Caray, Caray!

Rod and Gavi continue talking about the gala that evening when Alonso enters her office, raving like a lunatic. He starts freaking out about the guests' folios not arriving yet from the printers and there only being a couple hours till the event starts. As a boss he has a right to demand her full attention, though admittedly with a more civil tone, and Gavi should have put Rod on hold, but she doesn't and Rod has to hold himself back from jumping through the receiver and strangling Alonso for screaming at her.

She solves Alonso's problem and he asks angrily who Gavi is chattering to. ( I'd say the caffeine king needs a serious "intervention" about now cuz it's obvious he's got one mean addiction going, and this Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde act with his employees is getting really old.) Gavi says it's Ingeniero Montalvo and Alonso suddenly looks at her like he's just chomped down on a couple of prime sour balls. He stomps off to his office and slams his door.

Gavi tells a little white lie to Rod and says that it's unusual for her boss and swears that she's never seen Alonso like this; the affair has just made him a bundle of nerves for some reason. She asks Rod to promise then he'll be on his best behavior. Rod agrees as long as her boss behaves himself also and, provided he doesn't yell at her like that during the party. He tells her she's sacred to him, nobody should yell at her that way (that means you, too, Burly Bear!) and that his attitude is a result of his being so crazy in love with her. Gavi-Girl is all smiles now...........

Meanwhile, Dani and Elvis try to see Dr. Tejeiros, but Twerpy is hiding behind his door waiting for them to finally leave. His secretary informs them that he had to cancel all his appointments for the day for some emergency and wouldn't be able to speak with them for a couple of weeks at least. Elvis suggests he's avoiding them and simply hiding. Dani leaves Tejeiros a message that sooner or later he will have to talk to her. Once they're gone his secretary relays the message from Daniel and he tells her not in this lifetime he won't.

The coven has gathered back at Isa's. Pea-brained, self-righteous Sofia mentions that now more than ever Isa must stick like glue to her brother. Isa asks what she means and Minnie mentions the tour to Manzanillo and the visit to Montalveña and that she's going along with Aaron. They wonder if La Gaviota is going on it also. Either way, Isa says she's making sure she'll be there just in case and decides to fly back with Sofia and Minnie. Suddenly Isa needs a drink.

So now the Fearsome Foursome start having their own little party and the adult beverages begin to flow freely. Leave it to Sofia, though, to remind Minnie that she can't have any liquor because she's pregnant again. Minnie fudges and says just a little can't hurt. "Right, Fedra?" Fedra, all smiles at Minnie, says of course not but then thinks to herself that she's never forgiving this woman for not giving her son a child.

Fedra continues calling around to her friends in the CRT and tells them how they are protesting by staying away from the gala that night because the woman in charge who has rudely snubbed them, is the very same one Aaron fired for embezzlement back around New Year's. ( If I were any of those women, I would sure as shootin' want to get a look, up close and personal, at the female phenom and femme fatale who's puttin' on this shindig! I mean, come on, Fedra! What self-respecting socialite would want to be left out of the loop and all that juicy gossip at the club the next morning?)

Apparently, there are no true Sisters of Solidarity in high society 'cause nobody thinks much of Fedra's request to stay at home that evening. For now, Fedra's backdoor plan to sabotage the party seems to have fizzled. Sofia believes that after all the stories Fedra's told these women, none of them are going to let their husbands out of their sight, so of course they're all going. Fedra laughs and tells the others that at least the other wives are going to be uneasy and eventually more than one will pay attention to what she's told them and will react somehow.

Dani checks in with Gavi to tell her that Pilar is staying home out of support for the wives, but that she's become an admirer of Gavi's since their meeting and even said she could see from the look on her face that Gavi is truly in love with Rod. Gavi makes sure the men are coming and that their wives are not and to see if they had anything nasty planned. Dani cannot be sure The Breakfast Club de las Montalvo, schemers that they are, won't still try something nasty, but she knows they're all together at Rod's apartment for the evening while their husbands attend the business function at the CRT.

Back at Isa's pad across town adult beverages are flowing freely and it is now like sauced sorority sisters on steroids. (Worse! Shades of Animal House cuz darned if it doesn't bring back those gawdawful memories of dateless freshman Saturday nights with the roomies at that women's college out in the boonies, swilling scavenged bottles of booze and curling smoke rings with the Marlboro Man, all of us getting sozzled while we waited for some chump townie to come by --as they always did-- to offer us a ride to the nearest "hotspot" so we could scope out the hunks from the surrounding colleges and score a real date for a change.)

The drunker these desperate housewives get the more raucous they are. They start cracking all sorts of weird funnies about Gaviota, about Rod's being such a sad sack, and about Isa's being sad in the sack, all because of Gaviota. Then Minnie gripes about how Aaron's gone back to laying pipe wherever he can find accessible plumbing.

After a while they want music and Isa starts up the cassette player. Unfortunately, it's Rod's and the cassette is Gavi belting out a song, and it's like curse of the jornalera there because they just cannot escape her tonight. Meanwhile, Aaron is up to his old tricks again and is eating dinner with another one of his many female "friends with benefits" whom he's just asked to travel with him to Miami. While he's there on company business she can help him with his monkey business.

Aaron pulls out his cell and checks in with Minnie to tell her he's at his "business" dinner. Minnie is feeling very little pain by now and asks him in between giggles, who he's cheating on her with this time, Claudia? Sherlyn? Aaron can't even get a word in edgewise. He tells her she needs to stop drinking and eventually hangs up in disgust.

Over at Montalvo Corp., Margarita asks Rod to deliver a card for her to Mariana. He asks her to give him the once-over and tell him how he looks. She says swell and that Mariana is going to just melt when she sees him. (What is up with that scarf though, Rod?)

Next Frankie calls over to the harem of harpies with his lie, telling Sofia that he's spending the evening with his cousin, Estefano. He won't be coming by to pick her up later as they'd planned. Sofia, who is also way beyond knowing or caring, giggles and warns him off another rendezvous with his "panther-woman" from the hacienda. Afterwards, the others want to know who that's supposed to be and Sofia and Isa explain about finding Frankie's clothes one morning after he'd been out late and noticing how all the buttons had been ripped off. Isa assures them that Sofia is exaggerating the situation.

Feeling a bit awkward for a second or two Isa looks away but then, perfect hypocrite that she is, joins in the fun and laughs at it all with the rest of them. Sofia gets sentimental and comes over to Isa and tells her that she's her favorite sissy-in-law. Isa feels a bit guilty for a few seconds--but only a few.

In his office Alonso straightens his tie and plays the same "how do I look" game with Nancy. She pumps his ego up telling him he looks like some handsome hunk in a romance magazine.

Bruno and Rod show up at the festivities first and Bruno "introduces" Rod to Alonso. They chitchat about how nicely Mariana got things set up. Every time Alonso mentions Mariana by her nickname, "Gaviota", Rod makes it a point to correct him and points out it's Mariana, Mariana Franco!

Eventually Alonso and Rod are left alone together and it's the caffeine kid in need of a fix facing a guy who's the equivalent of a bull moose needing to rut and ready to fight its competition. (Come to think of it, Alonso's been doin' without for the past four years, himself, so a bit of moose bellowing and head-butting probably isn't out of the question for him either.) It is going to be a rough night.

Rod decides to complain about the screaming he obviously heard over the phone earlier. He tells Alonso that nobody ever yelled at Mariana like that when she worked at Montalvo. Alonso apologizes, saying these events make him nervous, but then adds that he's just as upset with Rod for always making her cry when she's on the phone with him. Rod gets his back up even more and says he can't stop him yelling at her but he'll do his darnedest to see she doesn't cry anymore.

The two are standing there staring angrily at each other when Gavi arrives with her group of 15 important importers. They notice her entering and quickly look away, and then, because they cannot help themselves they both look over at her. Right away, she sees that the two are desperately trying to avoid coming to fisty-cuffs.

Alonso is all smiles and giving Gavi a hopeful once-over with his eyes; Rod looks at her and seems frustrated and jealous. He runs over to mark his territory, nearly bending her over backwards when he gives her a kiss hello on the cheek. (Ewwh! Talk about your awkward moments.....) Gavi is a bit uncomfortable with his exaggerated PDA, but without losing a beat, she immediately introduces Rod to the potential buyers as the producer of the new, organic tequila, Ardent Passion.

From the minute Gavi enters the room both Rod and Alonso follow after her. Rod hovers like a junkyard guard dog and Alonso follows her more or less like a lovesick puppy, both of them nearly tripping her as well as each other while she walks around the room attending to the various guests.

Rod tries to carry the business end of the conversation with the buyers. He keeps cutting Alonso off from speaking, but when the buyers want to know what it is about his tequila that makes it first class Rod is at a loss for words. Alonso jumps in and finally gets a chance to do his job. He tells the men that he's tried it and it's the best organic tequila he's ever tasted. They only need to try it for themselves. Rod is grateful to hear him say this and dials back his temper a bit, letting the P.R. man dazzle the potential buyers and earn his salary at last.

Meanwhile a very inebriated Minnie blames Patricio for blabbing the truth to Aaron about her really visiting her elderly aunt in Spain instead of touring the Greek Isands. She phones Patricio to complain about it to him, but he's already left for the function at the CRT.

Lluvia answers. When Minnie tries to gripe at her too and warns her off trying for Aaron again, little Lluvia gives her back as good as she gets. She tells Minnie she doesn't know what trip she's talking about, that Patricio is the only man in her life and that since it's senseless speaking to her since she's obviously drunk, she is not going to bother, and simply hangs up.

Rod finds out that Gavi must travel with the group and Alonso to Manzanillo as part of her responsibilities and will spend the night there before traveling with them to Montalveña. It is what he's feared most and he becomes agitated, sarcastically suggesting that she take them all to the beach to view the sunset. "Manzanillo," he adds nervously and looks at her, "is a wonderful place to fall in love." Gavi tries to stress it is a work trip and there will not be time for beaches and sunsets. "Well, I definitely have some wonderful memories of the area." he says and tells them both that he'll wait for them at the hacienda at Montalveña and will host them there.

Clarita and Jose arrive at the gala. Of the two best friends, Clarita has come dressed very tastefully in an expensive linen-weave suit dress and is wearing her hair in a classic bun befitting her new status as parent of a corporate executive, while ironically Jose is in her best nylon pants outfit still looking as blue-collar as it gets since even though her son has married into high society, he denies her existence.

Clarita looks around and gives Gavi a wild yell to get her attention. Gavi comes over and reminds her she can't just yell out like some dockworker. Clarita looks around the room and sees Rod and Alonso are together and tells Gavi she's amazed they haven't killed each other yet. Gavi isn't holding her breath but hopes they'll contain themselves like that the rest of the evening.

Clarita spies Avellaneda next and she is immediately attracted to him. "He looks like a television star!" She demands to have Gavi introduce him to her. (Avellaneda a hunk? Who'd a thunk it?) So Gavi introduces her and Jose to both the Secretary of Agriculture and Roberto Avellaneda. Clarita is absolutely thrilled when Avellaneda kisses her hand. Both men congratulate Gavi for the fabulous success the function has turned out to be.

Afterwards, Gavi tells the two women that they can get a couple of free drinks and explains it's an open bar. However, she warns her mother not to do doubles tonight. They head off to get their tequila.

Aaron makes his entrance and walks over to Rod and Gavi who are now standing with Alonso and the group of buyers interested in Ardent Passion. Aaron greets Mariana and tries to kiss her on the cheek but Gavi coldly turns her head aside and simply introduces him to the others. Patricio walks over right afterward and she and he do greet each other warmly. "Glad to see it's going well for you, Mariana."

Aaron says, "Mariana, it looks likes you've done well for yourself." She replies that although some have tried to put stones in her way, she's happy working at the CRT because here they act decently and don't fire employees without justification, or steal their severance checks. Before Aaron can answer, Alonso breaks off the discussion. "No more talk about firings." To Gavi: "You've become an indispensable part of us--" Aaron chuckles and snickers, "Heh, yes, that's just what we thought when she used to work for us at our company until one day --" Rod jumps in to defend her, "That's history now and doesn't count; besides, the fact remains she's demonstrated her abilities and has done a terrific job here and hopefully will continue garnering her successes."

Mariana politely extracts herself and says to Aaron, "Ingeniero Montalvo, you and I will continue talking later." "--Yes, we will and we have many, many several and various things to discuss." Mariana walks coolly away. Aaron taunts Rod, "Absolutely we will! We're going on the trip to Manzanillo with them and I'll have three delicious days and nights to spend next to her." Rod grits his teeth and stares--hopefully counting to ten--but he says nothing.

Clarita and Jose find the nearest tequila booth. Clarita looks proudly over at Gavi being interviewed by the press and says that she lights up the place like a sun at noon. One thing leads to another and Jose asks about the story behind Clarita's husband. Clarita tells her, "That is a secret I'll carry to my grave," and then starts knocking back tequilas.

Rod catches up with Aaron at the bar and tells him enough already and then tries to laugh about it. "You're worse than even Isadora or Minnerva with all the biting commentary." Bruno walks over just then and checks in with the two of them. He and Aaron talk about the drink fest the wives are having on their own over at Rod's. Bruno says he cannot believe all the nonsense he was hearing going on in the background while he was talking to Fedra.

Across town again, Isa cries that Rod finds a rotten agave more exciting than her. Sofia says she obviously hasn't tried everything yet. "What else is left, attempting suicide?" she weeps. Sofia jumps to hug her while Minnie goes with the flow and starts singing "Ay! Gaviota!" off key in between giggles and Fedra even puts on a headscarf backwards and pretends she's our jornalera cutting jima in huaraches. This unfortunately does not cheer up Isa whose high is crashing and quickly turning into a blue drunk.

Labels: Destilando

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