She leaned into Romero. “I like your uncles.”

He pulled away to look at her. “You do?”

She smiled knowing how apprehensive he’d been the night she met them. He literally froze when his uncle brought up what happened at the bar. “Yes, I do. But tell me,” she grinned. “Is their bar a stripper bar?”

She saw the surprise in his eyes. “Not a stripper bar but… the waitresses go topless.” She could see he waited for her reaction.

“I had a feeling it was something like that.” She looked straight into his eyes. “Just like you said before, so your uncles are a little rough around the edges. And reading up a little on what Ms. Manners has to say about dinner etiquette and the overkill of the F bomb wouldn’t do them any harm.” She laughed. “It might do them some good but they’re good guys. They love you and that alone will make me love them. Don’t worry about me judging them for the type of business they run or their mannerisms, okay? I’m not my sister. Please remember that.”

Romero stared at her for a moment then smiled. He leaned in, kissed her once then stopped to stare into her eyes. “Izzy.”

“What?”

“You’re perfect.”

Isabel laughed. “I’m am not.”

“Yes. You are.” Romero threw the remote on the floor and attacked her. The movie would have to wait until later.

CHAPTER 12

Man up

As it turned out Valerie came back only a handful of times to pick up more of her things. The girl had had the worst luck with guys during the time she’d stayed away from Alex. A nightmare ex-flame from her past came back to haunt her just as she and Alex were trying to make things work. He turned out to be a stalker of the worst kind, but when the chaos he ensued was all said and done he’d been arrested and to everyone’s surprise, Valerie and Alex were married on a whim in Bermuda.

Isabel couldn’t be happier for her and didn’t even care that she’d be left holding the bill on Valerie’s end of the lease. But Valerie had been adamant about paying her half still until the end of the lease was up. With Valerie gone now, Romero was at Isabel’s place more and more. She liked it that way, but Pat was still at it, putting in her jabs about him.

Romero was in the shower and Isabel was making them breakfast when her phone rang.

“Good morning, Pat,” Isabel said, as she whipped the eggs in a bowl.

“It’s official!”

“What is?”

“Daddy is running for mayor!”

“Really? I thought he was leaning towards not doing it after all?”

“Well, he was over here last night and after talking to Charles he decided to do it. Charles is going to have a dinner to announce it on the base and invite all the influential people he knows—and he knows a lot. This is so exciting. We’re getting it all together as fast as we can. The dinner is two nights from today. Gina’s flying in and Art already said he’d be there, too.”

Isabel frowned. Her sister probably had Charles working fast and furiously before her Dad could change his mind. The last time she’d spoken with her dad he had his reservations about running. He wasn’t sure if he was up for all the campaigning. But she should’ve known her sister would stop at nothing to get the chance to say her father was the mayor of San Diego. “Are you sure he really wants to do this, Pat? He didn’t sound too enthused about it when I spoke to him last.”

“Of course he does. He was just getting cold feet, but with Charles and me helping him, he’ll be fine. You will be able to make it right?”

Isabel sighed. “Wednesday night, right?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll be there.”

“Umm you may want to come alone because, we’re having speakers and presentations and stuff. I’ll need you to help me make sure everything runs smoothly. Then there’s the family photo ops. The local papers will be there. They might even want to interview you or take statements. You’re really not gonna have time to entertain anyone.”

Isabel scooped the scrambled eggs onto two plates. “He’s coming with me, Pat.” Unless he couldn’t go for whatever reason. Pat was crazy if she thought Isabel was going to allow her to continue dictating her life. Romero meant everything to her now and she’d be damned if she was going to make the same mistake twice.

“Isabel, can you think of Daddy for a second here? Art is coming alone.”

“He is?” That surprised Isabel. The last time she spoke with Art he said he didn’t give a shit what Patricia had to say about Sabrina anymore.

“Yes, he knows how important it is that this be perfect for Daddy.”

Isabel rolled her eyes. “And how would bringing Sabrina make it not perfect?”

“Do we really need to get into that?”

Romero walked into the kitchen. He kissed Isabel then poured himself some coffee. “I’m gonna have breakfast now. Tell Daddy I’ll be there Wednesday.”

“Alone?”

“Nope.” She smiled at Romero and pointed at the plate that was ready for him.

Pat exhaled exasperated. “I’ll call you tonight. I wish you’d reconsider.”

“Bye, Pat.” She saw Romero’s expression sour when he heard her name.

Setting her phone down she grabbed her plate off the counter and she sat down next to Romero, but not before planting a big one on him.