Toni rolled her eyes. “Girl, please. If I hadn’t come, I wouldn’t have done anything besides wash some more clothes and eat that last microwave dinner at the back of my freezer. But this way, I get to have a good old gross and greasy American hamburger to welcome me home, I get your hermit ass out of the house, and this margarita is about to put me straight to sleep.”

Deja lowered into her chair with a smile. “You always have a plan.”

“It’s my superpower,” Toni said with a cheeky smile and a long sip of her drink. “Now, let’s get down to business.”

Deja’s hands froze over the menu in front of her. She felt the icy dread that often overtook her when the chair of her department just happened to “drop by” her office to “see how she was doing,” which Deja always understood to mean that he was making sure Deja was being productive. The thought that Toni was about to ask her about the exact word count of her writing over break terrified her, even though she’d submitted the article to the Journal of Comparative Sociology barely forty-eight hours ago. That one article submission wasn’t enough. She knew it, but she didn’t want Toni to tell her that for real. She also didn’t want Toni to ask her how many books and articles she’d read or if she’d even started working on her syllabi for the upcoming semester, because Deja knew that no matter her answer, it would never be enough.

She stopped breathing as Toni pinned her with a laser stare.

Toni’s lips curved into a Cheshire cat smile as the words spilled from her mouth. “You talked to Alejandro during the break?”

Deja hadn’t expected that question, and she hadn’t expected that just hearing his name would affect her. She felt as if she was still wrapped up in her coat and scarf and dabbed at her forehead, certain she was sweating. She tucked her chin against her chest to hide her smile, and the instinctive move was the only answer Toni needed.

“Aw yes, bitch! Somebody’s got a man!” Toni leaned toward her over the table. “Please tell me his ass is as good naked as it looks in his suits.”

“Toni!” Deja shrieked.

“What? Oh, you must have it bad. You spent all last spring semester staring at that man’s booty, but now, it’s too scandalous?” she teased. “That means it’s even better naked. Ugh, I knew it.” She took a long sip of her margarita.

“Shut up,” Deja giggled.

“Mmmmhmm. Thought so.”

Twenty

Week Six

Classes started in four days.