Page 177 of From Rivals to I Do

Raf stirred, then his face scrunched a little as his eyes opened slowly. He looked around groggily and, upon seeing Abel standing over him, sat up slowly, yawning and stretching.

"Oh, shoot," he said while yawning. He rubbed his eyes for a moment. When he finally looked back at him, he had a distinct, annoyed look. "What are you doing home so late?"

"Boss' car stalled," said Abel. "Had to walk her home."

Raf did not say anything for a moment, which made Abel think he was still half asleep. Then, finally, Raf grunted in acknowledgment, "Yeah, well, call me next time you're going to be home late, all right? I'm responsible for you now."

Abel smirked at him. "Yeah, sure. If I decide to rob a liquor store on the way home—"

"Hey, hey. Do not joke about that, man. If something jumps off and you're not home, they might pull you in just for being nearby."

Abel's clever smirk dropped. Rafael seemed a little more testy than usual. "Okay, okay. I'll call next time."

Rafael nodded, then looked him over carefully. "So, that's where you were, huh? Walking the boss home?"

"What? You don't believe me?" Rafael just shrugged. Abel scoffed. "Well, that's where I was. It was a good thing, too. She had her kid with her today."

"Oh," said Rafael.

Abel stood there momentarily, thinking of Camilla and how lovely she looked under the streetlights. Their conversation was so natural like they'd known each other the whole time. Maybe they did, he thought. But, on the other hand, it struck him as odd that she'd gone to school with them, and he never ran into her even once. Not even around the neighborhood.

"You know she went to Mulholland?" he asked Rafael, sitting on the couch next to him.

"Yeah," he said. "I mean, I guess. But, of course, we weren't in the same grade, so I never saw Camilla, but she told me she was there for a second before her dad took her out."

"Her family lives around here?"

He paused, looking at Abel with a slight scowl. "I don't know. Probably. Why do you want to know so bad?"

Abel shrugged, and a smile started to appear across his face involuntarily. He was smiling like a goofball now at the thought of her. Then, finally, Abel put his head down and got up. "No reason," he said. "I'm going to head to bed."

Rafael's scowl deepened, the wrinkles in his forehead got dark, and lines started to form around his mouth. "Hold up," he said. "What's with the twenty questions?"

Abel just sighed, the smile still there on his face. His face was starting to get warm now. "Nothing, I was just curious," he said. "I mean, we got to talking, and she mentioned that she went to Mulholland and, I don't know. I was curious about it."

Rafael's eyes moved over Abel's face, and he felt like he was under a microscope all of a sudden. "Not her, man."

"What?"

"I see you cheesing. I know what you are thinking and not Camilla. She's not the one for you."

Abel's smile faded, and he just regarded Rafael with mild confusion. Rafael's heightened irritation showed as he started to rock back and forth on the couch. "I didn't say anything about being into her or anything. I was asking—"

"Are you into her?"

He was. Of course, he was, and being confronted with the question so bluntly made him want to deny everything. He could not lie to Rafael, though. Rafael always had a way of sniffing out a lie when it came to him. "Maybe," he confessed sheepishly. "So, what if I am?"

"She's damaged goods, man," said Rafael. "I mean, what, with her husband dying—"

"He died years ago, man—"

"That's even worse! I mean, think about it. A woman's husband died years ago, and she still hasn't moved on with somebody else?" He shook his head. "Nah, man. That's a red flag. There's something wrong with her. You just haven't seen it yet."

Abel scowled at him at first but stopped and thought about it. She was controlling at work and nitpicky. There could be something to what he was saying.

"Trust me on this, okay? A guy like you does not want to get mixed up with a woman that's got a lot of baggage like that. Especially with you just getting out and everything. You're going to end up catching a case for real around a girl like that."

Abel snorted. Now he sounded crazy. Camilla might have a slight control issue, but she was not some raving psycho. He waved him off. "Man, whatever. I'm going to bed."

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