Her mom smiled. “Yes, I heard. Nice to meet you, Romero. I haven’t heard too much else about you, but I look forward to getting to know you better.”
Just what she needed, a reminder to Romero that she hadn’t told her family much about him.
“I look forward to it, too.”
Isabel glanced at him but couldn’t get a feel for what he might be thinking, only that his usually easy going smile appeared a bit forced. She turned to her sister and they walked around to her side of the table. “And this is my sister Pat.”
Suddenly, the smirk reappeared and for some reason that made Isabel more nervous. “I’ve heard about you, Pat.” He reached out to shake her hand.
Pat glanced at Isabel then back at Romero and shook his hand. “I hope that’s a good thing.”
Romero smiled and nodded but didn’t say anything else. They walked around and took their seats at the table. Isabel sat next to Pat, Romero directly across from her, next to her mom.
“So you said the swordfish is good here?” Her sister glanced over the menu at Romero.
“Yeah, it’s what I always have.” He didn’t even bother to open his menu, instead reached across the table for Isabel’s hand. “It’s the best.”
Her mom put her menu down. “Well, I think I’ll try it then.”
Romero smiled. “You won’t be sorry.”
“I don’t really care for seafood,” Pat said, looking back at her menu.
After finally deciding and the waiter taking their orders, her sister got right to business. “So Isabel said something about you being in the security business, are you a security guard?”
When Isabel called her to ask Pat to leave the evening open for dinner with her and Romero, she’d specifically told Pat that he owned his own security firm. She glanced at Romero, who smiled as he took a drink from his beer bottle. The waitress brought a glass for him to pour it in, but apparently he wasn’t going to use it. “I was for years,” he said. “Until I opened up my own firm. I’m branching out now—also doing a little private investigating.”
“Oh, really?” Her mother’s eyebrows lifted. “Do tell. You mean like tracking down criminals?”
“Not exactly.” Isabel squeezed his hand. She was very proud of him. “More like background checks for employers, maybe investigating someone they suspect is doing something shady. I’ve had a few instances of spouses wanting their better half followed around because they suspected infidelity. That kind of stuff.”
“Sounds really interesting,” her mom said.
“What kind of degree did you obtain for this line of work, Romero?” Pat chimed in.
Isabel stiffened. Pat already knew this. It was the first thing she asked Isabel when she called to tell her about tonight.
“A diploma from the school of real life,” Romero smiled. “High school diploma. After that I got all the necessary credentials required by the state to run this kind of business.”
Isabel smiled at him, taking a sip of her wine. He smiled back.
“So you didn’t attend college at all?”
“No he didn’t,” Isabel said sharply. “Did you forget already? I told you yesterday when you asked me then.”
Pat cleared her throat, obviously surprised at Isabel’s reaction.
“Who cares about that?” Her mother interceded. “I wanna know about this private investigating. You know,” she turned to Pat, “maybe this is something Charles’s sister-in-law could use.”
“Mother!” Pat loved digging in other peoples business but she hated when her and Charles’ personal stuff was brought out.
“What?” Her mother arched her brow at Pat. “He talked about it openly at the barbeque a few weeks ago.” Her mother waved her sister’s protests away and Isabel couldn’t have been happier that she’d turned the tables on Pat. She always had a way of about keeping the conversation under control. “You see,” her mom turned back to Romero, “Charles’ sister-in-law owns a small gift shop over on the pier and he says she’s been having issues with the register coming up short a few times and a few others things have gone missing. She suspects one of her employees but without any proof there’s really nothing she can do.”
“Does she have a security camera?” Romero asked.
Isabel noticed her sister pretending to be completely engrossed in the menu and not at all interested in the conversation.
“She does,” her mother said, stirring her martini and turned to Pat. “He said it’s come up clean every time right?” Pat nodded but continued reading her menu.
The waitress stopped by to drop off breadsticks and ask if anyone needed another drink. Romero held his bottle up, making her sister lift an eyebrow but then her mother asked for another martini. “Another one, mother?”
“Yes, Patricia. Maybe you should have a shot.”
Isabel’s eyes met Romero’s. She almost giggled. God, did she love her mom at that moment. Romero’s eyes were as amused as hers. She was so glad he wasn’t upset about her sister’s obvious attempts to rattle him.
“Try the Patrón,” Romero added.
Isabel nudged his knee under the table. Pat ignored him. Instead, she turned to Isabel. “Have you talked to Daddy lately?”
“I did last week.” Isabel had a feeling where Pat was going with this.