Caray, Caray!

Gavi: It's a big city, but apparently it's not big enough that we can't stop running into each other. I could quit my new job, but it doesn't seem fair that I should have to quit because of you, to ruin my future yet again. Don't you think it's time you left me alone?

Rod: Fine. I swear you won't see me, I swear I won't bother you. I wish you lots of luck in your new job. You deserve it. You're a great woman. Everything in that letter was completely true, not a single lie. You'll do well, you'll see. I know I'm losing a great woman.

Gavi: You know what hurts me the most? When I met you, I felt like I was in a dream. I've been dreaming all this time. But nice as it was, it couldn't be. You woke me up. (something like that) I'll never forgive you for that.

Gavi gets in the taxi and rides off.

Rod gets home that night and is greeted by Sofie and Isa. Sofie says she and Frankie want to take him out to dinner for a big surprise. She leaves to get Frankie. Isa tells Rod that Sofie's marrying Frankie. "And not only that, they're going to live in Japan!"

Rodrigo correctly surmises that Isa does not approve of this. She thinks Sofie's not ready for marriage, nor to live so far away. Besides, Pilar's an "older woman" and needs Sofie's company. Rod says true, but his sister has the right to make her own family. Isa wrings her hands nervously as Rod goes off to change. She thought-bubbles that she needs to derail the marriage plans.

Gavi is recounting her many-tequila lunch to Clarita. Clarita's not happy that Gavi turned down the money, while Gavi's not happy he even offered it to her. It just confirmed he believed all the things they'd said about her - that she's only interested in money, that she's for sale, like she has no dignity. Clarita (who seems to have glued something to her temples) disagrees that it's humiliating to take money she's earned. (That's what I'm saying!) They could have gotten their stuff back! She sticks some things onto Gavi's temples and mutters that Gavi's got bats in her belfry (look who's talking) for refusing the money out of humiliation. Living on crumbs is pretty humiliating too.

Gavi retorts that Clarita's dull as a wooden knife. She thought it was her severance check too, until Rodrigo started talking about paying her for her troubles. Then she remembered that he made her a similar offer when she came back from Europe, that he wanted to shack her up and compensate her for her "damages."

They argue some more. Gavi says she'll ask for an advance on her salary to make her feel better. Clarita says it doesn't matter whether she does or not, but if she does, that would be better. :-) She's just glad Gavi met with Rod and they cleared things up. She knew that would happen. Gavi says she's not so sure things are cleared up - he didn't know how Aaron found out they went to Manzanillo together.

Clarita rips the whatchamacallems off her temples and complains about the amount of power these people have to threaten everything, and someday they'll find out the truth of what happened. "So then what?" she asks.

Gavi says Rod went back to his wife. Clarita is impactada but insists Rod is still in love with Gavi. If that family hadn't found out about them, the three of them would be living happily on that island right now.

Gavi says Rod at no time ever said he was still in love with her. Clarita thinks maybe he just forgot! Gavi said they spent all afternoon together, and even when she left he didn't say it. So she told him she never wanted to see him again, and he promised he wouldn't go looking. She thinks he never really loved her. To Rodrigo Montalvo, she was just a little hobby.

Frankie makes his move, and Isa makes hers

At dinner, Frankie formally asks Rod for Sofie's hand. Didn't we do this last week? Rod warmly gives his blessing and says they don't need it anyway; his sister's mature enough to make these decisions on her own. Isa points out they've been novios less than two months - is that long enough to be so sure? Sofia reminds her that her official courtship of Rodrigo was pretty short too, yet they're still together. Isa manages to work her features into a faint yet effective scowl.

Frankie says all that matters is that they're in love. He'll dedicate his life to caring for her. He blings her, and I'm wondering where he came up with the money for that ring. Is it a fake from a gumball machine, or did he borrow money from the guy who owns his apartment, or what? "While I live, you'll never want for anything." Blech.

Isa asks Frankie the name of the company he's going to work for. Frankie says it's Nippon-Pacific Airlines, which has offices around the world (and yet, they insist on having him in their Tokyo office??).

(I Googled Nippon-Pacific Airlines, as well as Nippon-Pacific Airways, and the only thing I found was a small domestic airline.)

Isa remarks that it's very odd that such a company would hire a Mexican to handle their public relations. He claims that he's worked with them for three years and on top of a great salary, they're offering him a chauffeured car, apartment, and countless other perks.

Hmmm... he might be making it sound too good. If I were Sofie I would already be packing my bags. Sofie adds that with her monthly allowance from Rodrigo, they'll live very comfortably. Frankie poo-poos the idea of ever touching her money.

Isa reaches for her wineglass and knocks over Frankie's. No one notices her smirk as Frankie jumps up and the others exclaim in surprise. If this is a ruse to get him to leave the table, it doesn't work. Or maybe she just did it because his lies were making her nauseous.

Rod protests Sofie going so far away. Frankie says it's by far the juiciest offer he's gotten. Rod says his family knows people, maybe they can get him a PR job that's more local. If they got him an offer, would he take it? Frankie begins to answer reluctantly that he appreciates it, but...

Isa interrupts and suggests that Rod offer him a job at the company. "I don't think so," Rodrigo answers sharply. As Isa and Sofie stare at him, he softens and adds that he hasn't really thought about it, but maybe it's something he could consider. Isa pushes the idea on Frankie enthusiastically. Sofie questions why Isa's done nothing but interrogate Frankie all night and why she's taking such an interest in their plans. She warns they won't be manipulated by her. If Frankie wants to work in Japan, she'll support him.

Isa acts wounded and says she's just concerned because Sofie's like a sister to her. She excuses herself to go to the bathroom. Sofie apologizes to Frankie for Isa's behavior. Frankie answers that he understands that pregnant women are moody. "Isn't that right, Rodrigo?" "Yes, I think so," Rod laughs. Grrrrrrrr. Like Rod's not moody too??

Rod asks how long till he starts the new job. Frankie says the guy he's replacing will leave at the end of May. Sofie says this is great - they'll have a whole two months to plan the wedding!

These people are crazy, I tell you.

Frankie gets a call. It's Isa, but he pretends it's the airline guy. He excuses himself and leaves the table, saying in heavily accented English, "I'm listening, Mr. Fuyita-san."

Rod asks Sofie if she thinks Frankie will consider a comparable job offer with the Montalvos. She loves the idea and promises to try to convince him.

Frankie meets Isa upstairs near the restroom. She confronts him about the fake job offer. He plays innocent, gets offended, says he loves Sofia. She says the only things he loves are a credit card, a nice yacht, a sportscar, and all that...

Frankie threatens that if she doesn't stay away from them, he'll tell everyone about their trip to Acapulco. She's annoyed that he sees it this way. She's the person who can give him what he wants. But he doesn't want to talk this way and says she needs to leave him alone, that way everyone can avoid a big tragedy.

Rod wonders what's taking Isa so long. He gets up to go look for her. Alone, Sofie admires her ring and tells herself she hopes Frankie will take Rod's offer (which he hasn't made yet).

Isa says give me a year to split up with Rod. Wait for me, please wait for me. She touches Frankie's face, and just then, Rod comes up the stairs and sees them. He demands an explanation. Frankie says he was just forgiving Isa. He turns to her and says they're going to be a family now, of course she's worried about Sofia. Frankie tells Rodrigo he's got an exceptional woman, though maybe a little stubborn. He goes back to the table.

Rod's mad and asks what Isa was trying to do. Isa asks if he's jealous, but he insists on an answer. She says she ran into Frankie on her way out of the bathroom and apologized for what she'd said at the table. She asks if they can leave, because she doesn't feel well. "As you wish," he agrees coldly.

Back at the table, Frankie repeats to Sofia his version of what happened and adds that Isa was even a little bit affectionate with him AND that he felt badly for Rodrigo because he caught her putting her hand on Frankie's face. He hopes Rodrigo didn't misunderstand the situation.

Sofie gives him some cash so he can pay for dinner. He pretends to be embarrassed, but accepts the money. Rod and Isa come back and say they're going to leave. Isa prompts Rod to pay the bill, but Frankie insists on paying. Sofie thanks Isa for making nice with Frankie (ROFL) and apologizes for being rude to Isa. Isa apologizes to Sofie.

Yeah, everybody's sorry now. But not as sorry as they're gonna be.

Frankie observes that Rod hasn't said whether he accepts Frankie as one of the family. Is he jealous because he saw Isa being affectionate with him? He laughs. Rod stops scowling and welcomes Frankie to the family. They shake hands, and Isa stares at Frankie's smarm bracelet as it dangles under her nose.

Somewhere in Guadalajara

Aaron and Pam are visiting with Pamela's parents, Barbara and Gaspar. Barbara thanks them for coming to clear things up about their living situation. Aaron says he doesn't want them to misunderstand - soon he'll be legally free, and they'll set a wedding date. He invites his would-be in-laws to come visit in Miami at any time.

Barb seems enthusiastic, but Gaspar wants to talk to Aaron... alone. Pam and her mom take off to compare red hair dyes.

Gaspar lectures Aaron, Pam is their greatest treasure and they know what Aaron is like, especially with women. He'd better think carefully about this. If he disrespects her in any way he'll pay dearly.

Aaron assures Gaspar that he's serious about divorcing Minnie, and he's serious about his engagement to Pamela. Gaspar says again that if his daughter sheds a single tear over Aaron, Aaron's going to have to deal with him. Aaron simply salutes with his whiskey.

Montalveña 6-5000

Crispin and Carmelo, aka Shrek the bartender, talk about love. Shrek has bought a box of chocolates and some earrings for SanWanna. He tried to bring them to her, but he got so nervous he couldn't even knock on the door. He asks Crispin to complete the deed. Shrek is afraid he'll end up a lonely, miserable old widower.

At the home for wayward jimadoras

Gavi mopes about the love she thought she had, and how great it was going to be. Rod had enough of a conscience to feel badly about his family's tricks, but he just wanted to pay her off to keep her quiet. Clarita tries to be comforting, but Gaviota gets fired up all over again. "I'm going to show that I'm strong and I can live without him."

Later, Gavi is still moping and sulking. Clarita tries to get her to go to sleep, but Gavi reaches for a bottle and says she wants to get so "anesthetized" that she'll be able to poke herself in the eye. Clarita takes away her tequila. Crying, Gavi says she kept hoping that Rod would say that he still loved her, and that they could win back their love. "But now it's lost... wait, what am I saying? You can't lose something you've never had!"

Tequila: All-natural crying-fit enhancer

In their apartment, Isa begs Rod to convince Frankie to stay. He says that's for Sofie to do, but Isa's worried that Sofie will go too easy on Frankie because she's so in love with him. For some reason, Rodrigo doesn't seem suspicious about Isa's insistence.

Rodrigo reaches for a bottle. Isa's annoyed that he's going to continue drinking. He says he wants to be alone and asks her to leave him alone. "As you wish," she hisses. Hissing might be her super-power.

For the rest of the night, Rodrigo drinks in slow motion, pacing around the living room and drinking some more. He's crying... wait, maybe he's fighting off a sneeze. He pours another shot. Now he's sitting on the floor and crying for sure. Another shot. His face is red. He cries so well I find myself sniffling even though I know it's his own fault for marrying Isadora in the first place.

Next day

At the hacienda, Roman and Crispin catch up on recent events. Crispin says he has two gifts for SanWanna, on behalf of Carmelo, aka Shrek. Roman says she's gone to the orchards with Ines (who??) for some fruit and won't be back for three hours. Crispy can't wait that long, he's got to do some Tequila Academy stuff for Mr. James, so Roman agrees to take care of the gifts.

Crispy asks about Hilario. Roman nervously admits he hasn't heard from him.

In the city, an older man struggles on the sidewalk with big boxes full of books. Hilario offers to help. The man offers to pay Hilario to take the boxes into his bookstore; Hilario says he'd actually do it for free, but he doesn't have a penny and it's his mom's birthday and he'd like to make a long distance call.

Roman looks around the kitchen for a hiding place for the bag of gifts. He doesn't want Ofelia to find them. He hears her coming so he hurriedly (and may I say stupidly) shoves the plastic grocery bag into the oven. Ofelia is grumbling something about SanWanna. In a feeble attempt to keep Ofelia away from the oven, Roman offers to take her to a movie.

And now back to our sob story, already in progress

Gavi's at work. There's a fax for her boss. Susana asks about the "lunch" with her old boss. Like, did he give her her severance? Gavi says no and she hopes she never sees him again. Susana says it's too bad - she wouldn't have figured him for such a jerk.

Just as Gavi is rounding the corner to her office, Rod calls. He apologizes to Susana for ruining her lunch hour yesterday and says that Mariana Franco left some things behind at the office. The messenger is ready to take them to her place and needs an address. Instead of telling him to just deliver the things to the office here, Susy falls for his little trick and gives him the address. "Don't tell her anything," he asks Susana.

Granny Pilar calls Rod. He tells her he'll come by for a chat later and hangs up. Then Dani shows up. He tells her Gavi was very wounded and didn't believe him. She folded his check into an airplane and threw it at him. She was too proud to take his money, she's easily offended. But he's going to pay her back some other way.

Dani is disappointed that he didn't work things out with Gavi. He says it was almost at the point of doing something very crazy. Dani goads him, asking if he mentioned how his wife impregnated herself with his "rendered samples." He says Gavi was upset enough when he admitted he'd gone back to Isa, he didn't want to hurt her further. (Well, just wait till Gavi finds out some other way, I'm sure that won't result in even greater teeth-gnashing!)

Gavi's new boss explains the fax - they've burnt up the crops that were infested at the Rancho Las Maravillas and two others, but there's still a risk and they need to put out a warning to all the plantations. (This actor is a real scenery-chewer - it's fun to see someone get worked up over something besides amor!) Gavi suggests that they go directly to the jimadores as well, since they're the ones who are always in contact with the agaves, and they can tell whether the plants are sick.

The boss wonders how she knows so much about jimadores. She proudly says she was a jimadora herself. Is he shocked? No, he's over-the-moon thrilled (chomp chomp scenery) and very impressed - he thought only men were strong enough for that job! She happily informs him otherwise, explains that she learned from her mother, and there's nothing prettier than to be on the plains and working with the agaves.

Rod pays Clarita a visit at home. She apologizes for the lack of furniture and invites him to sit down on one of the remaining chairs. She explains that their stuff was repossessed. "And you know why," she scolds him. He blames his family for what happened, says Gavi didn't believe him, and asks Clarita to listen. She accuses him of never taking the blame for anything. (Go Clarita!) He says he never wanted to hurt them.

He admits that in some way he did cause all of this. It's too late to fix it now, but he needs to do something because he feels responsible. (That's big of him.) He tries to get Clarita to take the money Gavi refused. It's not a gift, it's money she earned. (That's what I'm saying! Take it already!) He begs her to take it. She takes the check and hides it under one of her saints.

She again invites him to sit down and offers him coffee. "It's the only thing we have," she tells him, really pouring on the pathos! He asks where the furniture was taken. She explains that they have some papers. Maybe Gavi will agree to take the check, take the afternoon off and they can go get the stuff. Rod doesn't approve of this idea - she's needed at her job. Instead, he'll take care of it. It'll be no problem for him.

He insists and asks to see the repo papers. "Okay... because you ask," Clarita says with a hint of mischief. She opens the nightstand drawer and takes out the papers. She weeps and says it's all listed on these pages - all the things they took - the living room, the dining room, even the "etrodomesticos" (she's never been able to say "electrodomesticos," i.e. home electronics). She is especially distraught about Doña Jose's TV. He explains that they can still get it all back if they go right now.

She runs into the bathroom to fix herself up. He looks around and wonders how Gavi can live in such misery. Um, rich boy, you don't get out much, do you? He spies Gavi's latest cassette in the drawer left half-open. He picks it up curiously and reads: "Songs for My Rodrigo." He smiles to himself.

The guys at the country bar are going to be THRILLED when he shows up with this.

---

Wednesday
Hilario calls Ofelia to sing Las Mañanitas poorly with a band.
Rodrigo demonstrates how to get your things back from the repo man without paying a bribe.

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