Chapter 31: Once Upon a November

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November 17, one year ago

"I just landed and I'm going to pick up my bag now. I'm in Terminal 3."

The bright-eyed, widely-smiling college student walked quickly down the concourse in the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Her complexion suggested that she spent considerable time outdoors, but the parka she held over one arm stated otherwise. As she finished her call and shoved her cell phone into the back pocket of her jeans, she flipped her hair to the other side of her head and ran a hand through the hair at her crown. Dark curls cascaded over one shoulder and across her back. She'd flown over two thousand miles that afternoon and her hair definitely showed it.

When a car pulled up by the Terminal 3 exit doors, she was greeted enthusiastically by a middle-aged man wearing a Hawaiian shirt, cut-off jeans, and flip flops.

"What, no socks to complete the outfit?" she asked jokingly.

Her father grinned at her. "I knew I was forgetting something."

She groaned.

"Welcome home, sweetie," he said. "I hope you're hungry. I made some of my famous chili for dinner."

The girl sighed happily. "I forgot how much I missed Southwestern food! New England is great and all, but they really don't know how to make Mexican."

As they drove home, she regaled her father with stories about school, telling him all about her classes that semester, her friends' complicated relationship disasters, and that one time Professor MacSuain threw a stapler during lecture.

"Sounds like you've had an exciting semester," her father said as he pulled into the driveway.

"Where's Mamá?" she asked, noticing her mother's car was absent from the garage.

"She had some extra work to do this weekend at the bank. She'll pick up Julie on her way home. Which reminds me of something."

He turned to her with a wicked smile she recognized from her childhood.

"You've got something up your sleeve, haven't you?" Tayja asked, returning his smile with a knowing one.

"How'd you like to get back at your hermanita for that little prank she pulled on you last summer?"

"The prank mi hermanita pulled on me? More like the prank mi papi pulled on me."

His smile lost none of its gleam. "Trivial detail. We still have some leftover decorations from Julie's Halloween party last month. Wouldn't it be satisfying to see the terror on her face when a ghoul jumps out at her in the front hallway?"

"Dad, you're positively malicious. I'm ashamed to be related to you."

"But you'll do it?"

"No!"

He looked disappointed.

"Fine. But I'm not going to scare her, just surprise her. Mom wanted my visit home to be a surprise for Julie, not an opportunity to scare the living daylights out of her."

This seemed to appease him.

"But right now I'm going to put my bags away. You figure out where I should hide."

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