I shook myself, trying to act normal before she caught on. “Everything’s fine. It’s been great so far, actually. This place is amazing,” I said, running my hands over my hair, feeling exposed again. “It’s so weird being here as an adult and on my own, because some things feel so familiar. I know I couldn’t possibly remember much from when I was a baby, or even from when I was six and we were here for those few months, you know?” I confessed, genuinely puzzled by the jumble of emotions that had been coursing through me from the moment I stepped off the plane.

“I bet,” Luce said, still looking at me like she wasn’t sure how to read my mood. “It’s got to be wild in many ways, and sad in others. Especially because your mom always speaks of her times there like they were the best years of her life. It’s sad that she doesn’t feel up for a visit while you’re there. Speaking of which, have you called her?” She gave me a pointed look, like she already knew the answer.

“I haven’t,” I said, hanging my head. “I will first thing tomorrow, though! I need to be in the right frame of mind. You know how she is. She gets so worked up and cries and shit. I’m not ready for all that yet.”

She put her hands up. “Hey, I get it. I’ve got two Dominicans on my ass with the guilt trip every time we talk.” she said it, raising two fingers up to the screen. “I don’t blame you.”

I laughed at the exasperation on her face, like her parents hadn’t been like that her entire life.

“You must be a ball of feelings, sweetie, but I’m glad you’re liking it. Tell me about the people. Have you met anyone cool? Is the coffee beyond?”

I swooned, already fantasizing about the macchiato I was getting as soon as I ended the call. “Oh man, the coffee really is amazing. I may have to start setting down hard and fast rules around amount consumed per day, because at this rate I may permanently injure myself with caffeine.” She rolled her eyes at my strung-out expression.

I took a moment before answering her second question, thinking of how to proceed. “I haven’t met that many people yet. Just the woman who’ll be my boss, and she’s really cool. The co-worker I rode down with today is pretty nice.” I coughed, averting my eyes. “Very interesting.”

She smiled, completely innocent to my extremely bad choices. “How is he interesting?”