Caray, Caray!

Gavi tells her mom she's quitting the CRT tomorrow. Clarita is worried for Dr. Blondie; he'll be upset. Gavi assures her that Rod's love is real, and even if she doesn't get together with Rod, he's going to divorce Isa - he can't stand her any longer.

Isa calls Suzy and tells her that Avellaneda will probably be firing Mariana today, and Suzy will be well compensated for her help. Afterwards, she gloats to Little Ricky that Rodrigo's going to get a taste of what could happen to him if he tries to abandon them.

Rod gets to his office and is surprised to find Bruno waiting there for him. As they close the door behind them, Elvira says she hopes Bruno will convince Rod to give her another chance. (Another chance for what? She spied on Rodrigo and she spied on Aaron - she's running out of Montalvo men to report on. Maybe they should have her work for Frankie next!)

Bruno is uncomfortable firing Elvira after so many years of service, but Rod feels he needs someone he can trust. Rod says he'll even pay out of his own pocket if he doesn't have to see her again. Bruno agrees to let him do it his way.

They call Elvira in. Rod acknowledges that she's been with the company longer than any other employee, so he's going to give her a much better severance than required by law. She asks that they keep her until they find someone new, but he tells her she can go home right now. She whines that "it" will never happen again, but Rodrigo says that to help her in the future, he's going to tell her what her problem is: she's not loyal to her bosses. (Elvira looks like this is a major revelation.) He assures her that he'll give her a good reference (probably something like "Elvira takes great pride in her ability to serve refreshments at board meetings"). Bruno adds that loyalty to one's boss should be a secretary's first priority.

Elvira slinks out with her tail between her legs. She pauses at the door to make a big show of wiping her eyes at Rod and Bruno, and personally I think she's lucky she doesn't get a shoe thrown at her.

Next, she goes running to her great buddy, Oñate, and asks him for a few minutes. He says he'd gladly give her ten years if she asked him. Amazingly, she does not take him up on this offer. He takes her hand and says he's all ears and wants to help in whatever way possible.

She's just starting to play with his hand and tell him how happy she is to have such a good, true friend when Aaron calls. He starts chewing out Oñate, telling him to charge up his batteries and go out there and get some new clients for the failing Turquoise Tequila, because his finances are hitting rock bottom. Oñate promises to take care of it and hangs up.

Elvira resumes her sob story and asks him to recommend her to some of his business contacts, but when he discovers that Rodrigo fired her, his manner changes. He tells her to call him next week, says he's got a lot of work to do, don't worry, he'll call her, and rushes out to the door. (She makes sure to let him see her cry, but he still makes her leave.) "Stupid old woman," he exclaims with a exasperated chuckle when she's gone.

Rod shows the new tequila label to his uncle. Bruno says the kiss mark makes a peculiarly strong impression - he thinks it'll work! Rod says the new tequila will be unveiled at next week's big tequila expo.

Rodrigo calls Margarita into his office and asks her to be his secretary. She happily agrees. He then gives her several things to do right away, including putting an ad in the paper for a new receptionist, and making a phone call to Mariana at the CRT's PR dept. Margarita is thrilled she'll talk to her old friend again!

Rodrigo also warns her about Isadora. Marg assures him that she'll look out for him and her friend Mariana. (Anyone see the potential for conflict here?)

Dr. Blondie shows up to work and is annoyed to find Mariana not there yet. He barks at Nancy to find him some document on the computer. Nancy says Mariana will find it, but Dr. Blondie grumpily says they can't assume that she'll show up.

Mariana gets there a little later and explains to Nancy that some happiness crossed her path last night. Nancy warns that Dr. Blondie is acting weird, and she can't find the document he asked for. Gavi says this time she saved it on a CD, but first she'll go talk to Dr. B. Nancy warns he's in a bad mood.

She goes in and tells him she's sorry she's late, but she's going to print that document for him now. He greets her as "Mariana." Not Gaviota, not Adriana, not Dariana, not Lupita. She asks if he's finally learned her name. Distracted, he ignores this and says he already asked Nancy to print it (the document, not her name - though that wouldn't have been a bad idea!) She tries to smooth things over about last night. She apologizes on behalf of herself, Clarita, and Rodrigo, but he pretends not to be interested.

She tells him she has something important to tell him. Finally he looks at her and asks, "so, when are you going to resign?" Gavi is speechless. Alfonso says that after last night, it's not hard to imagine why she might not want to work there any more. She says it's not just because of Rodrigo, but also because the other Montalvos are making trouble about some serious things in her past; she'll stay as long as he needs to find a replacement. (That could take forever! Nobody wants to work for this guy!) She says it's not going to be easy for her to leave the CRT, much less him.

Alone, he says to himself, "I've lost you, Gaviota - even before I could declare my love to you, I've lost you!"

Gavi gets the CD out of a locked drawer and gives it to Nancy to print the document. She tells her not to let that CD out of her sight. She says she needs to be alone for a while because she's quitting the CRT. Nancy is distraught and says that Mariana and Dr. Blondie are like her family. Gavi tries to talk her down, but Nancy is inconsolable. She makes a beeline to Dr. Blondie's office and throws a fit, asking doesn't he care and how can he let her leave them. He claims there's nothing he can do. He gives her some coffee and tells her to calm down. (Yeah... coffee's great for that. She tastes it with her back turned to him, and makes a face!)

He points to a floral arrangement and tells Nancy to take it back to wherever it came from, because with no one around to care for it, the dying flowers are just going to make his office look more like a forgotten crypt each day. She agrees to take them away, but tells him he'd better find some way to keep Mariana from quitting!

Gavi is writing her resignation to Avellaneda ("for personal reasons, I'm obligated to leave this position that you so kindly gave me") when Margarita calls. Marg says she's been given Elvira's job, and Evira's been fired. Marg takes this opportunity to apologize for giving Videgaray her address all those ages ago. Gavi says it's okay, in fact she's grateful now.

Marg puts Rodrigo through. He's in a chipper mood and wants to make plans for the evening; she's preoccupied with preparations for an afternoon meeting and next week's tequila expo and her resignation letter, so she doesn't know what time she'll get out of work. He worries that he put too much pressure on her to quit, but she doesn't really want to talk about it. They agree to meet at 7.

In other news, he says the new tequila packaging will be ready next week, and he fired Elvira because it turned out she was the spy.

They tell each other they love each other more than they can imagine. (Unfortunately, these two have weird imaginations, so there's no telling what madness this could morph into.)

Isa is now telling Elvira on the phone that she's sorry, and if Elvira needs anything, she can count on Isadora. Isa then gripes to Sofia that Gavi's good buddy Margarita is Rodrigo's new secretary, but it's okay - they've still got Suzy.

Suzy gets the next phone call. Suze has no news, just complaints that she couldn't get to Gaviota's files this time. Isa says she wants Gavi to get fired today.

Just then, Gavi shows up with her letter and goes into Avellaneda's office. (Suzy immediately informs Isa that Gavi's gone into A's office, but she doesn't know why.) Gavi tells Avellaneda that the reports are ready for the meeting, and she gives him the letter. Shocked, he demands an explanation. He asks if it's about problems with the Montalvos. Gavi says Rodrigo's getting separated, and that has nothing to do with her, but Isa's going to try to blackmail her to hurt Rodrigo.

Avellaneda recalls how the Montalvo women pressured him before; Gavi says this is different. Isadora will never stop with her threats, and God only knows what else she might come up with. It'll be things like the fake resume she used to get into Montalvocorp, and the falsified passport (even though it's since been legitimized, they acknowledge), etc. Isa could enlist the support of Aaron and Minerva, and create a serious scandal that would make the CRT - a regulatory agency, for crying out loud - look really bad for hiring her, and wreck Avellaneda's reputation as well. It could even catch the attention of high-ranking officials - secretaries of state and other authorities. And that wouldn't be fair to him. It's Gavi's problem.

He warns that this could mean the end of her brilliant career and asks what she's going to do. She says maybe she'll get a job someplace else, if he'll give her a recommendation. He says of course he will, but maybe they can find a solution to the problem. She says thanks, but it's better if she goes. She thanks him for always listening to her (and she has certainly given him plenty to listen to).

Meanwhile, Videgaray has arrived at Rodrigo's office with some bad news. His father in law has been paying the interest on his debts, but hasn't paid down any of the capital. He's told his creditors' lawyers he'll pay it in three months, but if he doesn't, the Montalvos will lose the hacienda's earnings for the entire year, including Rodrigo's organic tequila venture because that's included in the debt. And don't forget the allowances he pays to Pilar and his sisters.

"I'm sorry, Rodrigo, but I warned you," Videgaray unhelpfully reminds him. He says this is going to compound the difficulty of divorcing Isadora, and maybe he'd better hold off on that until he solves the problem with Isa's father. Rod gets on the phone and starts barking at Margarita to find Ricardo Duarte. He mutters that this is going to interfere with his plans with Gaviota.

Later (much later, but I'm telling it out of order so as not to break up the awesome Suzy story), Ricardo arrives at Rodrigo's office, wondering what the big hurry was. Rod confronts him about the debt. "We had a deal!" Ricardo has lots of painfully vague, lame excuses for his nonpayment ("stuff's not going as well as I had hoped" and "you don't know what the market's like" and "the Asians are incompetent"). Rodrigo explains what's at stake. Ricardo listens with a blank look on his face (he's probably planning his bets for the day) and glibly insists that he's going to pay; he could never leave Rodrigo in the lurch after he got him out of prison and everything.

Ricardo claims he's got a banker friend who will take over the debt from Rodrigo. Rod finds this implausible (seriously, where was this banker friend when Ricardo was in jail?) and asks Videgaray to go visit this alleged banker tomorrow. Ricardo acts mildly offended, which offends Rod a lot more.

Back at the CRT, Gavi sees Dr. Blondie's flowers on Nancy's desk. Nancy says Dr. B wanted everything in his office back the way it was before he went on his trip so it doesn't look like a forgotten crypt. It's his way of protesting her abandoning them. Once Mariana leaves them, the whole department will be like a cemetery.

(Avellaneda calls to see Dr. Blondie in his office. I hope Gavi does quit soon, because "Avellaneda" is hard to type.)

Suzy comes by, asking if everything is ready for today's big meetings. Gavi loudly shows off a folder full of copies and also waves the shiny disk around, unwisely announcing to the world that she's now saving everything to CD just in case someone wants to pay another "little joke" on her. She also shares with everyone within earshot that if those materials are lost, she'll be fired. She asks Nancy to go put these very important things in her office where they'll be safe while they go out for tacos for lunch.

Suzy declines to join them - she has too much work. As soon as they're out of sight, she goes into Gavi's office and starts rifling through her things.

Nancy and Gavi get tacos (chicken with mole) from a sidewalk vendor. They eat and gloat contentedly. Nancy has hidden her cell phone in Gavi's office with the video camera running. It's pointed right at the folders and CD for today's meeting.

Sure enough, Suzy takes the decoy materials from Gavi's office and scurries back to her desk.

Avellaneda is telling Dr. Blondie that the Montalvos are winning this particular battle with Mariana. He doesn't want to get in trouble with the tequileros' union, nor compromise the CRT's image, but he's trying to figure out if there's something he can do. He asks Dr. Blondie if he knows of any problems Mariana's having with the Montalvos. (Alfonso flashes back to the last moments he saw of Gavi with Rod in Friday night's show, when Rod angrily said "fine, you'll never see me again!")

Dr. Blondie says nope, he doesn't know of anything.

Avellaneda says all Gavi asked was to be able to leave there in good standing (i.e. get an honorable discharge).

Nancy and Gavi come back from lunch and find the papers gone. Nancy takes her phone from its perch at the top of a tall, potted cactus. (Strangely, Gavi declines to check out the video to make sure the magical event was recorded... wouldn't you want to confirm this first?) Delighted, they call Avellaneda and hurry to his office. Suzy chuckles in anticipation as they breeze past her desk. She imagines that they must have no idea what he wants them for (she doesn't realize they called him).

Isa smugly tells Sofia that Rod thinks he beat her today, but she's going to show him that he's wrong. Suzy calls and proudly says she found and destroyed those reports. "Great! Let me know when Avellaneda's fired her."

Avellaneda is about ready to yell at Gavi again for having lost the materials for yet another important meeting, when Gavi assures him that they're in a safe place. She and Nancy show him and Dr. Blondie the phone recording. (Apparently, Nancy and Gavi have no idea who they're about to see.) They all watch in shock as Suzy takes the papers and CD from Gavi's desk. Avellaneda calls Suzy in and accuses her of hiding Mariana's reports; Suzy plays dumb ("what huh? ask Mariana!"); he shows her the evidence. She is impactada.

Gavi asks Suzy WHY did she do it. Dr. Blondie wants to know who else is in on it. Minnie? Aaron? Isadora? Sofia? Avellaneda tells her she's in enough hot water as it is, but if she doesn't talk it's going to be worse.

Overwhelmed, Susana tells the whole story of how Isa and Minnie invited her to lunch, talked trash about Mariana and said she would be a hazard to Suzy; that she was ambitious and would seduce married men to advance her career; that she liked power; that she'd stomped on many people at the corporativo to get her management job.

Gavi is hurt that she and Suzy once toasted their friendship, and now their friendship's toast. Nancy calls Suzy heartless and Gavi says she'd never do something like that to a friend. Avellaneda gives her five minutes to clear out. Nancy says Gavi wouldn't make the same mistake twice. Gavi says she hopes Suzy has learned her lesson - that you need intelligence, not just schemes, to get ahead.

To emphasize this point, Dr. Blondie tells Suzy that Gavi already made backup copies this time, but even if she hadn't, she could have recited all the data from memory. Avellaneda warns Suzy not to come back.

Gavi says she knows Suzy's going to go talk to Isa next. She can tell Isa that their nonagression pact is toast now too. Now they're gonna know who Gaviota is. Stunned, Suzy nods and leaves.

Nancy wonders how much they were paying her. Gavi says there's not enough money to buy a person's dignity, and now they have to support Avellaneda while he looks for a new secretary, which is too bad because she'd like to make the Montalvo women eat dirt.

---

Miércoles
Rodrigo tells Gaviota not to quit that job just yet. Gaviota's pretty sure she knows what that means.

Labels: Destilando