Page 36 of Not Mine To Love

“Did you see your itinerary?” Claire asked impatiently over the phone the next day. “I just emailed it to you.”

I didn’t understand. “My itinerary?” Was I going somewhere?

“Yes, we’re going to check out some wedding venues out of state.”

“We?”

“Well, certainly not you. Just Ana and I, so now’s your chance to follow Julius.”

Oh man.

“So my itinerary is what exactly?”

She sighed as if having to explain herself to a simpleton was mentally draining. “Your itinerary is a list of places that man likes to hang out.” She said man as if it was a bad word.

“It was so hard to convince Ana to go with me without him,” she whined.

Well, he is her fiancé, I wanted to say, but controlled myself.

“So I’m just supposed to stalk him while you guys are gone?” I said, giving the itinerary a glance on my phone.

“Exactly.”

All his typical hangouts were local places, some I'd yet to discover. This would be fun. I frowned, I needed to get out more. My definition of fun was starting to scare me. Playing poker with my dad and following around a guy who I was falling for, but who was also off limits… Yeah, I needed to find other hobbies.

“I’m on it. If he’s doing anything even slightly salacious, I’ll find out.”

“Wonderful.” I could hear the smile in her voice. I was glad that something made her smile. She wasn’t a complete ice queen. Just almost a complete ice queen.

I finished up the conversation with her and sat in front of my computer and stared at the itinerary. I laughed when I came across a familiar place on the list. It was the same venue I had gone to last night. I definitely wasn’t going to spy on him there. I was sure that after last night’s fiasco I was a bit too memorable to chance that. I wondered if he would be there though. I felt like a love-struck teenager hoping she’d run into her crush. Snap out of it, I told myself, you have a job to do.

I knew I wouldn’t find anything, but I still needed to make it appear as if I was trying. It was time for a stake-out. I planted myself in a cheap rental car across the street from his home and put on a wig. The wig was also cheap and looked it, but I didn’t plan to get close enough for Julius to question the quality.

I placed my hands behind my head and hoped he didn’t have neighborhood cops who might swing by and catch me. I wasn’t a very good liar, and I was sure admitting to stalking someone wouldn’t be something the cops would like to hear.

At eight o’clock sharp Julius left his house, and I followed him wishing I was a real detective and had a way to tap his phone or set up a camera at his house. There were things I would rather do like sleep in late than follow Julius around for absolutely no reason.

Alas, I wasn’t a real detective and needed the money, so I just did what I was told. I really wondered what Claire expected me to find. What kind of wrongdoing did she think Julius was capable of? Was she hoping that I would get a pic of him flirting with a waitress or, even better yet, meeting up with a secret lover? I laughed at the absurdity of it all.

We pulled up to a bakery, and I frowned. I sincerely doubted that his secret lover would be there. But who knew? Maybe he was having an affair with the sugar cookies? I would totally have an affair with sugar cookies. I would just sit around and eat them all day.

I made myself focus on the task in front of me instead of fantasizing about sugar cookies. I watched as Julius walked in and I reached for my camera. From what I could tell, he bought what seemed to be a box of muffins or maybe cookies, tipped the cashier, and then walked away. So far, he seemed to be an upstanding guy, but we were only on his first stop. Who knew what conniving, no-good things he planned to do with those muffins, I thought to myself with a giggle.

The next stop was a gated retirement village. I couldn’t go in there. But it seemed Julius wasn’t either. Instead, he got out of his car and started chatting with the security guard. He handed him the box, said a few words, gave him a hug and then left.

I wondered what that was all about.

Finally, he made his way to the coffee house where we had originally met. He wasn’t scheduled to be there until sometime in the afternoon, but I guessed he needed his coffee earlier. I knew I couldn’t get close enough without him noticing me so I stayed in the car.

I sat there playing on my phone not expecting much action. An hour passed, and then two. I was terrible at stakeouts. I needed to stretch my legs.

I pulled into the parking lot of a little park behind the coffee house where a bunch of nannies or stay-at-home moms were hanging out with their kiddos. A few gave me curious looks as I walked around, clearly kid-less. I ignored the looks and stretched while letting out a big yawn. And, of course, my stomach growled. I missed breakfast.

“Fancy meeting you here,” said a voice.

I instantly tensed, but downplayed my surprise. “Hi, Leona.”

“What’s up with the wig? It looks terrible.”