Romero (20 page)

It had been a week since her father’s announcement and she’d gotten into it with Pat the very next day over the phone about her little Jacob stunt. She wasn’t getting into it with her again, especially not about Romero, so she ignored her question. “What’s going on? Why are you here?”

The expression on Pat’s face changed suddenly. She was up to something again. “We’re almost all set up to start the campaigning full throttle. Charles found a great campaign manager—Gary Foster. He has an impeccable record of accomplishment.” Pat put her purse down and took a seat on the sofa. Isabel sat across from her in the chair. “Daddy’s friend owns several shopping centers in this area. He has a few vacant shops he’ll donate temporarily to the campaign for us to run everything. The donations are already pouring in.”

Pat filled Isabel in about all that was going to be done, from the signs and billboards to the radio interviews and finally got to the reason for her unexpected visit. “Everyone is doing their part. My firm will donate their time to look over all the legal aspects of what we can and can’t do. What we need most is for people to get the word out. That’s where you come in. Gary thinks you should let your union and the school district know that daddy has a plan to get more funding to the schools so they can stop making so many cuts. This way we can get their endorsements. And then maybe if you can commit to putting in a few hours a week to make phone calls and pass out flyers. It’s gonna be a lot of work but if we
all
pull together we can do this.”

Isabel waited for the catch. With Pat, there always was one. “That’s it? Just get the word out and put in a few hours in a week?”

“I know
you,
so no! I can’t even believe you’re still pushing this.”

“Pushing what, Bell? All I was going to say was he asked about you. About you and Romero—how serious this
thing
with him is.”

“And you said?”

“Well, I wasn’t aware he was staying here so much and since it’s only been a couple of months I said… I wasn’t sure.”

Isabel glared, undoing her arms and placing her hands on her thighs. “You
know
I wouldn’t have invited him to daddy’s dinner if it wasn’t serious, Pat.”

“Bell, please listen to me. I know you think I’m just meddling, but I love you and I’m worried. That’s all.”

“Worried about what? You don’t know anything about Romero. You’ve never even given him a chance. The moment you heard the words ‘
he didn’t attend college’
you made up your mind. An education and a bunch of medals aren’t all that matter, Pat. I know to you it does, but not to me. He’s a good person and he’s good to me.”

Pat nodded, leaning over and placed her hand over Isabel’s. “I’ll admit that at first that’s the only thing I didn’t like about him. But you were there. You can’t tell me the way he snapped that night of the dinner wasn’t a bit worrisome. If this is what he’s like now, can you imagine how much worse he’ll be with time? He glared at me the entire night. He has abusive written all over him.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Isabel couldn’t help but think of the heat in his eyes the day he heard Michael’s message. And how Alex could barely hold him back the day after, when he looked ready to kill Lawrence. She’d seen that look in his eyes several times now, but not once had she felt threatened in any way. “He’s not like that, Pat. Trust me, he would never hurt me.”

“Not yet.” Pat squeezed her hand. “Belly Bell, I work these kinds of domestic abuse cases all the time. The relationships all started beautifully. But they all say the same thing. The signs were there from the very beginning. The women chose to ignore them because they were so in love. Then when family members stepped in to try to help, these men turned them against their family. They’re manipulative—”

“Jesus, Pat. You really think I’m that stupid? And what do you mean
these
kinds of cases? Nobody is abusing anyone in this relationship.”

“These women are not stupid, Bell. They were in love and desperate to believe these guys could change—would change—for
them
. But some people just can’t be changed. I have a bad feeling about him. Art said the same thing, too.”

“He did?” That worried Isabel. Art was much less judgmental than Pat. Worse yet, he never agreed with Pat about anything.

Pat nodded. “Anyway, that’s why I really came down here but I also was hoping you’d consider spending some time with Jacob.” Isabel began shaking her head and Pat squeezed her hand again. “Listen to me, not in a romantic setting or anything. Gary asked me to draw up the schedules for the volunteers. You wouldn’t even be alone with him. I could just schedule you on the same days. You’d be there with all the other volunteers making calls. He has so much to offer, Bell.” Pat put her hand up before Isabel could protest. “Not that Romero doesn’t. I just want you to be open to the possibility of staying friends with Jacob
in case
things don’t work out with Romero.” She gave Isabel a hopeful smile. “He said he didn’t realize how much he missed you until he saw you again.”

Isabel stared at Pat but didn’t return the smile.

“And,” Pat added, “I could’ve just done it without asking you first. You already knew he’d be helping with the campaign, but I wanted you to be with me on this.”

“That’s just it.” Isabel pulled her hand away from Pat’s. “I’m not. I’ll do what I have to, to help dad. If Jacob is there when I go in to help, then he’s there, but I won’t be trying to develop any kind of
friendship
with him.”

Pat smiled. “Fair enough.” She patted Isabel’s knee and stood up. “I’ll start working on the schedules tonight and give you a call in a few days to let you know when your first shift is.”

Isabel walked her chipper sister to the door, who said her goodbyes much too contentedly. On the surface, this little visit from her sister seemed to have gone Isabel’s way, but somehow she couldn’t help feeling like she’d been had.

Waking up next to Isabel felt like something Romero had been doing forever. He couldn’t even imagine not waking without her in his arms anymore. He spooned her closely to him, kissing her cheek. She didn’t open her eyes but the corner of her lips rose ever so slightly. He smiled and whispered, “Don’t wake up.” To which she immediately opened her eyes and he frowned. “Izzy, you did just the opposite.”

Romero tried to hide his irritation as she sat up. Thoughts of Jacob were immediately on his mind. She said he’d be helping out, but he knew there was no way she’d know when, where or how. He’d already told himself he wasn’t letting Pat or Jacob be the cause of any friction between him and Isabel. They just weren’t worth it.

He ran a finger down her bare back, wondering if even in the winter they’d still wake up naked. “I love waking up next to you, baby.”

She laughed. “You may as well. You’re always here anyway.” She caressed his face with her hand. “And I’ve been dreading hearing you say that you won’t or can’t stay some night.”

He kissed her. God, she really was perfect. “Trust me. I wasn’t planning on saying that ever again. I just wasn’t sure how you’d feel about making it official.”

She smiled widely. “Then it’s official. You’re now my roomie.”

He pulled her down next to him, wrapping his arms around her warm naked body. “Oh, I’m way more than your roomie, and don’t you forget it.”

She giggled, squirming away. “No, no, babe. I don’t have time right now. I’m already late.” She pouted, obviously seeing the disappointment in his face. “But you’re welcome to join me.”

Romero knew exactly what that meant—
quickie
. He’d take it. When she got out of bed he chased her to the shower. He could hardly believe this is what life was going to be like from here on.

***

Gary Foster was a no-nonsense, let’s get to it, type of man. Isabel saw it the moment she arrived at the campaign headquarters. His only response to her telling him her name was: “You’re late.”

Her shower with Romero had gone on a little longer than she anticipated, but it was oh, so worth it. Even if it meant getting the stink eye from Gary, her legs were still weak. “I know. I’m sorry, but I’m here now. What do you need me to do?”

He picked up a clipboard. “Lets see here… Isabel.” His eyes scanned the paper on the clipboard.

Isabel glanced around and saw Jacob was already there. He was out of uniform, in a pair of jeans and wore a “Montenegro for Mayor” t-shirt. Everyone else wore the same t-shirt and she wondered why she hadn’t been given one. Then she remembered. She was late.

He looked so different out of uniform. More relaxed. Jacob smiled when he saw her and she felt her cheeks warm because he caught her checking him out.

“Looks like you have flyer duty today.” He flipped through the pages on the clipboard. “Now let’s see where you’re headed and who you’re partnered up with.”

As soon as he said that, she knew exactly who she’d be partnered up with. She should’ve seen something like this coming. “Why do I need a partner?”

Gary looked up at her then back at the clipboard. “We never send anyone out alone—safety reasons—
my
rule.”

Isabel took a deep breath. She was sure her sister knew perfectly well about this rule of his, before she ever came over to talk to her. How was she supposed to get mad at her now? Her sister had made it clear what she was up to. Isabel just hadn’t anticipated how cunning Pat would be about this.

Gary glanced around then motioned for Jacob to come over. She knew it. “You and the soon-to-be Lieutenant Commander are headed to the mall. Your sister hooked you up. At least you won’t be in the hot sun.
And
you get a Navy man to escort your around all day.”

“All day?”

“Well, just until you get all the flyers passed out.” He pointed to a mountain of boxes full of flyers on a table. “You two can handle this.” Jacob joined them and Gary turned to him. “Isn’t that right, Commander?” Gary grinned. “You two can handle passing these little boxes of flyers out today right?”

Jacob smiled. “Of course. And call me Jacob.”

“Alright, Jacob. You and Isabel here are headed to the mall.”

Gary went over the mall’s policy on passing out flyers, a do-and-don’t list and they were on their way. “We can go in my car,” Jacob suggested. “Why take two?”

With her mind muddled, Isabel couldn’t think of an excuse not to fast enough. So she slumped her shoulders and gave in. Romero would be furious—knowing this was all Pat’s doing again. But this was strictly business and he had to know he had nothing to worry about. She was crazy about him.

After hours of walking from door to door at the mall, requesting permission to post their flyer on the windows of their stores, Isabel was pooped. She never realized how big and just how many stores were in the mall. She was shocked at how rude some shop owners could be, too.

“You getting hungry?” Jacob asked.

She was, but she wasn’t looking forward to sitting and talking to him. Up until then, their conversations had all been about the campaign. There had also been some small talk about her work, and how she had a meeting set up with the union to try to persuade them to endorse her dad. Lunch would most likely go a more personal direction. Even though she knew she was doing nothing wrong, she was certain telling Romero that she’d spent most of her day with Jacob was going to be uncomfortable at the very least. But telling him they’d also had a long lunch together would only make it worse.

One thing was for sure, she’d be talking to her sister about this again. The thought of spending time around Jacob had seemed harmless enough, but actually doing it felt much different. “Yeah, I could go for a bite of something.”

They walked past Frisco’s. Isabel didn’t even look in that direction. No way were they eating there. She and Romero had gone back a few times since their first dinner together. As far as she was concerned, that was
their
place now. She didn’t know it then, but in hindsight, that’s the day she’d fallen for him. He’d melted her with his smile the entire night, but when he told her he’d been there two weeks in a row hoping to run into her, that’s what did it. That’s why the next night at the game, she was helpless to even try fighting off his kisses. She’d been putty in his hands ever since.