The horror was replaced with curiosity the moment Valerie passed on the invitation. Romero asked, “Whatcha got there?”

“Pepper spray.”

Isabel halted just before she walked in the room. “Why? Did something happen?”

Isabel lived the Bruce nightmare along side Valerie, and she knew he was out now. Valerie glanced at her and shook her head. She wasn’t about to get into it in front of Romero. The last thing she wanted was for it to get back to Alex that she’d been stupid enough to get herself in such a predicament. “No, I just thought it’d be best to have it handy. I almost forgot I had it until today.”

Isabel stared at her but seemed to pick up that Valerie wasn’t going to talk about this in front of Romero.

“Lemme see,” Romero offered after watching Valerie continue to struggle.

She handed it to him, frowning. “I don’t know why they make it so difficult.”

“It’s not,” Romero chuckled.

Within seconds he had it attached making Valerie feel totally incompetent.

“So, what made you remember you had it today?” He handed it back with a knowing look.

Valerie glanced at him but shrugged and said nothing.

Romero leaned over the counter and whispered. “I won’t tell Izzy. I know how she worries.”

Valerie examined the keychain ring that was much too tight now with the pepper spray on it. She didn’t look up at him. “I just got a little spooked today, on my way to my car. It made me wonder if I still had this in my purse.”

“Someone spook you?”

She looked at him just long enough to see his eyebrow arch, then back at the keychain shaking her head. “No it was nothing I thought I heard something that’s all.”

Isabel walked out of the bedroom, and Valerie could not have been more thankful for the interruption. They said their goodbyes and headed out. Valerie had been so into rearranging the keys on her key chain she hardly noticed what Isabel had gone into her room to get. That is until she was almost out the door and Valerie’s jaw almost hit the ground.

She couldn’t say anything of course not in front of Romero. As soon as the door closed behind Isabel Valerie ran to her phone and texted her.

Was that an overnight bag you were carrying?!

A couple of second’s later Isabel texted back.

Maybe

Valerie laughed out loud in delight. She’d teased Isabel she would get cobwebs down there if she didn’t get any soon. Not that she was one to talk. Valerie had actually named her hand held companion Mr. Perfect. He did the job and was reliable without any of the heartache.

Isabel you whore!

Valerie stared at her phone with her hand over her mouth still giggling.

Friends with benefits =)

What a joke. Isabel had never had a friend with benefits in her life. There was no such thing as far as Valerie was concerned. For years she’d tried to refer to Alex as that, and he’d turned out to be the never ending anguish of her broken heart, exactly why Mr. Perfect had taken over that part of her life.

Valerie glanced at the clock, only nine. Technically, it had been early enough to catch a movie with Luke when he asked her on the way home. But she wasn’t feeling up to it. She didn’t want him to get used to seeing her every night. She wasn’t feeling that got-to-see-you feeling for him yet. Spending a quiet evening by herself would be fine. Besides, they already had plans for Wednesday night. That was good enough.

She took advantage of the time alone to work on Sarah and Angel’s painting. Every time she looked at the picture, she remembered the simpler times. She’d taken the photo herself. In the photo, Sarah and Angel were at the beach. Sarah was sitting between his legs leaning back into him. Angel’s chin was on her shoulder, showing off that famous Moreno smile with the deep dimples. Dimples just like the ones that tormented her.

An image of her and Alex just like this came to her. It was the summer after her freshman year in college. They’d been going back and forth but this was just after his first ankle injury so he’d had no choice but to take time off from everything.

She remembered that particular day especially because it was the day he said something that stuck with her even now. He’d told her he didn’t think he’d ever get enough of her. He said it was almost embarrassing how often he thought about her, that it bordered on creepy. She remembered laughing and accusing him of embellishing. But he’d been adamant, and had sounded so genuine. No one could look you in the eyes and lie that well, could they?

Then a few weeks later he disappeared on her again for almost a week and she’d wondered who else he was feeding those lines to.

Valerie sighed, shook her thoughts off and went back to painting—the one thing that helped her relax and get away from her endless thoughts of Alex. The last thing she wanted was to start associating it with him and start avoiding it. Before long she fell back into her rhythm. Her thoughts submerged deep into her painting. She kept at it for about another hour before going to bed.

*

Alex figured that when you ran your own restaurant with a full bar, it was kind of hard to justify going out to someone else’s restaurant and paying for alcohol. But lately he was there all the time. He needed to get out. With Angel and Sarah closing tonight, he knew the place was covered.

Eric was waiting for Sofia to finish her shift and had invited him to the new sports bar they were going to. Alex already said no, but was beginning to rethink it.

“You sure you don’t want to go?” Eric asked as Alex walked out of the office. “Romero said it’s pretty awesome. He and some of his guys have worked the security a few times already. He said it was crazy packed. They’re having open mic later in the evening. Stand up comedy. It’s supposed to be pretty good.”