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All I can think of right now is Fizzy and Harrison working together…and playing together. I don’t want to believe it, but they could be and I feel sick inside. I thought she was in love with Santiago. Could be they’ve split up. Fizzy hasn’t said anything to me though.

What’s wrong with her? What’s wrong with me? I feel even worse now, if that’s possible, than when I got home from this convoluted evening. It’s as if I’m trapped in a strange nightmare, but this is real and I have to do something.

“Frankie, are you there?” Chloe asks, sounding concerned.

I let out a frustrated sigh. “Yeah, I was digesting everything you told me.”

“Oh,” she says in a flat tone.

I pause and realize that Chloe sounds a little down. What kind of a friend am I? I’ve been yakking about all my problems and I haven’t even asked how she is.

“Enough about my problems. Tell me about you. How’s Brad?”

Chloe hesitates. “Nothing has changed. Unfortunately, we’re invited to another of his frat brothers’ weddings next month,” she says, sounding gloomy. “The sixth
one this year.”

“That’s no fun,” I say, filled with sympathy for Chloe’s plight. What an effort it must be to cheer a wedding couple when her longtime boyfriend is allergic to marriage!

“I don’t know how much longer I can sit there smiling, when I feel so hurt that Brad can’t even say the word marriage without choking on it.”

“He needs to miss you.”

“Tell me about it…” She sounds so despondent, I wish I could do something.

“Chloe, why don’t you come to Miami for a visit?” I ask on a whim. “You need a break from Brad.”
So you can open your eyes and see him for the selfish, commitment phobic guy he is
, I wish I could add. But I don’t because I would never hurt Chloe’s feelings. We’ve gone down this road before and she can’t bear the thought of losing Brad. She’s convinced he needs more time to mature. They’ve been together for ten years, for God’s sake! Brad is an overgrown frat boy, a real Peter Pan. And my smart, beautiful friend is still waiting for him to grow up?
Come on
.

“Maybe I will. The real estate market has slowed down a lot and I’m leasing more than I’m selling these days.”

“Then take advantage of the slow market and get away for a few days. When Brad finds out what a great time you’ve had in Miami, he’ll get jealous.”

“Maybe.” She doesn’t sound convinced.

“You should see all the Latin hunks here.
Muy calientes
,” I say, deepening my voice seductively.

“Ha! You’re tempting me.”

“Please come. Pretty please? You can stay with me, of course.”

“I’d love to. I’m dying to see your new place.”

“Oh, Chloe, it would be so much fun! I’ll even introduce you to Devon,” I tease. “You should have seen the way he handled La Dragona. He told her it was obvious she hadn’t had an orgasm in a long time and offered to help her.”

“No!” Chloe exclaims with a nervous giggle. I can tell she’s enjoying this. “What did she do?”

“At first she was speechless, which is a real feat for Devon. La Dragona spews bile most of the time. He handed her his card and in a booming voice told her that a personal consultation with him would do her a world of good.” I giggle. “Then he said, ‘May Venus the goddess of sex smile down upon you’ or something like that.”

More giggles erupt from Chloe. “I can’t believe how outrageous he is.”

“Her
eyes nearly popped out of their sockets and she looked like he was strangling her, but he wasn’t. He was grinning like a devil. She said, ‘How dare you!’ in a haughty voice and threw Devon’s card back at him. Then she called him a degenerate in Spanish and left in a huff,” I say, between giggles.

“Okay, now I
have
to meet Devon,” Chloe says. “I’ll look into flights and let you know.”

“Yay! That’s the best news I’ve heard all day. I can hardly wait!”

“Me too.”

“We’re going to have too much fun.”

Romeo: What’s this? Scout and Harrison are at Fizzy’s and we’re not there too? I don’t like Coquette hanging out with Scout. How will she resist his scruffy charm and those long, powerful legs? Mine are sturdy and muscular, but they’re no match for Scout’s mighty ones.

Why have they excluded us? I want that cute bitch Coquette all to myself and I’d love to sire some whelps.

I am not the ménage-a-trois type, so back off, Scout! Grrr… I feel like gnawing on something again. Looks like it’s time for Plan B…

Chapter Twenty

It’s early morning and I’m driving to Elise’s house on a mission to help her. We need to come up with a plan of action ASAP. I also need to get that flash drive from her or Antoinette is going to kill me. Last night, Elise and I agreed that we’d meet for coffee first thing today, before I go to the station.

I wish I could come up with a plan of action for
my
personal life. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about last night and the fact that Fizzy never called me back. I stayed up late waiting for her to call when Harrison left, but she never did. I didn’t want to risk calling her again while he was still there.

I can’t help feeling hurt and betrayed by both of them. Even if I’ve told Fizzy that Harrison’s not right for me, she knew I was crushing on him anyway. It hurts to imagine Harrison and Fizzy together.

I thought Fizzy had a weakness for Latin macho men like her Santiago. Maybe Harrison has gotten under her skin…like he’s gotten under mine. I was looking for someone completely different, but now I can’t get him out of my mind.

Small wonder Harrison prefers Fizzy’s company. He’d rather be with a fun-loving redhead than nutty me. I probably deserve it since I threw him out of my apartment and told him to butt out of my love life.

I pull into Elise’s driveway in front of her cottage style house in Coconut Grove. Time to put my personal stuff on the back burner. I won’t think about Harrison and Fizzy anymore and focus on Elise.

I’m about to get out of the car when Elise opens the front door and waves at me. She looks amazing in a navy blue dress. Her blond hair is perfectly blown out, sleek and shiny. She’s wearing makeup and dangly gold loop earrings and looks ten years younger and ten pounds lighter.

“Elise, wow, you look fabulous!” I squeal when she joins me in the car.

“Thanks for the spa package with the Keratin hair treatment.” Elise gives me a wan smile. “It really picked me up and was exactly what I needed yesterday.”

“My pleasure,” I say, happy that I could do
something
to lift her spirits.

“Especially after I heard the rotten news about Alex stealing my job,” she adds looking dejected.

“Antoinette said it was only temporary,” I remind her.

Elise puts her purse on the floor and turns to face me. I can see the purplish circles under her eyes camouflaged by concealer.

“Nothing is ‘temporary’ when it comes to Alex. I’ve got the twins to prove it.”

“But Antoinette said…” I begin in a gentle tone.

“I don’t care what Antoinette said, I don’t trust Alex. He’s ruthless and we both know Antoinette lusts after every good-looking man she comes across.”

“True. And you’re right about Alex. He
is
ruthless.” I wish it weren’t so.

“I’m more determined than ever to look good on camera
and
reclaim my job.”

“I hear you. Whatever you did, it’s working,” I say, beaming at her as she buckles her seat belt.

She gives a little self-deprecating shrug. “Thanks, but I’m halfway there getting back to my old self. There’s no time to waste.”

“Yeah. Let’s get a move on.” I start the ignition and within minutes, we’re at Bob’s Bagels, buttering our toasted asiago cheese bagels and sipping strong hazelnut coffee.

“You’re probably wondering how I got involved with Alex,” Elise says.

“The thought did cross my mind.” I look at her expectantly and she lets out a sigh.

“I met him when I was an ER nurse and he was an intern at Jackson Memorial. I’m older than Alex by a few years.”

“Really? You don’t look it. Were you dating then?”

“No, I was married at the time, but I thought Alex was the hottest guy I’d ever seen,” she says, making a revolted face.

“It’s not hard to fall for him. On the surface he’s handsome and quite a catch. But when the layers get stripped away, he’s rotten to the core.”

“Tell me about it. After my divorce from Matt, I ran into Alex at a charity gala. He was with a date and I was too, but before I left, he slipped me his card. I nearly swooned when he sent me a smoldering look. I called him the next day and we started dating right away.”

“How long ago was that?”

“About two years. Alex literally swept me off my feet. Before I knew it, we were in a hot and heavy relationship—but with no strings attached. That’s how he insisted it had to be.”

“Oh. That’s what Alex said last night,” I say half-heartedly. I don’t want to hurt her more, but she should be armed with knowing what he said to me.

Elise looks grief-stricken. “I didn’t purposely get pregnant to trap him. It was an accident. I
never
wanted to be a single parent raising twins!” Her eyes well up and her shoulders droop and shake. She is breaking my heart. “Now the boys will grow up without a dad,” she says in a lifeless voice.

“I believe you. I know you wouldn’t have gotten pregnant to trap Alex. Please don’t cry. You’re going to do a great job raising them without him.” I hand her a tissue from my purse. “How could you even stand his mother? I call her La Dragona, which means dragon lady.”

Elise covers her mouth with the tissue and I hear a strangled giggle escape between soft, hiccupy sobs. “
Dragona
. What is she like? I never met her.”

“Really? No wonder you lasted two years with him. If you’d met his mom, you would have run in the opposite direction, waving your arms and screaming for help.”

Elise puts her cup down and stares at me. “Wait a second. How did you meet Alex’s mother?”

I hang my head and have a hard time meeting her curious gaze. “We were, uh dating, for a short while,” I say, feeling sick to my stomach. Boy was I duped by Alex’s “Heart to Heart” newspaper column.

Elise’s jaw drops. “You were?”

“Yes, but not anymore. I had no idea he was your twins’ father. Funny thing is, he has twin sisters.”

“He mentioned them to me once, but I never met them. I got the feeling he supports them.”

I roll my eyes. “He does. He pays for all their expenses and keeps them living in the lap of luxury. They’re a pretentious lot.”

“That’s weird, considering he’s such a tightwad with everyone else. I don’t understand why. He sure makes a ton of money.”

“No kidding,” I say sarcastically. “He stiffed me with the dinner bill from Ortanique when he had to rush to the hospital for a patient.”

Elise’s mouth gapes at my revelation. “He pulled the same stunt on me, more than a few times—and at the same restaurant.”

“You must hate him.”

Elise’s sigh is a combination of despair and disgust. “I do. But he is Jake and Josh’s father,” she says, looking mournful. She puts the other half of her bagel down uneaten and shoves her plate away. “I can’t help wishing that Alex would at least want to see them. The minute he found out I was pregnant, he dumped me.”

I put my bagel down too. Suddenly I have no appetite. “What a creep.”

“I feel so stupid. Why did I surrender to him so completely? He was selfish, sometimes callous. I am not the victim type, but with Alex I sure was an idiot.” She takes a deep, shuddering breath.

“The French call it
l’amour fou
, you know—crazy love. It takes over your life, your head and your heart…and always ends in heartbreak.” Ironically, I might sound like I’m the expert, but I’m just as confused as she is.

“You’re right,” Elise sobs into her tissue. “He broke my heart, damn him!”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that,” I say, feeling like a heel.

“It’s not your fault. I can’t seem to keep my emotions in check. My hormones are doing a real number on me.”

“They’ll balance out soon, won’t they?” Elise would know—she’s the nurse, not me. Post-partum must be like a very bad case of PMS.

“It doesn’t help that my sons’ father is a deadbeat asshole.” Elise says bitterly, throwing the wet, crumpled tissue in her purse. “I’m sorry to draw you into this.”

“Don’t apologize. We’re friends.”

“Thanks.” She takes deep, shuddering breaths. “I really appreciate your friendship. I’m glad we work together.”

“Me too,” I say, handing her another tissue when her eyes fill with tears again.

Work.
I suddenly remember that I have to get the flash drive from Elise.

“Antoinette told me about the case you’ve been working on,” I say. “She said you have a flash drive for me with all the information.”

“I do…but my office is such a mess right now…” she says, looking overwhelmed.

“Oh, okay, well maybe you can look for it today. Please call me when you find it and I’ll swing by after work to pick it up.”