Charlie insisted. “Life has been busy for all of us. Besides, you and I got to see each other—what?—a year ago maybe, at that conference in New York, right?”

“That’s right, that’s right; but you’re too kind, Charlie, really. I should be coming to visit you and thank you every year, and bringing my family along too. You and Claire saved us, Charlie. Nasreen and I will never forget it.”

David’s father, lost in another time, suddenly became aware of the group of men and boys observing this whole interaction with confusion.

“Oh, forgive me, guys,” he said. “I need to make some introductions. I’m getting old, my friends. But being the founder and organizer of our illustrious group, I’ve taken the liberty of this surprise. It is a great honor to introduce you to one of my dearest friends in all of the world, Charlie Harper—the man who rescued Nasreen and me out of Iran—and his daughter, Marseille.”

As everyone said hello, shook hands with the two of them, and introduced themselves, David shrank to the back of the huddle. Mortified, he watched Azad and Saeed and the other boys chatting up Marseille—trying to look harmless and friendly but skating dangerously close to shameless flirting. David, meanwhile, found himself battling varying degrees of embarrassment, anger, annoyance, and betrayal, to name just a few of the emotions colliding within him. He’d just been blindsided. This was supposed to be a guys’ trip. It always had been. That’s the way it had always been billed to him. That’s what he had been so looking forward to. And now his father had gone and blown the whole thing.