The fire was roaring now, and Angel glared at Romero. “You had to get stupid about it, didn’t you?”

“What? That’s a damn good fire.” Romero said. Isabel laughed, and Romero turned to her. “Tell me that’s not a fire.”

“That’s a fire,” she agreed.

Sofia walked over to them. “Anyone need to go to the ladies room?”

Sarah lifted her hand. “I do.” She turned to Valerie. “Do you?”

Valerie shook her head. She watched as they trotted off then turned her direction back to the fire. Romero took a seat on the ice chest next to Isabel.

“You guys done with the girl talk?”

“Over before it started,” Isabel said, taking a sip of her cooler.

Romero smiled. “You can take this off now.” He pulled her sunhat off.

The sun had gone down about twenty minutes earlier. He leaned over and kissed Isabel again, this time longer and deeper than the first time.

“I missed you last night.” He whispered staring deep into her eyes.

Valerie smiled almost jealous. She missed being kissed that way and actually enjoying it like Isabel seemed to be. Not like when Luke kissed her.

“Hey.” A hand on Valerie’s shoulder made her jump.

“I’m sorry, babe… I mean Val. I keep doing that to you.” Alex sat down next to her holding a bottle of water in his hand. “How long you been here?”

“Not long, half hour maybe.” She decided not to give into her insecurities and ruin the night. So, she smiled, forgetting about the girl with the big smile for the moment.

Alex looked up at the sky. “Beautiful night.”

“Yeah, it is.”

She gazed at the enormous fluorescent moon, against a nearly black sky. It was almost full. It brought back memories of lying on the beach with him holding her. When they used to just look out into the endless sky and talk freely about everything and anything. She loved their talks. The good times with him were always so wonderful. Too bad they never seemed to last very long.

Loud music and more voices and laughter brought her attention back to the bonfire. Sofia and Sarah were back. Sarah was snuggled next to Angel on the sand and Sofia stood near the fire. Eric was next to her holding her hand and sneaking a few kisses. Alex straightened out in his chair and frowned. It surprised her that even after all this time, Alex could still get uptight when he saw them getting too friendly.

Sal walked over to say hello to Valerie and hugged her a little tighter than usual. For some reason, Sal still made Valerie nervous. Maybe it was because he was hardly around and so much more serious than his younger brothers.

He was always incredibly nice to her. She just thought of him as so much older even though he was only two years her senior. Alex had always told her how smart Sal was. She was always afraid she would say something stupid and embarrass herself.

Isabel leaned over and asked if she was ready to make a run to the ladies room. She was. After checking with Sarah to see if she needed to go, Isabel and Valerie excused themselves.

When they were far enough away, Valerie clutched Isabel’s arm. “So, did Romero bring up what we were talking about again?”

“Actually, he did. I had a feeling he would. But he just asked if we were talking about him.”

“He didn’t hear the first part, did he?”

Isabel shook her head.

“Thank goodness.” She would’ve felt so bad if she had gotten Isabel in a snag because of her big mouth.

“So, the guy was a dud?”

Isabel frowned. “Not really, but obviously I’m not interested. When he asked for my number, I felt bad. I gave him the landline number, just so I wouldn’t have to totally reject him.”

Valerie tsked disapprovingly. “Isabel, you should’ve just told him the truth.”

“I know, I know, but I figured he’s going back to Germany tomorrow and won’t be back for months, so what did it matter? I didn’t want to chance him telling my brother-in-law and then having to explain to Pat.”

They reached the restrooms they waited in line. Isabel gave Valerie a look. “So, you telling him you’re done with Luke or not?”

Valerie bit the corner of her lip. “I don’t know… if it comes up maybe.”

She still wasn’t entirely sure, but after talking to her dad today she was leaning towards being honest. There was a time when she was younger that she engaged in head games like nobody’s business. Especially when Alex made her so confused. She wanted to confuse him right back. It was childish and sent mixed messages.

No more head games, she finally decided. If it came up, she’d just tell him the truth. On their way back, Valerie saw Alex eyeing them. When she reached her seat, he approached her. “They’re gonna start passing the bottle of the tequila around. I’m not really in a drinking mood tonight. You wanna go for a walk?”

Isabel sat down, and Romero was quick to sit down next to her. He was really throwing a wrench into the plans she made for all these events. She couldn’t use the, ‘I don’t want to leave Isabel alone,’ excuse she’d rehearsed so much. So, she nodded at Alex and grabbed her sweatshirt.

CHAPTER 14

They walked toward the water, and Valerie’s heart sped up with every step. She felt her phone buzz in her pocket, and she pulled it out to check it. She had a weird text. The kind that was sent from a computer and you can’t tell who it’s from.