“Hi Sergio,” Ellie said as she sat beside Sergio at the  Slow and Easy.  It was raining and the memory of that sunny afternoon last time Ellie met Sergio flashed back as she looked out the rain driven windows to see the empty bench where they had been seated.  The rain had also kept people from coming out leaving the tables inside the pub empty, giving the bar a deserted feel.

“Hello, gorgeous.” Sergio said, leaning over to kiss her.

Ellie pulled away slightly, feeling very silly.

“Oh my darling, is everything ok?”

“Oh Sergio, I don’t how to tell you!” Ellie began to cry, tears during down her cheeks, she tilted her head back in an effort to stop the flow of tears, unsuccessfully.

“Come here my darling princess, let me hold you!” Sergio pulled her closer and then sat down beside her.

“No, no, Sergio.  I need to talk to you first.” Ellie managed to pull herself together and pushed herself out of his embrace.

Sergio sat looking at her, obediently waiting until Ellie began to talk.

Ellie looked at Sergio, his strong jaw, dark eyes with those dark long lashes, his full lips.  She focussed on his eyes and then looked away.

“I am, I’mmm. I have met someone else!” Ellie stammered.

Sergio began to open his mouth to speak.

Ellie held up her hand to signal to him not to speak, “I met him in the hospital after Kate got stabbed but I didn’t see him again, I wanted to sort things out between you and me.  But then I accidentally met up with him on Monday and one thing led to another.” Ellie looked at her hands, ashamed.

Sergio just stared at her, she could see he was lost for words.

“What do you want to do?” was all he said when he found the words to speak.

“I want to see where the relationship with Mike, that’s his name, Mike, goes.”  Ellie said truthfully, looking into Sergio’s eyes.  She was expecting to him looking sad and perhaps teary but his eyes told a different picture to his face.

“I understand, princess,” he whispered.  “We have been an item a long time, you need to know that what we have is going to last, so I can understand your fling!”

Ellie looked at Sergio incredulously.

“I, I,” Ellie didn’t know what to say.  She was expecting Sergio to be angry or upset but not this.  She shook her head.

“You don’t have to say anything , my princess.  I understand completely.  I myself have done the same thing, to check that we are made for each other, you understand?” he continued, “and I know because of these ‘flings’ as you are having now that you are my princess!  Always.”

“But Sergio, I don’t want to be in a relationship with you!” Ellie said, quite unexpectedly, she had not planned to say anything like this.

“I know, I know.  You are upset because you think I am not your one and only and that my work takes precedence at the moment.  But once your ‘fling’ losses it’s attraction, as did mine, you will realise we are made for each other.  I am not going anywhere, princess I will be here for you when you come back!  What is it they say, ‘If you love something, let if free…’.”

Sergio continued to smile charmingly, Ellie still looking stunned faced at him.

“Ok, ok.  If that’s how you want it, but I won’t be coming back!”

“Ah, yes, I know.  I too felt that way with a new fling, but it will wear off.  Your heart will always return to the one it loves.”

Ellie began to allow the information Sergio was giving her to sink in, “Ok, so you have had flings with other women, while we have been going out?” Ellie began to see what he was saying as the words began to formulate in her head.

“Yes, but you have always and will always be the one I love.  I always come back to you.  Even when I had a ‘fling’ with the blonde Parisian model.  She was anatomically correct in every way, I was certain she was the one, I did not want to return to you and your busy work life, and your pokey basement apartment.  But alas, she was not the one, I came back to you!” Sergio offered, his face beaming, his hand reaching out for hers.

Ellie pulled her hand away, “So you had an affair with a Parisian model? When? Where?” Ellie became lost for words again, unsure how to put them together to make any sort of sense.

“It doesn’t matter my love.  I came back to you.  You are the one I love.  You have waited for me and I will do the same for you!”

“I don’t want to wait for you!” Ellie stood up and began to leave the pub but as she got to the door of the pub she was reminded of the other reason she wanted to see Sergio, to ask him about who Kate was running away from last time they were there.  She sighed, knowing that all she wanted to do was go home and forget the conversation she had just had, have a long shower and forget the relationship all together.  But she knew he might have some recollection of who Kate was running away from.

She turned and willed herself back to Sergio, where he still sat watching her.

“Come sit, we can talk this through.  You don’t need to make any hasty decisions now!” Sergio cooed, in a way that had calmed and relaxed Ellie but now only served to make her feel nauseous.

“I just wanted to ask you about Kate, the last time we saw her.”

“Ah, Kate.  Now she’s a hard one to crack.  You know I thought she had something for me when I first met you but it wasn’t until the Christmas party of that year.  Is this what it’s all about!”

“You, what? You slept with my best friend?” Ellie practically shrieked.

“Well not exactly, we were at the karaoke restaurant, do you remember?  There was no where to sleep there, but we were both satiated.  I had to tell her that under not uncertain terms was it to happen again, you were too important to me, even in the early days.”

Ellie shook her head.  She knew she was going to need a bottle of wine and Emma on the other end of the phone to get over this one.

She pushed on, “No I mean when you and me were here last time, the other week, when we had to put Kate in a cab home.”

“Ah, yes.  Sorry I thought you meant, well you know.”

“No, when Kate was running out of the pub and bumped into us.  Do you remember she looked really frightened and kept looking over her shoulder?”

“Yes, I remember putting her in a cab, she was in a state.  I’d say she was high.  You know the more you use that stuff the more paranoid you become!”

“Well, she was stabbed the week before, I think she had every right to be paranoid.  Do you remember who it was she was looking at?” Ellie persisted.

“No, no, there were so many people then, it was sunny, we were outside.  I had been away for a few weeks.” Sergio seemed to be replaying the event in his head. “I remember her looking back, there was another man coming out at the same time, a little behind her.” Sergio nodded and closed his eyes.

“Yes I think I had seen him before but I can’t place the face, it was not striking, quite plain.  White man with dark hair, about six feet.  I am sure I have seen him before but I can’t place where or when!”  Sergio smiled at her and offered his hand. “Friends, for now.  I will wait for you, princess.”

Ellie looked at his hand and then at his face, those big dark eyes with the long lashes now looked like Venus fly traps and his smooth smile now looked smarmy.

Ellie stood up shaking her head.  “Thanks Sergio.” And with that she left the pub.