Tangled: A Moreno Brothers novella

by Elizabeth Reyes

  He smiled, bringing the tip of his reading glasses to his lips. “I thought maybe you two met by way of his job: something interesting like he fell in love with the beautiful woman he was supposed to be investigating.”

  Feeling her face flush instantly, she shook her head too quickly. “No, nothing like that,” she said, swallowing hard.

  “I’m sorry if that was inappropriate.” He sat up. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”

  Calling attention to the fact that she was probably beet red now wasn’t helping. “No, don’t worry. I blush really easily,” she said, laughing nervously. “It’s a curse and one of the first things my husband said he’d noticed about me. He’s, uh,” she added, bringing her hand to her face and touching her warm cheek, “still highly entertained by it, actually.”

  He stared at her for a moment without saying anything then smiled. “I can see why.”

  Their eyes met for a moment too long, and without thinking, she began blurting things out: how her former roommate was dating Romero’s friend at the time and then about meeting him at Alex’s brother’s wedding shower. She even told him how at first she’d been afraid they might be too different. “But I guess it’s true what they say about opposites attracting, because here we are years later, happily married with two kids.”

  The moment she said that last part she felt utterly ridiculous. For some stupid reason, she’d felt it necessary to throw that in, but he already knew this! Her face began to warm again as the mortification set in. Did he possibly pick up on the fact that, for an instant there, she thought he needed to be reminded?

  Each day there were dozens and dozens of young, pretty, and very likely single girls who sat in awe of their brilliant and very attractive professor. He had to know this—had to know that while it went against school policy to date his students, he still could have his pick of any single girls on campus. Why in the world would he need to be reminded that his assistant was happily married? Just because of his beautiful comment?

  Jesus, she was an idiot.

  “And they’re probably right,” he said, still staring at her in that way he always had, but somehow it felt different now. “It’s probably why my ex-wife and I couldn’t work things out. We were too much alike. Yet my stubborn heart keeps getting drawn to women like her, women I can talk to for hours on end and never get bored.” He smiled, and again the moment went on a bit too long, but mercifully, he continued before she had to think of a response to that—she had nothing. “My ex-wife is also a professor at a university, only she teaches Women Studies.” He laughed softly now. “You can imagine the discussions she and I had. While some of those discussions could often get heated, it’s what I miss most. Any woman can offer physical pleasure. To me, it’s always been about how a woman can pleasure my mind.”

  For the first time since they’d been sitting there talking, there was too long of a moment when neither said anything. Suddenly speechless, Isabel took the moment to check her watch. “Shoot!” she said, standing up quickly. “I gotta go.”

  The kids would be out of school in exactly ten minutes, and it normally took her twenty to get there. There was no way she’d make it on time.

  After explaining quickly to Elliot she’d completely lost track of time, she darted out of there with her phone already at her ear. “Manny,” she said as soon as he answered. “Is there any way you can pick up the kids from school for me? I completely lost track of time, and I’ll likely be at least ten minutes late. I’m never late. I don’t want them freaking out.”

  “Sure thing,” he said quickly and agreed to meet her back home with them.

  Relief washed over her, but at the same time something else did too—guilt. Guilt that her heart was still beating at the accelerated rate. And it wasn’t just because she was late.

  Most of the drive home she tried in vain to squelch the unreasonable unease and shame of what Elliot’s words had done to her but mostly that she’d gotten so wrapped up in them that she’d momentarily forgotten all about her meticulous schedule.

  So she’d slipped. She wouldn’t be the first mom to ever do so. Valerie had been called one time while she was grocery shopping to pick up her kids. Of course, it was an early dismissal on an odd day, and she’d completely forgotten but still. The Morenos still laughed about the time Eric and Sofie had stopped by one of the restaurants in separate cars with the kids. When they’d left, each thought the other had their oldest, who’d run off with the cousins out of sight. Sofie had been home a whole hour when Alex dropped off her daughter, asking if she’d forgotten something. Isabel had never done anything remotely close to that.

  There was more to Isabel’s guilty conscience, and she knew it. But another part of her argued that it was silly to feel guilty. Just like when in her haste she’d blurted out her silly reminder that she was happily married, she felt her face flush once again just thinking about it. Elliot hadn’t even called her beautiful. The comment was more his suggesting what he’d imagined Romero had been thinking when they met. That was different, and even if he had called her beautiful, what was the big deal? How long had it been since any man aside from her husband had complimented her that she had to get all frazzled and paranoid about it? She may as well have pointed at her wedding ring and mouthed the words, “I’m very married.”

  By the time she got home, she’d actually begun to giggle. Gawd, she was ridiculous. Shaking the guilt off because she’d decided there was no reason for it at all, she almost couldn’t wait to tell Valerie about this now. Her best friend would probably giggle just as whole-heartedly as she’d done once it really sunk in.

  Manny walked out her front door when she drove up the driveway, and she smiled big. When she got out, he met her halfway up the walkway, and she greeted him with a hearty hug. “Thank you so much.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe I did that. You know what a stickler I am about punctuality.”

  “Yeah, I do.” Manny smiled. “So what happened?

  “Oh.” She waved her hand at him. “I just got caught up talking with the professor, and the time just flew.”

  They started back up the walk to her porch just as Romeo blew through the front door. “Mom!” He smiled big, holding up a small toy still wrapped in plastic. “Look!”

  Isabel bent down and scooped him up in her arms, hugging him tightly and making him laugh when she kissed his warm little cheeks.

  “What is it?” she asked as she put him down.

  “It’s a Ninja Turtle,” he said, stuffing a few fries in his mouth. “It came in the kid’s meal from McDonald’s.”

  Isabel glanced back at Manny, lifting a scolding brow. “They were hungry!” he said, holding open his arms.

  “I got the apple slices with mine,” Amanda said from behind the screen door, “but Uncle Manny let Romeo get the fries.”

  “Did you just rat me out, kid?” Manny asked.

  Amanda giggled and took off running when Manny pretended to start off after her. Isabel let Manny off the hook with a grateful smile. Everyone knew how she felt about her kids eating too much fast food. They were only allowed to have it sparingly. This was Friday, and he had gotten her out of a jam, so she’d let Manny slide.

  “Thanks again, Manny. You have no idea how grateful I am that you work so close to the kids’ school.”

  “Any time,” Manny said, pulling his keys out of his pocket.

  “You’re welcome to hang out if you want. Fridays Romero usually gets home earlier than normal,” she said as she walked up the porch stairs. “He should be home in an hour or so.”

  “Nah, I gotta get back to the bar,” he said, already walking to his car then turning back. “But I will be by tomorrow. I got something for the kids.”

  “What is it?” Romeo asked, his eyes full of excitement.

  Manny winked at him. “You’ll have to wait until then.”

  Isabel shook her head. Manny and Max did this every year. This was probably one of the many gifts they’d bought the kids fo
r Christmas, but like kids, they couldn’t wait until Christmas, so they brought things over for weeks before the actual holiday.

  By the time Romero got home that evening, Isabel was well over the guilt she’d begun to feel about Elliot. She’d since spoken to Valerie, and as expected, they both got a good laugh about her blurting out that she was happily married just because of his beautiful comment.

  “Good Lord, Isabel”—Valerie had laughed—“please tell me you’re not gonna show up Monday morning wearing your wedding photo around your neck.”

  Even Romero hadn’t commented much on her having to call Manny to pick up the kids when Amanda told him about it. Though Isabel had every intention of telling him, her daughter, as usual, just beat her to it.

  “Daddy, we got McDonald’s for lunch,” she chimed the moment he walked into the living room.

  Romero had turned to Isabel with a surprised smirk. “Really? Mom let you guys have fast food?”

  “No, Uncle Manny bought us some after he picked up us up from school.”

  Before he could ask why Manny had picked them up, Romeo had run up to him with his Ninja Turtle. “And look what I got!”

  Romero knelt down and examined the toy with a smile. “That’s pretty cool.” He’d glanced back up at Isabel, seemingly unfazed. “Manny picked them up?”

  “Yeah, I was running late and didn’t wanna risk not making it in time. So I called him and asked if he could.”

  Romeo took advantage of his dad’s kneeling down to jump on him, and the wrestling match ensued. Romero and the kids rolled around the front room, and Isabel went back to finishing up dinner. Romero didn’t ask why she’d been running late nor did he bring it up all afternoon.

  That evening both her sisters stopped by to chat for a little while, and both had agreed with her when she told them about her conversation with Elliot. So it was official. She’d obviously been buried for the last several years if her reaction to a simple compliment from a man was to blurt out that she was happily married with kids. She’d been silly to think even for a moment to make more out of it. Though she’d been secretly glad Romero hadn’t asked more about the incident because, despite the girls agreeing her reaction had been silly and uncalled for, Romero knew her too well. He always said he could read every one of her expressions, and she’d been worried he might read something in her eyes when she told him.

  Silly or not she’d hung out after Elliot’s lecture so that they could work. While she did admit to her sisters and Valerie that instead of working they’d spent the whole time talking—which she didn’t think there was anything wrong with since technically they’d been discussing his lecture, so it was still work-related—she did leave out the part about the conversation getting a little personal.

  Most notably, she didn’t mention to any of them, not her sister or even Valerie, about his other comment. It was less obvious than an all-out compliment, yet it felt far more inappropriate. It wasn’t just that he’d admitted his heart was stubbornly drawn to women like his ex-wife—a professor whom he could talk to for hours without ever getting bored. It was the way he’d looked at her when he’d said it.

  She reasoned that she could be wrong—it could be just an innocent comment—yet her gut said otherwise. Isabel knew she’d done nothing wrong today. But the fact remained Elliot chose to mention this tidbit about his preference in women after Isabel had been sitting there for nearly an hour—pleasuring his mind.

  Four

  Be Aware

  T

  he moment he saw them Romero had to laugh.

  “What?” Manny asked, looking back down at the box little Romeo had just unwrapped. “These were some of the best movies back in the day, stuff that Mandy and little Moe haven’t seen but have to. They’re classics.”

  “Yeah, but they’re DVD’s,” Romero said, shaking his head. We haven’t owned a DVD player in years, Fred Flintstone. I keep telling you and Max to get with the times. We download all our movies now. Play them right off the TV.”

  Manny pointed at the other box the kids had yet to unwrap. “That’s where that comes in. Open it up, Mandy.” He turned back to Romero. “What good is having a collection of something if you can’t show it off? How are kids these days supposed to show off their movie collections if they’re all in their iPad or TV?” Manny sat down next to Romeo as Mandy eagerly opened up the bigger present Manny and Max had walked in with. “And these are top of the line Blu-ray.”

  Romero laughed as he saw what the bigger gift was: a Blu-ray player. “I didn’t even know they still sold those.”

  “Sure they do,” Max said. “And they ain’t cheap. We ordered the movies online. This is just the eighties collection, but we got more wrapped up at home for the kids. Check it out.” Romeo handed Max the box of movies when Max asked him to. “Remember these? We had them all on VHS.”

  Romero scanned the titles: ‘Goonies,’ ‘E.T.,’ ‘Jaws,’ the entire ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Indiana Jones’ collections. “War Games?” Romero laughed. “Shit, I haven’t seen any of these in years.”

  “I’m telling you this is all the good stuff,” Manny said, smiling proudly.

  “Can we watch E.T., Daddy?” Amanda asked.

  “Oh, I loved that movie when I was a kid,” Izzy said, standing up. She leaned over and hugged Max first then Manny. “And I agree. I think having a collection of movies is very cool. My sisters and I had all the Disney princess movies growing up. Don’t listen to your ungrateful nephew.” She turned to Romero and gave him a look that only made him laugh. “This was very thoughtful of you, guys. Thank you. I’ll go make popcorn.”

  They set up the Blu-ray player in the family room with the big TV, and the kids ran upstairs to get in their pajamas and bring their blankets and pillows down. Manny, Max, and Aida were going to hang out and watch the movie with them.

  Aida went upstairs with Izzy and the kids to help get them ready and bring down their things. Romero told Izzy he’d finish getting the popcorn and snacks together. His uncles followed him into the kitchen where they started putting a tray together.

  Just as Romero finished pouring the second bag of popcorn into a bowl, he noticed Manny sneakily looking out the kitchen door into the front room as indiscreetly as only his uncles could be. “What are you doing?” Romero asked with a smirk.

  He crumpled up the empty bag of popcorn in his hand, still watching Manny as the big guy continued to look very obviously as if he were up to something.

  “I wanna make sure Izzy doesn’t hear me,” his uncle said in that tone he thought was a whisper but was just as loud as his regular voice.

  “Well, then whisper,” Romero said, “or at least lower your voice.”

  Romero already had a feeling what this might be about. They were as bad as he was when it came to trying to outdo Izzy with her gifts for Christmas. Manny was probably going to try to talk Romero into telling them what she’d gotten them.

  “I am whispering,” Manny said just as loudly as the first time.

  “No, you’re not,” Romero said, grabbing the grapes out of the fridge.

  “She told you about yesterday, right?” Manny asked in that same loud tone.

  Both his uncles were hopeless when it came to lowering their voices, so Romero didn’t bother repeating himself. “What about yesterday?”

  “That she was late and I had to pick up the kids for her from school.”

  “Yeah, she told me,” Romero said, peering at Manny. “So?”

  “Did she tell you why she was running late?”

  Romero thought about that for a moment then shook his head. He hadn’t even asked. “No. She just said she was running late. It happens.”

  Manny and Max exchanged glances before Manny cleared his throat. “Not to Izzy it doesn’t.”

  That was partially true, but as perfect and punctual as Romero would like to think she was, it wasn’t fair to expect her to never be running late. Though at the moment he couldn’t think of a single time she’d
been late to anything especially when it came to the kids. “So what are you saying?”

  “I wasn’t gonna mention it, and it’s probably not a big deal, so don’t get all bent. I just got to thinking and thought maybe I should,” Manny said, glancing back out the kitchen. “She said and I quote, ‘I got caught up talking to the professor and the time just flew.’”

  Now Romero stared at his uncle, not exactly sure, but he had a feeling what Manny was trying to imply. Normally, the mere implication would irritate the hell out of Romero, but right now he was trying to remember any time Izzy had lost track of time, especially knowing she had the kids to pick up. She’d always been meticulous about everything she did, but when it came to the kids, it was almost overkill. She was as overly protective of them as a parent could get. It was why for years Manny and Max had been busting his balls about Romeo being such a momma’s boy.

  But he refused to let Manny think he’d actually buy into the idea that Izzy dropped the ball when it came to their kids—something so unlike her—because of this professor. So he shrugged.

  “She works with the guy. Part of her job is discussing the curriculum with him—talking. I get caught up at work all the time too. It happens.”

  “Sure, sure,” Manny said as if in total agreement but still added, “and that’s probably all it was, but then I got to thinking. Kind of odd that this would happen to your wife. You know especially the way she is with the kids and all.”

  It’s exactly what Romero was thinking. But the kids, Izzy, and Aida were downstairs now, and he did not want her hearing what Manny was implying.

  “Lower your voice,” he warned, feeling a little hot all of a sudden.

  “I’m just saying I kind of had a feeling this whole thing with her going back to work might be trouble—”

  “Lower your fucking voice,” Romero warned again through his teeth, knowing full well he’d just let his uncle in on the fact that the more he kept talking the more this was starting to get to him.