Isabel laughed, then felt her face warm when she thought of Romero’s sexual appetite. She was glad Valerie was too busy eating to notice her flushed face.

“So how are things with you and Romero? I think that was so sweet of him to take the whole week off to take care of you.”

Isabel nodded in agreement and smiled. “Things are good. We’ve had a few intense moments here and there. And my sister hasn’t exactly helped. But otherwise we’re… good.”

Valerie stopped and stared at her. “But…”

Usually it was Isabel who read Valerie well enough to know something was bothering her. In the last couple of years Valerie had become pretty good at reading Isabel, too. Isabel chewed the corner of her lip. “I dunno. It’s nothing. I’m probably just being silly.”

“You? Please. You’re never silly. What is it?”

Isabel told her about Romero’s run-in with Cici and her ridiculous outburst when he told they’d eaten at Frisco’s.

“I don’t think it’s ridiculous. I would’ve been pissed myself. Personally, I think you let him off easy.”

Isabel picked at her slice of pizza, thinking about it. “Thing is, when I called him on it, saying I guess it’s okay for me to do things with my guy friends he said it wasn’t but Cici was …different. I don’t know what that means.”

Valerie’s eyebrows pinched. “Did you ask him?”

“No, he took it back real quick, saying it wasn’t what I was thinking and at that point I was so pissed and feeling so sick I told him to just leave my room. Then after that, I was so deliriously sick for the next whole week, we never brought it up again.” She continued to pick at her food, her appetite deteriorating by the minute. “That’s not even the worst part about it.” Valerie had stopped eating, giving Isabel her full attention. “He reeked of perfume that night. He said he just hugged her goodbye, but it made me sick to my stomach.”

Valerie touched her hand. “Ask him what he meant. I never heard of him having any serious relationships and I’ve never heard of a Cici. I’ll definitely be asking Alex about it though. Still I wouldn’t let this go and not that I think you shouldn’t trust him, but if it were me, I’d raise an eyebrow the next time he mentions going to the mall.”

After her lunch with Valerie, Isabel ran a few errands. Romero knew she was off and said he’d be home early. She thought of what Valerie said. She wouldn’t even know how to bring up the subject of Cici without making things weird. But she knew one thing, if she didn’t, it would eat away at her.

That evening after they’d eaten, Romero sat in the front room tinkering with the new laptop he’d purchased that day. Isabel finished cleaning up the kitchen then walked into the front room, noticing the bag he’d pulled the laptop out of. MicroTech—the electronic store—at the mall. “So you were at the mall again?”

Romero didn’t even look up. “Yeah, I’ve been there almost every day this week. I finally had Sal meet me there today. I just couldn’t decide what laptop to go with.” He looked up and smiled. “Sal’s too much. He actually brought papers he printed out from the research he’d done, comparing specs between the laptops I told him I was interested in. But he did help me decide.” He turned back to the laptop on the coffee table. “Now I just gotta get all the software uploaded and transfer all my files.”

Flags had immediately gone up at the mention that he’d been there every day this week. This was the first she’d heard him mention it. “So did you see Cici this week?”

Romero looked up at her again and she searched his face for any signs of guilt or alarm. She saw something, but not guilt.

“No, I didn’t.” He held his hand out for her and she took it. He pulled her to him, making her sit and then kissed her. “I hope you’re not still mad about that. I know we never got a chance to talk about it, but honest to God if I had known you’d be that upset about it, I would’ve never gone to lunch with her. And that whole Frisco’s thing.” He winced. “I swear I’m an idiot. I f**ked up. I wasn’t even thinking about that. I’m sorry. I really am.”

Isabel noted how up until the very end he’d been doing pretty good about cleaning up his language. She tried to smile but something still gnawed at her. “What did you mean when you said she’s different?”

Romero sat back and she brought her leg up under her. “I was just curious what her story was. For a long time I blamed myself for not having anticipated that fuc—” He pressed his lips together then cleared his throat. “Her boyfriend slapping her like that. He did it right in front of me.”

“Did you two ever…” She couldn’t even say it—didn’t even want to imagine it.

“No. I told you she had a boyfriend.”

Romero’s guilt over Cici’s boyfriend slapping her raised another question. “So why did her boyfriend slap her?”

That’s when she saw it. It was so slight if she hadn’t been staring in his eyes she might’ve missed it—guilt. She knew it. This wasn’t just someone that worked for his uncles. There was more to it.

Romero opened his mouth then closed it as if he’d changed his mind.

“What? Just tell me.” Isabel’s heart rate had already picked up. She didn’t want to have another outburst but this was stupid. “It’s in the past. What difference does it make now? Unless you’re hiding something from me.”