“Temper, temper,” Lion chided, following Rafe into the room.
“And such language,” Khalil added.
As if Rafe cared. The two of them might be in a good mood but his mood was just as sour as it had been the day before. He threw himself back onto the bed and dragged the sheet over his head. Khalil and Lion had better entertain their own damn selves.
“Rafe, do you know what time it is?” It was Lion again, this time in an annoying singsong voice. “You may think it’s still morning,” he said, “but lunchtime is long gone.”
His head still under the covers, Rafe frowned. Lunchtime? Had he slept that long?
“And we have good news,” Lion continued. “Tell him, Khalil.”
That caught Rafe’s interest. He pulled down the covers and peered at his grinning friends. “Tell me what?”
Khalil cleared his throat then sat forward in the sofa he’d been lounging on. “We have the perfect solution to your Anya Petersen dilemma,” he said, his tone smug. “We did some investigation and found out that she does volunteer work with a seniors’ group and she’ll be meeting at a center not far from here.” He paused as if for effect. “This very evening.”
Rafe’s eyes narrowed. “So? How does that help me?”
“Don’t you see?” Lion piped up. “You don’t have to wait till she’s back at school. You can go meet her at the center.”
Rafe sat up in the bed, the possibility of seeing Anya that evening making his heart pick up pace. But then, as he thought about it, his eyes narrowed. “So you want me to come off like some kind of stalker?”
“No, man. We would never set you up like that.” Khalil looked at Rafe like he should have known better. “We already talked to the little lady. She’s expecting you.”
“You talked…huh?” Now Rafe was really confused. “First of all, how the heck did you find her to talk to her and second, what in God’s name did you say that would convince her to see me?”
“We have our ways,” Khalil said. “Never underestimate the power of the internet.”
Rafe’s brows fell. “You did an internet search?”
“Yep. I did a search on Miss Anya Petersen and found her on Linked In. I found a couple of articles about her, too. Apparently she’s big on volunteer work in Bremen.”
“Okay,” Rafe said slowly, “but how did you find her? You said you talked to her, right?”
“He called the seniors’ center featured in the article,” Lion said, “and they were so nice they gave him her number. Can you believe it?”
“No, I can’t.” Rafe shook his head. “That’s a breach of personal privacy by anybody’s standards. Why the heck would they do that?”
Lion shrugged. “Maybe because Khalil put on a fake accent and pretended to be Anya’s brother from America.”
“She doesn’t have a brother,” Rafe said, exasperated.
Khalil lifted an eyebrow and gave him a crooked grin. “I guess the sweet old lady I spoke to didn’t know that. She was so nice. And she spoke pretty good English, too.”
Rafe bit down on his lip. He wasn’t liking the sound of this. According to his friends they’d gotten him a second chance with Anya but they’d done it through deceit. How would she react when she found out? Or maybe she’d figured it out already? And what would that mean? That, although she stormed off, she really wanted to see him so it didn’t matter? Rafe didn’t know what to think.
“Anyway, it doesn’t matter how we found her,” Khalil continued. “The important thing is that she’s expecting you at the center this evening, right after her session with the seniors.” With that he got up, rubbing his hands together, looking satisfied. “Well, my work here is done. You’re leaving at six o’clock, Rafe. I’ll come get you. Don’t be late.”
He sauntered out of the room with Lion in tow, leaving Rafe wondering if they’d just done him a huge favor or if they’d screwed up his chances with Anya for good. The problem was, the only way he could find out was to go to this little ‘meeting’ they’d arranged. If Anya turned around and slammed him for showing up he would kill them.
That plan resolved in his mind, Rafe got out of bed and headed for the bathroom. Half the day was already gone. Now it was time to get cracking and get productive. There were tons of things sitting on his laptop, waiting to get done and he was never one to shirk his responsibilities, no matter what his big brother thought.
Hours later, after a late lunch he'd gobbled down in his room, Rafe was still busy on the laptop when there was a knock on his door. It was Khalil again but this time there was no Lion playing shadow.
“It’s almost time to go,” he said. “Just reminding you to get yourself ready.”
“I’m ready,” Rafe said. “I’m just finishing up some work then I’ll be good to go.”
“Cool. I wrote down the address for you.” Khalil walked over and deposited a small piece of paper on the night table. “So do you want me to come or you’re good?”
“I’m good. Why would I need you to come with me?”
“I don’t know. Moral support or something like that.” Khalil shrugged. “I just want to make sure things work out all right this time. Of all the girls you’ve met on this trip I can see you really like this one.”
“Yeah, I do,” Rafe said, “so no more talk about all the girls I’ve met. That kind of talk already got me in enough trouble.”
“Right. I’ll keep that under wraps.” And with that Khalil gave him a quick nod and exited the room, leaving Rafe to his preparations.
Immediately, he got up from the table where he’d been working, picked up the paper Khalil left and stuffed it into his pocket. Then he got the keys to the rented car.
As he walked out the door he could only hope that things would take a turn for the better.
***
“A little lower, Edith. Like this.” Anya made a pointy elbow and jerked her arm back. “With force. Give it everything you’ve got.”
The elderly woman copied her move, jabbing backwards with her elbow. “Ja, I have it now, Anya,” she said with a satisfied laugh.
“Good job.” Anya smiled back at her, pleased she was showing progress, then she moved on to the next person in line. “Ready, Magda?”