Eden had always wanted to try the Animal restaurant. While Cody was eclectic in some things, he definitely wasn't as adventurous as his girlfriend. The thought of fried rabbit legs and veal brain didn't sound like a meal he would willingly eat, even if it was the last restaurant on earth.
She quickly found parking and went inside the restaurant. Waving back at her was a gorgeous brunette with frames. Eden rushed over and gave a friendly handshake to the smiling woman. "Bonita, I take it?"
"In the flesh!" Sarah beckoned Eden to sit down and she complied. "Go ahead and order. I already ordered the poutine."
"I think I'm going to try…" Eden scanned the menu. "…the Japanese uni."
"Ah, very good choice," Sarah agreed, "I heard uni is the new foie gras."
"I was never a fan of foie gras," Eden shrugged, "I bought into the hipster hype of it and was disappointed I played Follow the Leader."
"Explore your own. Be your own." Sarah took a sip of water.
"Bonita Applebum," Eden chuckled, "I know that's your screen name but your secret is safe with me."
"If you must know," Sarah shrugged, "it's Sarah. But I know you didn't come here to chitchat about delicacies and all that jazz so let's get down to business. I have something of very useful information you can use but it's going to cost you."
"What is it and how much?"
"2500 cash," Sarah replied, "no pesos, traveler's checks, Visas and Mastercards, but I might consider American Express."
The price was a steep one for Eden. She knew how much she was going have to sacrifice. It was going to be a long month of turkey sandwiches, cereal, and hot dogs for her meals. Starbucks and the like would be luxury items. There wasn't a guarantee she was going to recoup the money via blog hits and advertising. "That's a lot of money for something I'm not sure of."
"I have hardcore evidence for you; something Canadian Bacon can't argue," Sarah mentioned, "she'll try but it's her words matching her voice and face…" she paused. "…on camera."
Eden sat straight up in her seat. Now the price tag started to make sense. "On camera?"
"As recently as today."
"Oooh…" Eden blew out a small breath and relaxed her shoulders, though her heart was doing backflips. "And you're sure it's Renee?"
"I wouldn't have met you here if I didn't have solid concrete proof." Sarah insisted. "Renee is a fraud."
"And water is wet," Eden shrugged, "tell me something I don't know."
"I have proof she's lying and she's trying to pass off a good friend of mine's work as hers."
"So wait a minute…" Eden began to put the pieces together. "…you're not the artist?"
"Girlfriend, do I look like I can draw?" Sarah chuckled. "The artist wants to remain hidden until she's ready to reveal herself."
"So then she really is with Dean?" Eden asked.
"Very much so."
"Heh." Eden pressed her lips together.
Sarah knew too much about body language to know that wasn't a good reaction. "Yes?"
"Well," Eden pulled out her phone and showed it to Sarah, "can she explain this?"
Sarah removed the frames to get a closer look at the images before her. In a series of shots, Dean and Renee kissed and held hands at a local restaurant. If the pictures were public, it was only a matter of time before Sydney viewed them. If Sydney's reaction to the first set of pictures was bad, Sarah was going have to prepare herself for the Category Five storm known as Hurricane Sydney. Sarah slowly felt the contents of her liquor shelf disappear out of her grasp. "Oh dear."
"Is his girlfriend okay with this?" Eden glanced again at the pictures. "It appears they were on a date."
"I'm sure there's an explanation for this," Sarah found herself defending Dean for reasons she wasn't sure about, "but no, she wouldn't be okay with this. Hell, would you be okay if your man was playing tonsil hockey with your enemy?"
"I guess I wouldn't be," Eden took back the phone and put it away. "In light of that, we don't have to reveal Dean has a girlfriend. We can just expose Renee."
"I think that's the best choice for now," Sarah wondered when the frantic phone call was going to come from Sydney, "and then I'll handle Dean and his girlfriend."
"Good," Eden replied. The food order came by and both ladies began to eat. "So I guess Deanee is officially over?"
"Oh sweetie," Sarah laughed, "Deanee was never a thing to begin with."
Sydney got up from the kitchen table and began to make a cup of tea, hoping the nagging feeling of wanting to Internet Detective would go away. She kept saying she wanted to Google more information about Dean's relationship with Renee, but she also knew how bad that looked.
Would she be okay with what she found? What if it was something that bothered her? Could she really believe her fiancée when he said Renee was officially in his past?
The mosquito in her ear kept getting louder and louder with its request to go online snooping. Sydney set down her cup and parked herself in front of her computer. "Okay, let's do this," she sighed as she typed in their names on the search bar.
Roman wished he didn't care. In fact, he shouldn't have cared. Yet, he did.
When Sydney kissed him goodbye the other day, he swore that was going to be the end of them and the end of seeing her. He wouldn't look her up. He wouldn't bother her friends. He would just leave her alone. And he did.
He didn't stop by the hospital. He didn't go to Macy's. He didn't call or text Sydney at all.
He warned her the relationship wasn't going to last and she laughed in his face. He warned him she was going to leave him the moment she got tired of the bullshit and lies, and Little Engine threatened to huff and puff.
So it surprised Roman…no, it amused him when he received a sudden text from his ex-girlfriend.
You were right. He's a lying bastard. There, I hope you're happy now.
What do you want me to do?
Nothing.
"You're occupied with something." Taker mentioned as the two men met over lunch. Roman slid his phone over to Taker and the older man glanced down at the conversation with accompanying pictures. "Okay. Now what?"
Roman leaned back into his chair. "I'm going to L.A."
"When?"
"Today."