Suspicions

Falling in and out of delirium, Isabel didn’t even know what time or what day it was. She turned to see Romero walk into the room. “Hey, how you feeling?”

She didn’t respond. She remembered she was mad at him but she couldn’t even remember why. “I’m still mad at you.” She heard the rough words rasp out of her mouth, felt the burn in her throat and tightness in her chest.

Romero began to apologize, then his expression changed and he touched her forehead. “Izzy, you’re burning up!”

“Huh?” In such a daze, she glanced around expecting to see flames.

Romero pulled the blankets off her. “But I’m freezing!” she said, trying to pull the blankets back on. Her clothes clung to her, wet with perspiration, and she began to shiver. She tried in vain to get the blankets back from Romero’s hands. “Please! I’m so cold!” Just speaking scorched her throat and her entire body ached as Romero sat her up.

“I know.” His voice was as panicked as hers was. “Baby, we gotta get this off you, now.”

She didn’t even realize she was crying until she heard her own whiny voice, “Why are you doing this to me?”

“Because I have to,” he said, pulling her top off and then helping her up. “We gotta get your temperature down.” He put his hand on her back. “Fuck, I should’ve checked on you sooner, you’re on fire. I’m sorry, babe. I just wanted to let you sleep.”

Her eyes burned when she blinked and her body shivered uncontrollably. Everything after that was a blur of her crying and trying to fight him while he held her under the cold shower as he tried frantically to calm her explaining why it was necessary.

Then there was a trip to the emergency room, her parents and sister arrived just as they were releasing her. Pat was angry that Romero hadn’t contacted them sooner but he explained that in his haste he’d forgotten to take Isabel’s phone. He didn’t have any of their numbers. By the time Isabel was well enough to think straight and give him their numbers, they’d already been there for hours. “You’re coming home with us,” her father announced flatly. Pat nodded as Isabel held on tight to Romero.

“It’s not pneumonia but the doctors said you’re borderline. You need to be watched very closely.” Her mother attempted to pull her away from Romero.

Isabel just wanted to go home to her own bed. Her fever was finally down but she felt completely drained and her body still ached all over. Speaking alone, left her breathless.

Though they tried to argue, the decision had been made. Romero was by her side the entire week. Preparing her meals, bringing them to her in bed, making sure she took her meds on time. The only times he left was when her mother and sisters had stopped by to check in on her. He said he’d take advantage of them being there to go stock up on more meds and groceries but she knew his aversion to being in the same room with Pat was the real reason. The two had barely exchanged greetings but they’d both managed to be civil.

Isabel felt guilty about the amount of time Romero had taken away from his work, but even when her mother offered to stay with her for a few days so that he could go back to work he insisted on being there with her. She couldn’t get over how devoted he was to taking care of her. She’d been a little surprised with the showers they took together. When he’d gently sponged her there was no sexual connotation at all. The only thing he was interested in was her well-being. Even when she teased him by touching him sensually in the shower, he’d warned it would be too much exertion for her.

His initial reaction to the doctor saying she may have pneumonia, before the chest x-ray, he’d gone white. But it wasn’t until after the x-ray came back negative that he told her he’d heard of people dying of it.

By the end of the week when she was feeling better, neither had spoken of Cici or Frisco’s. His actions that whole week confirmed that there was no way he would ever deliberately hurt her. He’d made a mistake and she forgave him. However, the sting of knowing he tainted her memory of their first dinner together, still lingered.

Romero tried to convince her to take another few days off until she was feeling a hundred percent better, but she insisted she was. A week had been more than enough and she needed to get out.

Though she’d forgiven him, she still couldn’t get two little words out of her head. She’s different. What did that mean? Had he dated her? He’d probably slept with her. Valerie let her in on that much about him. Through out the years there had been no shortage of hussies willing to jump in bed with the big sexy bouncer. She was sure the women who worked at his uncles’ topless bar didn’t have qualms about casual sex, especially with someone who looked like Romero.

Isabel shook off the jealousy. He’d been wonderful—more than wonderful—this past week. She would just put it behind her.

Valerie left her a message about the deal she could work out for Charles’ party so Isabel called her that evening when she got home from her first day back at work.

“Only thing is,” Valerie said. “For a room that size all we have available in the next few weeks is either a Friday night or a Sunday afternoon. All Saturdays are completely booked for the next two months.”

To Isabel’s surprise, her sister wanted to book that Friday. “This week? That’s so soon.”

“No, it isn’t. I already have everything planned. His gift, the band—they just finished telling me they’re available for the next two weeks and it’s perfect because Charles won’t be back from his trip until Thursday. I can run around all week without him getting wind of it. Tell her to book it.”

After calling Valerie, she told Romero about it and he frowned. “Babe, I don’t think you’re up for parties just yet.”

“Trust me. It’s not like my sister throws these wild parties. Think of my dad’s dinner. A bunch of stuffy suits sitting around listening to a boring jazz band.” She sat next to him on the sofa. He’d brought his plasma television over from his apartment and promptly hung it in her front room. It was his new favorite place to sit and relax.

He put his arm around her, his eyes still full of worry. “I can’t be there that night. I gotta work some party over in La Jolla Shores.”

“That’s okay. My whole family will be there.” She stroked his leg. “Not to mention Alex and Valerie. My sister invited them and Valerie said they’d go.”

He touched her face. His expression reminded her of how he wanted to call 911 that first night, because her fever was so high. Somehow, she managed to convince him to just drive her to the emergency room. “Don’t worry. I’ll leave early. I’m sure it’ll be boring anyway. But I have to show up for at least a little while.”

She smiled. “No, not at all.” She kissed him deeper this time. “In fact.” She stood up, tugging his hand. “C’mon. I think a week of not exerting myself has been long enough.” She flashed him the most seductive smile she could.

*

That week she had another collaboration day and was off again—with no pay, of course. She planned ahead, making one of Valerie’s favorite treats for lunch and invited her over. They hadn’t had a good girl talk session in a while and Isabel was in need for one.

Thoughts of Cici’s perfume all over Romero and those two little words still lingered. Valerie dug into the homemade pizza eagerly. “Oh my God, this is so good.”

Isabel smiled. She missed sitting and talking to Valerie like this. Valerie gushed all about married life and how wonderful things were so far. “He keeps bringing up babies though, and I’m just beginning to adjust to managing an office on my own. I’m afraid to take time off right now. I know I’ll have to if I have a baby.”

“Well, why don’t you just set up a date? Compromise—say two years from now or something.”

Valerie shrugged. “He actually almost had me convinced. I had to switch my birth controls pills. I was getting migraines and the doctor said it might be because I switched brands a few months ago. I’m going back to the old ones but I had to give it a month to get these out of my system. Alex tried persuading me to just stay off them. Said we won’t actively try,” she laughed. “As if he can go even a day without trying.”

Isabel laughed, then felt her face warm when she thought of Romero’s sexual appetite. She was glad Valerie was too busy eating to notice her flushed face.

“So how are things with you and Romero? I think that was so sweet of him to take the whole week off to take care of you.”

Isabel nodded in agreement and smiled. “Things are good. We’ve had a few intense moments here and there. And my sister hasn’t exactly helped. But otherwise we’re… good.”

Valerie stopped and stared at her. “But…”

Usually it was Isabel who read Valerie well enough to know something was bothering her. In the last couple of years Valerie had become pretty good at reading Isabel, too. Isabel chewed the corner of her lip. “I dunno. It’s nothing. I’m probably just being silly.”

Isabel picked at her slice of pizza, thinking about it. “Thing is, when I called him on it, saying I guess it’s okay for me to do things with my guy friends he said it wasn’t but Cici was …different. I don’t know what that means.”

Valerie’s eyebrows pinched. “Did you ask him?”

“No, he took it back real quick, saying it wasn’t what I was thinking and at that point I was so pissed and feeling so sick I told him to just leave my room. Then after that, I was so deliriously sick for the next whole week, we never brought it up again.” She continued to pick at her food, her appetite deteriorating by the minute. “That’s not even the worst part about it.” Valerie had stopped eating, giving Isabel her full attention. “He reeked of perfume that night. He said he just hugged her goodbye, but it made me sick to my stomach.”

Valerie touched her hand. “Ask him what he meant. I never heard of him having any serious relationships and I’ve never heard of a Cici. I’ll definitely be asking Alex about it though. Still I wouldn’t let this go and not that I think you shouldn’t trust him, but if it were me, I’d raise an eyebrow the next time he mentions going to the mall.”

After her lunch with Valerie, Isabel ran a few errands. Romero knew she was off and said he’d be home early. She thought of what Valerie said. She wouldn’t even know how to bring up the subject of Cici without making things weird. But she knew one thing, if she didn’t, it would eat away at her.

That evening after they’d eaten, Romero sat in the front room tinkering with the new laptop he’d purchased that day. Isabel finished cleaning up the kitchen then walked into the front room, noticing the bag he’d pulled the laptop out of. MicroTech—the electronic store—at the mall. “So you were at the mall again?”

Romero didn’t even look up. “Yeah, I’ve been there almost every day this week. I finally had Sal meet me there today. I just couldn’t decide what laptop to go with.” He looked up and smiled. “Sal’s too much. He actually brought papers he printed out from the research he’d done, comparing specs between the laptops I told him I was interested in. But he did help me decide.” He turned back to the laptop on the coffee table. “Now I just gotta get all the software uploaded and transfer all my files.”

Flags had immediately gone up at the mention that he’d been there every day this week. This was the first she’d heard him mention it. “So did you see Cici this week?”

Romero looked up at her again and she searched his face for any signs of guilt or alarm. She saw something, but not guilt.

“No, I didn’t.” He held his hand out for her and she took it. He pulled her to him, making her sit and then kissed her. “I hope you’re not still mad about that. I know we never got a chance to talk about it, but honest to God if I had known you’d be that upset about it, I would’ve never gone to lunch with her. And that whole Frisco’s thing.” He winced. “I swear I’m an idiot. I fucked up. I wasn’t even thinking about that. I’m sorry. I really am.”

Isabel noted how up until the very end he’d been doing pretty good about cleaning up his language. She tried to smile but something still gnawed at her. “What did you mean when you said she’s different?”

Romero sat back and she brought her leg up under her. “I was just curious what her story was. For a long time I blamed myself for not having anticipated that fuc—” He pressed his lips together then cleared his throat. “Her boyfriend slapping her like that. He did it right in front of me.”

That’s when she saw it. It was so slight if she hadn’t been staring in his eyes she might’ve missed it—guilt. She knew it. This wasn’t just someone that worked for his uncles. There was more to it.

Romero opened his mouth then closed it as if he’d changed his mind.

“What? Just tell me.” Isabel’s heart rate had already picked up. She didn’t want to have another outburst but this was stupid. “It’s in the past. What difference does it make now? Unless you’re hiding something from me.”

“No. I’m not hiding anything.” He squeezed her hand. “She was on her break. I was working the door outside. Her boyfriend showed up and saw her flirting with me. He was drunk and belligerent so he started going off on her. I actually had to pin his ass up against a car. I thought he’d calmed down and I let him go. That’s when he slapped her.”

Isabel saw his jaw clenched and how much that still upset him. She felt almost ashamed that instead of being warmed by Romero being so affected about a woman being abused, she was jealous. After all this time, something that happened to Cici brought out so much emotion in him. Remembering Cici’s perfume all over Romero, she stared at him, wanting to tell him she didn’t want to hear of him around her ever again, instead she asked, “So she’s okay now? Did she marry the guy?”

Isabel glanced up at his face and smiled. She wasn’t that kind of girlfriend, insecure and suspicious. That’s the last impression she wanted to give him, but something about this Cici girl rubbed her the wrong way. She’d let it go for now, but like Valerie said, she’d raise an eyebrow every time he mentioned being at the mall.