Caray, Caray!

Remember Lety saying: "I'll never have to see Don Fern again" ? Well, she still doesn't see him.

In Marcia's apartment, Fern reassures her: "I won't see Lety - my dad and the lawyers will do it - she and I are finished." His reassurances become progressively less reassuring. "I have no way to get back with her - I'm trying to leave it all behind - please help me! I'm afraid." He hugs Marcia absently and takes her to bed where they snuggle in a gloomy and perfunctory manner.

Next morning Tomas is wheezing and stumbling around the park - Lety, dressed as an Easter bunny, has dragged him out for a nice trot, saying: "We have to take care of the body, thus we take care of the spirit." "Where'd you get this @#$%^ idea??!" "From an unforgettable friend in Acapulco."

That friend in Acapulco loses points with me as we see him roaring down the beach in a noisy ATV! Bad Aldo! He's shouting "I miss Lety!!" and cackling!

Cute little lawyer Sanchez calls Lety and welcomes her back to Mexico City air pollution and tells her the meeting has been cancelled, he doesn't know why, if she finds out will she let him know? and she should expect a call at home.

Julieta thinks Fern has something to do with the cancellation, Lety says "No, there's no way he wants to see me." She goes to her room in a panic, thought-bubbling: it takes all my strength just to think about talking to him. She remembers her courage during the dive with Aldo. "He helps me, and I can confide in him... Where are you? I wish I had your strength here with me, I miss you."

Aldo decides he wants to come find her in Mexico City. He talks to his friend Guillermo, head of the restauranteur association, who lives in town. "I want to start doing the things I used to do before my wife's death, renew my old friendships... yes, I would like to come see you ... how about today?"

Marcia and Fern arrive at Conceptos. Omar's there but Humbie hasn't arrived. Marcia and Fern kiss in front of the Feas, who sigh about lovely love. Fern looks very ill at ease.

He and Omar agree they are worried that Lety's the only hope for the business - as a lifesaver she's a penca de nopal (stalk of prickly-pear cactus). Fern: "She must hate me so much, why would she help?" "Are you tempted to talk to her?" "All I've been hoping for, all these days, is to talk to her, and yesterday was very difficult because I knew where she was, but I couldn't go, because I was with Marcia, we're giving it another try. Besides, Lety hates me, what can I do?" "It seems the responsibility for that hatred is all yours." "I'm afraid if I talk to her she'll get angry all over again and then she won't help with the business."

Humberto walks in; our Bobbsey twins in expensive suits jump up and knock things over; Humberto gets Lety's number and leaves to make The Phonecall; Fernando sneaks a peak as Humberto sits alone, shaping his thoughts. Fern goes to eavesdrop in the next room.

Meanwhile Julieta is feeding Erasmo (soon she'll be putting a bib on him and spooning stuff into his mouth so he doesn't have to exert himself). At least he compliments her: "Your chiliquitas would revive the dead." They rehash the Sanchez phone call.

Lety arrives, still in pink, and asks for cereal with fruit and yogurt for breakfast; the chiliquitas have too much fat and she wants to listen to what her body needs. "No diets in this house!" grumps Erasmo. "Let her eat what she wants," counters Julieta, "she wants to be prettier." "She is already beautiful, of course! She's a Padilla!" He invokes his fat aunt who was beautiful in every way. Julieta counters with her own beautiful elegant aunt. As Erasmo's dissertation on the "distinguished and classy Padillas" reaches a climax, Tomas arrives. He can barely hobble to the trough after his run around the park this morning. He commences shoveling food into his mouth. Erasmo gets cross. Lety says: "I know it's your house, dad, but I live here too and Tomas is my best friend, my brother, part of this family, even if he doesn't come up to the gorgeousness standard of the Padilla-Solis." "Thank God!" mutters Tomas, then "I meant, rather, thank God for this sacred food."

The Padilla phone rings. All crowd round to listen. It's Humberto, who says he's worried. Lety: "Why? We told you we wouldn't keep your business. We were going to sign the papers this morning, but the meeting was cancelled." "I know, it was I who cancelled the meeting. I appreciate your attitude. I want to see you, just the two of us alone, could you possibly come today?" "Where?" "Here, at Conceptos." "No, that's not convenient." "But I'll be making a series of decisions and I'll need the committee to ratify them. I don't want to postpone again, I need to know the future of the business. I'm begging you." She agrees. Erasmo gives her thumbs up.

Ariel enters the conference room and asks snidely after "our savior;" Humberto follows behind and says Lety's coming in. "Why here?" "I know you don't want to see her, but we must put pride aside. We need to let her in if we want her cooperation." Marcia starts to bolt, Humberto says "that's not the way a team player behaves, we must all make the sacrifice." She says she doesn't feel well and leaves. Asked how Lety reacted to the call, Humberto says she was disconcerted - she has no idea what's going to happen.

Fernando is sure she won't help. He remembers the Mendiroels snarling at Lety: "Never come back, don't expect a reference, you're a calamity." Fern: "We humiliated her!" They all remember times they kicked sand in her face. [Another reminder to us all that it's never safe to be creepy to anybody.] Fern: "We weren't just rotten to her that last day, but all the days and months before that."

Lety wants to go to the meeting alone as Humberto requested. "I'm brave! And they bent their knees to me!" Caro calls and, when told about the upcoming confrontation, suggests they meet for coffee. Julieta takes Lety aside and says, "I know how hard this is, I'll be praying for you." Lety dashes out; Humberto insisted on driving her but while his car won't start there's time for the local louts to taunt Lety: "You dress like a nun of the last century." She thanks them for their valuable feedback.

In a coffee shop, Caro is very fetching in pigtails and Daisy Dukes. She reminds her quivering friend to be the new Lety: brave, free and decisive. "When you're afraid, you don't see clearly." "I need Aldo, I think of him. It's scary when I think of seeing ... you know who." "It's your trial by fire, you can conquer it!" "I need Aldo to give me strength."

Caro's cellphone rings - naturally it's Aldo, just off the plane, asking where he can find Lety. "Hmm, that might be hard, she has a business meeting." "Well, I'd like to talk with her and tell her I'm here." Caro passes over the phone to the astonished Lety. "ALDO? What are you doing here?" "Well, the traffic jams of Mexico City have their enchantments of course, and I'm visiting my restaurant buddy who has a project for me to prepare." "Welcome." "Is that all? I was hoping for a hug." "I have to go to Conceptos now, but thanks - talking to you put my soul back in my body." [Note to Aldo haters: he looks pretty darn good to me right now. If I were in Lety's shoes, I'd be gladder than glad about this fortuitous arrival!]

Aldo hangs up and a cute kid (if Li'l Lui had been this cute, maybe he wouldn't have had to die) comes up trying to sell him a crummy little plastic box; he wants money to buy a snack. "My granny gave it to me, it's for keeping treasures in, when I was little I used to have a bottle cap collection." "Treasures?" muses Aldo, "OK, I'll buy it, I have treasures too." He opens the fancy box he'd taken to the airport to give Lety the time he was too late to see her off. He puts the pearl and some sand into the crummy box.

At Conceptos, Marcia asks Mama T if Lety's come yet, then snarls in frustration: "She's gonna take revenge on us! How can Humberto bring her here when we all said we didn't want to talk to her?!!!" "You're the most bothered, but remember, Humberto and Ariel don't know about Fern+Lety and I don't think this an opportune time to tell them. Be dignified, relax - we'll all lose if you crack when you see her."

At the coffeeshop, the newly buoyed Lety struts, chin up, "I'll walk like this, like you, Doña Carolina, when I enter the room." She feels more optimistic knowing Aldo's in town. Caro gives her a picture of Aldo hugging her. Lety: "I know they all hate me, but I don't resent them." "Because your heart's at peace." "When I see Fern I'll just remember I've forgiven him."

Suddenly Lety - who told Humberto ages ago she was coming right to the office - decides it's time to go clothes shopping with Caro. Caro remembers Aldo saying: "When Lety thinks it's time for a change, she'll change." Lety confides that her mom always bought her clothes, and furthermore, that she (Lety) often wore her mother's clothes, even her grandmother's clothes! "But I don't think they're really me." Caro of course agrees.

Fern paces, visits Lety's old hole of an office, remembers their ghastly parting - she saying she'd waited so long, in vain, for him to abandon Omar's heartless plan, he embracing her desperately and saying "I adore you" just as Marcia entered and led him off by the nose ...

Omar comes in, observes Fern's "little nostalgia," and asks how Fern is feeling about Lety's arrival. Fern: "I have tachycardia, I'm very nervous." "Have you indeed decided that Lety is of the past?" No answer. "Are you going to greet her coldly? It was all a mistake, you never loved her, is that it? You were a victim of temporary insanity. Your obsession grew from your wish to save the business, and now it's over. It was a - surreal stage of your life." Sarcastic applause from Fern. Omar pushes his luck: "Now you'll see her as she always was." "An - ugly woman?" "Well, a little bit ugly, well a little more than a little bit ugly." "No. I see her, no I FEEL her, as precious, Carvajal."

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