Tangled: A Moreno Brothers novella (4 page)

The kids would be out of school in exactly ten minutes, and it
normally took her twenty to get there. There was no way she’d make it on time.

After explaining quickly to Elliot she’d completely lost track of
time, she darted out of there with her phone already at her ear. “Manny,” she
said as soon as he answered. “Is there any way you can pick up the kids from
school for me? I completely lost track of time, and I’ll likely be at least ten
minutes late. I’m never late. I don’t want them freaking out.”

“Sure thing,” he said quickly and agreed to meet her back home
with them.

Relief washed over her, but at the same time something else did
too—guilt. Guilt that her heart was still beating at the accelerated rate. And
it wasn’t just because she was late.

Most of the drive home she tried in vain to squelch the
unreasonable unease and shame of what Elliot’s words had done to her but mostly
that she’d gotten so wrapped up in them that she’d momentarily forgotten all
about her meticulous schedule.

So she’d slipped. She wouldn’t be the first mom to ever do so.
Valerie had been called one time while she was grocery shopping to pick up her
kids. Of course, it was an early dismissal on an odd day, and she’d completely
forgotten but still. The Morenos
still
laughed about the time Eric and
Sofie had stopped by one of the restaurants in separate cars with the kids.
When they’d left, each thought the other had their oldest, who’d run off with
the cousins out of sight. Sofie had been home a whole hour when Alex dropped off
her daughter, asking if she’d forgotten something. Isabel had never done
anything remotely close to that.

There was more to Isabel’s guilty conscience, and she knew it.
But another part of her argued that it was silly to feel guilty. Just like when
in her haste she’d blurted out her silly reminder that she was happily married,
she felt her face flush once again just thinking about it. Elliot hadn’t even
called her beautiful. The comment was more his suggesting what he’d imagined
Romero had been thinking when they met. That was different, and even if he had
called her beautiful, what was the big deal? How long had it been since any man
aside from her husband had complimented her that she had to get all frazzled
and paranoid about it? She may as well have pointed at her wedding ring and mouthed
the words, “I’m very married.”

By the time she got home, she’d actually begun to giggle.
Gawd,
she was ridiculous. Shaking the guilt off because she’d decided there was no
reason for it
at all,
she almost couldn’t wait to tell Valerie about
this now. Her best friend would probably giggle just as whole-heartedly as she’d
done once it really sunk in.

Manny walked out her front door when she drove up the driveway,
and she smiled big. When she got out, he met her halfway up the walkway, and she
greeted him with a hearty hug. “Thank you so much.” She shook her head. “I can’t
believe I did that. You know what a stickler I am about punctuality.”

“Yeah, I do.” Manny smiled. “So what happened?

“Oh.” She waved her hand at him. “I just got caught up talking
with the professor, and the time just flew.”

They started back up the walk to her porch just as Romeo blew
through the front door. “Mom!” He smiled big, holding up a small toy still
wrapped in plastic. “Look!”

Isabel bent down and scooped him up in her arms, hugging him
tightly and making him laugh when she kissed his warm little cheeks.

“What is it?” she asked as she put him down.

“It’s a Ninja Turtle,” he said, stuffing a few fries in his
mouth. “It came in the kid’s meal from McDonald’s.”

Isabel glanced back at Manny, lifting a scolding brow. “They were
hungry!” he said, holding open his arms.

“I got the apple slices with mine,” Amanda said from behind the
screen door, “but Uncle Manny let Romeo get the fries.”

“Did you just rat me out, kid?” Manny asked.

Amanda giggled and took off running when Manny pretended to start
off after her. Isabel let Manny off the hook with a grateful smile.
Everyone
knew how she felt about her kids eating too much fast food. They were only
allowed to have it sparingly. This was Friday, and he had gotten her out of a
jam, so she’d let Manny slide.

“Thanks again, Manny. You have no idea how grateful I am that you
work so close to the kids’ school.”

“Any time,” Manny said, pulling his keys out of his pocket.

“You’re welcome to hang out if you want. Fridays Romero usually
gets home earlier than normal,” she said as she walked up the porch stairs. “He
should be home in an hour or so.”

“Nah, I gotta get back to the bar,” he said, already walking to
his car then turning back. “But I will be by tomorrow. I got something for the
kids.”

“What is it?” Romeo asked, his eyes full of excitement.

Manny winked at him. “You’ll have to wait until then.”

Isabel shook her head. Manny and Max did this every year. This
was probably one of the many gifts they’d bought the kids for Christmas, but
like
kids, they couldn’t wait until Christmas, so they brought things over for
weeks before the actual holiday.

By the time Romero got home that evening, Isabel was well over
the guilt she’d begun to feel about Elliot. She’d since spoken to Valerie, and
as expected, they both got a good laugh about her blurting out that she was
happily married just because of his beautiful comment.

“Good Lord, Isabel”—Valerie had laughed—“please tell me you’re
not gonna show up Monday morning wearing your wedding photo around your neck.”

Even Romero hadn’t commented much on her having to call Manny to
pick up the kids when Amanda told him about it. Though Isabel had every
intention of telling him, her daughter, as usual, just beat her to it.

“Daddy, we got McDonald’s for lunch,” she chimed the moment he
walked into the living room.

Romero had turned to Isabel with a surprised smirk. “Really? Mom
let you guys have fast food?”

“No, Uncle Manny bought us some after he picked up us up from
school.”

Before he could ask why Manny had picked them up, Romeo had run
up to him with his Ninja Turtle. “And look what I got!”

Romero knelt down and examined the toy with a smile. “That’s
pretty cool.” He’d glanced back up at Isabel, seemingly unfazed. “Manny picked
them up?”

“Yeah, I was running late and didn’t wanna risk not making it in
time. So I called him and asked if he could.”

Romeo took advantage of his dad’s kneeling down to jump on him,
and the wrestling match ensued. Romero and the kids rolled around the front
room, and Isabel went back to finishing up dinner. Romero didn’t ask
why
she’d
been running late nor did he bring it up all afternoon.

That evening both her sisters stopped by to chat for a little
while, and both had agreed with her when she told them about her conversation
with Elliot. So it was official. She’d obviously been buried for the last
several years if her reaction to a simple compliment from a man was to blurt
out that she was happily married with kids. She’d been silly to think even for
a moment to make more out of it. Though she’d been secretly glad Romero hadn’t
asked more about the incident because, despite the girls agreeing her reaction
had been silly and uncalled for, Romero knew her too well. He always said he
could read every one of her expressions, and she’d been worried he might read
something in her eyes when she told him.

Silly or not she’d hung out after Elliot’s lecture so that they
could
work
. While she did admit to her sisters and Valerie that instead of
working they’d spent the whole time talking—which she didn’t think there was
anything wrong with since technically they’d been discussing his lecture, so it
was still work-related—she did leave out the part about the conversation
getting a little personal.

Most notably, she didn’t mention to any of them, not her sister
or even Valerie, about his other comment. It was less obvious than an all-out
compliment, yet it felt far more inappropriate. It wasn’t just that he’d admitted
his heart was stubbornly drawn to women like his ex-wife—a professor whom he
could talk to for hours without ever getting bored. It was the way he’d looked
at her when he’d said it.

She reasoned that she could be wrong—it could be just an innocent
comment—yet her gut said otherwise. Isabel knew she’d done nothing wrong today.
But the fact remained Elliot chose to mention this tidbit about his preference
in women after Isabel had been sitting there for nearly an hour—
pleasuring
his mind.

Four

Be Aware

he moment he saw them Romero had to laugh.

“What?” Manny asked, looking back down at the box little Romeo had
just unwrapped. “These were some of the best movies back in the day, stuff that
Mandy and little Moe haven’t seen but have to. They’re
classics
.”

“Yeah, but they’re DVD’s,” Romero said, shaking his head. We haven’t
owned a DVD player in years, Fred Flintstone. I keep telling you and Max to get
with the times. We download all our movies now. Play them right off the TV.”

Manny pointed at the other box the kids had yet to unwrap. “That’s
where that comes in. Open it up, Mandy.” He turned back to Romero. “What good
is having a collection of something if you can’t show it off? How are kids
these days supposed to show off their movie collections if they’re all in their
iPad or TV?” Manny sat down next to Romeo as Mandy eagerly opened up the bigger
present Manny and Max had walked in with. “And these are top of the line Blu-ray.”

Romero laughed as he saw what the bigger gift was: a Blu-ray
player. “I didn’t even know they still sold those.”

“Sure they do,” Max said. “And they ain’t cheap. We ordered the
movies online. This is just the eighties collection, but we got more wrapped up
at home for the kids. Check it out.” Romeo handed Max the box of movies when
Max asked him to. “Remember these? We had them all on VHS.”

Romero scanned the titles: ‘Goonies,’ ‘E.T.,’ ‘Jaws,’ the entire ‘Star
Wars’ and ‘Indiana Jones’ collections. “War Games?” Romero laughed. “Shit, I
haven’t seen any of these in years.”

“I’m telling you this is all the good stuff,” Manny said, smiling
proudly.

“Can we watch E.T., Daddy?” Amanda asked.

“Oh, I loved that movie when I was a kid,” Izzy said, standing
up. She leaned over and hugged Max first then Manny. “And I agree. I think
having a collection of movies is very cool. My sisters and I had all the Disney
princess movies growing up. Don’t listen to your ungrateful nephew.” She turned
to Romero and gave him a look that only made him laugh. “This was very
thoughtful of you, guys. Thank you. I’ll go make popcorn.”

They set up the Blu-ray player in the family room with the big TV,
and the kids ran upstairs to get in their pajamas and bring their blankets and
pillows down. Manny, Max, and Aida were going to hang out and watch the movie
with them.

Aida went upstairs with Izzy and the kids to help get them ready
and bring down their things. Romero told Izzy he’d finish getting the popcorn
and snacks together. His uncles followed him into the kitchen where they
started putting a tray together.

Just as Romero finished pouring the second bag of popcorn into a
bowl, he noticed Manny sneakily looking out the kitchen door into the front
room as indiscreetly as only his uncles could be. “What are you doing?” Romero
asked with a smirk.

He crumpled up the empty bag of popcorn in his hand, still
watching Manny as the big guy continued to look very obviously as if he were up
to something.

“I wanna make sure Izzy doesn’t hear me,” his uncle said in that
tone he thought was a whisper but was just as loud as his regular voice.

“Well, then whisper,” Romero said, “or at least lower your voice.”

Romero already had a feeling what this might be about. They were
as bad as he was when it came to trying to outdo Izzy with her gifts for
Christmas. Manny was probably going to try to talk Romero into telling them
what she’d gotten them.

“I
am
whispering,” Manny said just as loudly as the first
time.

“No, you’re not,” Romero said, grabbing the grapes out of the
fridge.

“She told you about yesterday, right?” Manny asked in that same
loud tone.

Both his uncles were hopeless when it came to lowering their voices,
so Romero didn’t bother repeating himself. “What about yesterday?”

“That she was late and I had to pick up the kids for her from
school.”

“Yeah, she told me,” Romero said, peering at Manny. “So?”

“Did she tell you
why
she was running late?”

Romero thought about that for a moment then shook his head. He
hadn’t even asked. “No. She just said she was running late. It happens.”

Manny and Max exchanged glances before Manny cleared his throat. “Not
to Izzy it doesn’t.”

That was partially true, but as perfect and punctual as Romero
would like to think she was, it wasn’t fair to expect her to
never
be running
late. Though at the moment he couldn’t think of a single time she’d been late
to anything especially when it came to the kids. “So what are you saying?”

“I wasn’t gonna mention it, and it’s probably not a big deal, so
don’t get all bent. I just got to thinking and thought maybe I should,” Manny
said, glancing back out the kitchen. “She said and I quote, ‘I got caught up
talking to the professor and the time just flew.’”

Now Romero stared at his uncle, not exactly sure, but he had a
feeling what Manny was trying to imply. Normally, the mere implication would
irritate the hell out of Romero, but right now he was trying to remember
any
time Izzy had lost track of time, especially knowing she had the kids to
pick up. She’d always been meticulous about everything she did, but when it
came to the kids, it was almost overkill. She was as
overly
protective
of them as a parent could get. It was why for years Manny and Max had been
busting his balls about Romeo being such a momma’s boy.