Chapter 11: Sarah

I got a call from Arturo on my day off. I was pissed. I had plans for the day. I needed to go over the personnel files of every eligible woman who worked at Chris' company. I couldn't afford another Mara. It broke my heart every time I thought about him being with a skank like her. I needed to find a nice girl for him. Someone he could grow to love and have babies with. I knew it would kill me when he finally found someone, but I wanted her to be perfect for him.

Arturo told me to dress up and make myself beautiful again. He was tired of me showing up to work looking like an old shoe. I showered and put on a nice dress. I went to the address Arturo gave me and discovered that I'd been to the place before. It was one of the places Chris liked to hang out in. I hoped he wasn't here.

Arturo met me in the parking lot and gave me the assignment. I was supposed to do surveillance on a guy who might be cheating on his girlfriend. I started to object. Arturo knew that I don't do those cases anymore. Ever since Chris, I do insurance fraud or other things. "Do this one for me, please," Whined Arturo. "This guy is a real scumbag. He's nothing like your Chris."

Why was Arturo calling him "My Chris," did everyone think I had fallen for him?

"Arturo, don't ask me to do this again," I snapped.

"He's sitting at the third table on the right," smiled Arturo. "Thanks Sarah, you won't regret this."

"I will if Chris goes out and gets hurt or gets his heart broken while I'm watching your scumbag," I said.

What I couldn't figure out though, was why Arturo was grinning broadly as I went into the bar.

I got a table and called the waitress over. She brought me a glass of white wine and I sat back to watch the scumbag. He was fidgeting nervously at his table. That was exactly the type of behavior you'd expect from someone who was cheating.

Suddenly all of my instincts came back online. I was going to enjoy nailing this son of a bitch to the wall by his nut sack. It was guys like this one that made it so hard on the good guys like my Chris. Did I really call him that?

I was on the hunt. Then believe it or not someone put my favorite fucking song on the god damned juke box. I was humming along with the song "Private eyes," when suddenly they got to the third verse and I realized that I'd been set up.

"Why you try, to put up a front for me. I'm a spy but I'm on your side you see."

I got up and approached the table. When I got there I sat across from the man and noticed that the long greasy hair he wore was a wig. And his big nose and glasses were one of those Groucho Marx masks from a joke shop. I laughed just as Darryl hall and John Oates sang, "Slip on into any disguise. I'll still know you, look into my private eyes."

I pulled the mask off revealing Chris' handsome face.

"It took you long enough to figure it out," he said. "I thought you were supposed to be some kind of private eye. If I hadn't had them play that damned song, I could have been sitting here all night." he laughed as he said it. "What are you doing Sarah?" he asked.

"Something I've wanted to do forever," I said as I kissed him. The kiss was even better than I'd imagined it would be.That kiss must've lasted for ten minutes. It told him everything he needed to know about me. I already knew everything there was to know about him.

In the end, just as on every hunt I've ever done, I got my man. That night at Arnold's may have marked the end of "Private Eyes," but it was only the beginning of Sarah and Chris. We've lived happily ever since. But that's another story.