Caray, Caray!

Hilario explains that San Juana, who is stuck to him like burrs to a washed sock and who used to think of him as just a dirt-scratching rancher without a peso in his pocket, now sees that he's got money and fame and so now she's all over him like white on rice. Casandra smiles and says she hopes he resolves the problem soon, then tells him about the new campaign she's got him signed up for. Not that the money ain't grand, but it seems he's sure glad for a chance not to have to stick around, and says he'd go with his eyes shut anywhere she sends him.
==============

Minnie and Fedra show up at Isa's that morning and give her Aaron's version of the events at the hotel in Tequila from the other night when he and Rod fought, and Rod nearly killed poor, innocent, well-meaning Aaron all because of Gaviota. Isa begs off. "Can't we discuss something more edifying?" Minnie's already spouting steam and she just rolls on along with her tale. "According to Aaron, Rod got jealous of Santovenia's serenading Mariana Franco; so not to be outdone he went and hired his own group. The little husband-stealing hussy went back inside her room to draw attention to herself by making him beg for her, but she just stayed inside. This made Rod so upset and so jealous that he took it out on Aaron who was just innocently passing by and he almost drowned Aaron in the hotel's pool." Now, this little action tidbit gets Isa's attention.

At Montalvo Corporation Aaron complains to Oily that due to his cousin's interference he was unable to place his Turquesa product with any of the prospective importers on the tour and he will be bleeding corporate cash. So Oñate and Aaron figure the best way to secretly invest the earnings he'll be making from his doctored new product is to invest in worthwhile foreign stock on the London and Tokyo exchanges. They decide to set up some sort of respectable "stocks and bonds business venture" inside the corporation to launder the ill-gotten gains.
===============

Rod calls the hacienda and speaks to James about making sure his BIL is spraying the right amounts of copper sulfate on the money-crop. James tells Rod how BIL was really insulted and told him off about always looking over his shoulder.

Sofia comes in the room. After James' and her earlier heart-to-heart blaming her phone call as the beginning of Rodrigo's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, she takes the receiver from him and apologizes to Rod for arguing the day of the tour through Montalveña. She says she doesn't hold any resentment on her end and he can count on her for whatever comes up. He accepts and agrees that brothers and sisters always argue and says it's obvious Dani must have mentioned his breakdown. As a joke he scolds her and the other women for opening up that special bottle of '66 Bordeaux of Amador's that he was saving for a special occasion.

Sofia insists that nobody there drank any wine because Isa only served them Strawberry Margaritas that day. In fact they were drinking so many she started mixing up whole pitchers of them. Rod asks why Isa would be lying about something like that and she says she (surprise) doesn't have the slightest idea.

Meanwhile, James saunters on over to the agave fields to speak to Frankie just as ol' "Panama Jack" finishes telling his crooked foreman that he wants the spraying finished by the end of the workday. The foreman says he needs at least till the end of the next day, but P.J. says it will be that day, period.

James, who is so not ready for prime-time, walks up to P.J. and asks how the spraying is progressing. After greeting James in his affected French, Ol' Panama elegantly declares that the workers are apparently so lazy that he's been having to practically whip them like animals to get the job done. James, like the wimp he is, stutters as he tries to explain Rod's position in putting James over him to supervise his management of the copper sulfate applications. James hems and haws a bit dishonestly about it's not being a matter of distrust in BIL, but that since James is the more experienced, Rod feels he needs him to make sure nothing goes wrong this time around.

Frankie apologizes for his rude behavior the night before. He says he has just been so stressed over the task of getting the project finished (Play those violins, maestro!), but since they are both working toward the same end, there's no reason for personal grudges. In fact, the project will be finished by the end of that very day. When wimpy James asks again if he's certain of that, Frankie stares at him like, "Dude what'd I just say?" Frankie, in a tone that can only be described as coolly and patronizingly haughty (dare I say supercilious, and I do) says he is "very. sure." James, true to whipped form, tucks his tail in between his legs and walks back to the hacienda.
======================

In his office that morning Rod's only been thinking of Gavi and that she must be back in her office at the CRT by now. He is desperately fighting the notion of calling her, but he's losing the battle. Finally he can't fight the temptation to call her any longer and asks Marguerita to get the CRT on the line. Just then Dani appears in the doorway and he rushes to tell Marguerita to forget the call.

"You should be on your way to the psychologist's office by now!" she says. He tells her to shut the door and to be more careful when she speaks or the employees will begin to think the company is being run by a madman (as if.....). Dani says it would appear that she's wasted her time trying to get him help since he's missing the session with Dr. Roblado.

Rod admits he is having second thoughts about going back for his second appointment. He fidgets and tries to joke about the fact that although she is a terrific choice, he just can't stand the thought of having to see her in her office, let alone enduring any more useless therapy sessions. Dani, though, asks Rod to make a real effort to give Dr. Roblado a fair chance at treating him. Otherwise, don't complain. Rod finally agrees, figuring that it beats sitting around the office thinking about Gaviota every minute of every hour.

At the CRT, Gavi has just returned. Nancy wants the juicy gossip about her and Dr. S. on account of all those birthday surprises he gave her, but Gavi insists to Nancy that nothing did nor would have happened with Dr. Santovenia during their trip. Gavi asks Nancy then for her messages and she's upset when she finds out that Rod did not call her. She tells Nancy, it's not like him but she knows him so well that she is certain eventually he will call her. Alonso overhears their conversation just as he starts to enter her office; he stops outside the office door and frowns that beautiful blond, blue-eyed "Him, again!" frown of his.
========================

Rod arrives late for his noontime session with Erika and she scolds him. She asks him if he's is still undecided about coming to her. He assures her that indecision is just another one of his many traumas. Nervously he begins to pace and says he's got so many of them, she'll probably need to list them all and tell him what she'll charge for each so, in the end, he'll know exactly what he owes her. She jokes with him about "discounts by the dozen" while she skillfully tries to get him to relax long enough to start talking to her.

Rod stalls for time, and jokes about where to sit to best tell his story and about it always being such a boring one for therapists that they always end up sleeping through their sessions. Finally Rod begins to unwind. She asks him why he is so skeptical and so reluctant towards therapy. He reminds her how he'd told her that he'd been to therapists in various countries abroad because of his inability to fall in love with a woman, and that none had been able to understand him. He actually thought he was cured because in an instant, he'd fallen in love. Rather, he says he should say, he became heartsick with love.

At the CRT, Gavi and Alonso decide to participate in a gourmet foods fair and to have a display where people can sample dishes made with tequila or from agave. The phone rings and Gavi looks anxiously over at it. Alonso tells her it is not Rodrigo. He sends Nancy off to the cafeteria to get them all lunch so they can continue working. He takes the opportunity to ask her if she's worried that Rod will stick to his promise not to call her again. Gavi tells him, though she doesn't look very convinced or convincing, that Rod always gets furious like that but always reappears.

Back in Erika's office, Rod tells Erika that he never thought he'd find a woman with whom he could fall in love or with whom he could make love. Then when he finally did find her, he fell and fell hard. He loved her so intensely that it became an obsession with him. She asks him what happened and if she got married. He says not at all. She never married, but now he doesn't know if she loves him anymore. He suspects she's falling in love with another man. So, in order to be able to live free from the mental turmoil it's causing him, he's decided to give her up. He needs to do it.

Erika asks him to start at the beginning. He agrees and begins to tell her in earnest how he met and fell in love with Gavi. Quickly he outlines their love story for her: how one day before leaving to return to London to finish his doctorate, Gavi and he made love together for the very first time. She was his first and he was her first and that they were to marry at the end of his year abroad once he returned. Then he explains how he had to return ahead of time due to the tragic death of his parents and had decided to finish his doctorate by correspondence, from Mexico; and how about this time he met Isa, his wife. He emphasizes he wasn't interested in her or anybody else. He was only planning on marrying Gaviota.

When Rod went looking for Gavi, he explains, he soon heard from the town folk that she'd gone to Europe as a prostitute. "You can imagine the hurt I felt to hear the only woman I'd loved had gone off with the highest bidder."
"--And was it true?" "--No, of course not." In reality, he says, she'd realized she was pregnant and she'd gone there looking for him to tell him she was expecting their child. Erika then asks him to tell her more about Gaviota.

Rod tells her how he met her when she was working as a jima cutter on his hacienda and how she spent the time harvesting throughout the region to earn her living. Once she realized that she was pregnant she thought it was necessary to come find him in Europe. He explains how she was taken in by the shady photographer that made her believe she was going to be a model and as she had no other means of affording the trip as she saw it, she accepted.

Rod continues that later on in their relationship he and Gaviota cleared this up and in fact the guy had been the connection for a network of white slavers that she managed to escape from. In the meantime though, whether because of his rage, because of his stupidity, or his jealousy, he doesn't know which (how about trying all three), he rashly married Isadora.

Erika asks what had happened to Gaviota and her baby. Rod thinks back to the day he got the news about his parents' death and the sound of the car accident when Gaviota was nearly killed and lost their baby. The memory of it is too much for him and he cannot continue the story. He asks for another session to finish it. Intrigued, Erika offers him a few more minutes to finish it right then and there. (Who can blame her, 'cause you gotta admit it's a pretty good yarn.)

Rod excuses himself and says just be kind enough to set up another appointment because he's got way to many worries and appointments to take care of this afternoon. She gives him one for the day after next and when he starts to consider the time he will have to wait to continue his therapy he works himself into a rage. He begins unconsciously to pace back and forth like a caged animal. "Why do I have to wait 48 hours?" "--Because that's the only time I have available." "--Why do you have to space sessions out so much?"

Rod starts to criticize and says that if that's the only time the doctor has free then she must be quite comfortable viewing the world form her desk as she does: psychoanalyzing, fixing and sending her patients happily home one after another; then leaving there for a nice cup of tea, a relaxing bath and peaceful sleep while he, on the other hand, carries his heavy burdens on his back, faces a disastrous afternoon, a terrible night and an early anxiety-ridden rise from bed the next morning, all because he has to wait 48 hours till he can get treatment again!!

Rod's sentences come flying out now. All that's missing is the spittle. "Perhaps you didn't fully explain the situation to my sister, because I told her I was desperate, that this was an emergency!!" (More pacing and yelling.) "In all hospitals in all parts of the world they treat emergencies as emergencies!! They don't tell their patients, 'You know what? COME BACK TWO DAYS FROM NOW!' "

Erika remains cool as a cuke through this whole episode and simply asks if she should cancel the appointment then. Rod says yes and starts to leave. She says, "Okay, I guess you won't be able to finish telling me what happened to Gaviota and your child." He takes the bait and walks back into the office. "Ok. I'm inviting you to dinner tonight at 8 at the Obelisk, since the session must not be in this office again." She sits down at her desk and pencils it in. "--Fine. Don't back out, Sr. Montalvo." "--I'll see you at 8 tonight," he answers and walks out the door.
==============

Across town in Gavi's apartment, Clarita and Jose discuss their children's happy and prosperous futures. Clarita questions Jose about whether Pancho ever explained why he refused to introduce her to his wife's family, then asks just when he is thinking to do the right thing by her. Jose tells her how he came by Sunday night and told her that he couldn't because they all think his parents are rich upper crust instead of an illiterate no-account like her. Clarita says she'd love to get him face to face and tell him exactly what she thinks of him. Jose says children are always annoying. Anyway, Pancho is asking that Mariana stays quiet about it all, so the family doesn't look down their noses at him. Clarita is offended and assures her that Gavi isn't a gossip. Jose says her son has his reasons for doing what he does.
=========

During lunch Minnie, Fedra and Isa are eating out with Pilar and complaining that Aaron and Rod, just like they warned her, are practically killing each other over that migrant jima cutter. Isa tells Pilar only she has the power to do something to stop it. Rod has overstepped the bounds and lost his grip, and Sofia even called to tell her about Rod's decision to get professional help from a psychologist to cure him of his "whore" since Mariana Franco is now dating her boss, Alonso Santoveña. Minnie and Fedra are definitely impactada since they weren't expecting that bit of news and they exchange a meaningful glance. It's hard to tell if Pilar, she of the stone face, is also impactada or just suffering through a momentary octogenarian episode. She asks for somebody to please explain what is happening.

Minnie scolds Pilar about not believing her before. Fedra smirks and adds that Mariana Franco only excluded them, the female family members of Don Amador, from the CRT's big gala the other evening in order to invite her mother, an illiterate migrant! Well, Pilar has been around this block more than a few times and she decides not to play that game again. "Great," she says. "Then just ignore her. If you don't provoke her, then nothing will happen. All I care about is that the family stays together and if she's going out with her boss instead, then it can only benefit the family." After Pilar leaves Minerva gripes to Fedra that Fedra's plan failed again 'cause the old woman didn't budge an inch.
================

Alonso reminds Gavi that she will have to realize the Montalvo women will have to be invited to their events again and they cannot count on Rod's help in controlling them. Gavi admits she's a bit timid over the fact, but cannot avoid it. Anyway, they've been quiet lately and she's says it makes her wonder about still waters running deep where they're concerned. However, she doesn't want to mix it up with Doña Pilar again and hopes they'll behave themselves from now on.

Rod comes back to the office after his session and asks Marguerita for any calls, in particular from the CRT. He's extremely disappointed that nothing has come from the CRT, i.e., Gavi. (This should be reassuring for us to know that he still loves her just as much as before, despite the nasty things Aaron's told him. There is hope for Burly Bear.) Just then Aaron sees Rod returning and jumps at the chance to annoy him just a little bit more over the problems he's caused between him and Mariana.

Aaron cheerfully tells Rod that he wants to use Mariana Franco's old office as a stocks and bonds outlet office. He wanted to check with him first since he knows it has "remained a sanctuary" for him all this time and so is still empty. Rod unconsciously crumples the paper in his hand and tells Aaron to do whatever he pleases. The office is no longer anything special and slams his office door shut. Aaron thinks to himself, "Oh little cousin, little cousin, how your heart is aching. I'm going to make you explode!" Just then Pam calls, supposedly trying to entice Aaron back.
===============

That night at the restaurant Rod is again noticeably agitated by Erika's absence. He looks at his watch repeatedly and remarks to himself that Erika is fifteen minutes late for their appointment. He asks for the bill. Erika has been there all along, though, secretly observing him from over at the bar. She tells the waiter not to take the check to him and has it put on her credit card instead. Then she sits down at his table, apologizes for being late and tells him she has an appointment right after dinner at 9:30. He asks if this is to be a therapy session in the restaurant after all and she pretends that it isn't. She says she just wanted to know the end to the story and has just enough time to hear it.

So, Rod finishes the story. He tells Erika how Gavi lost the baby in a car accident after escaping the bordello and that this began Gavi's own intense mental suffering as it took her eight months to recover, only to arrive back at the hacienda the very day after he'd married Isa. Painfully he admits that just hearing Gavi's tale as she told him tore him apart. (Hearing it again this time and from this point of view, I gotta admit, it was at least a 4 hanky scene. If I was still imbibing I'd be halfway through the bottle, 'cause this tale gets better and better every time it's told. --And darned, if Eduardo didn't make his momma proud!)

Afterward, he admits his marriage with Isa has been a failure from day one, still is a failure, and that he never loved her. Erika asks for more details about Isa. Rod nervously laughs and tells her Isa is part of the long list of traumas Erika will be listing and charging him for. He admits he thinks Isa is strange. (No, not so much, Hot-Rod.) and proceeds to explain how his marriage was supposed to work with the rules he imposed, and that despite their arrangement that there would be no intimacy she accepted his proposal, as crazy as it might seem.

Erika, who has got to be thinking to herself that this story is so weird it can only be one of a kind and who by now should be saying to herself, "Qué coinkydink, this tale might be actually part of a matching pair," stares at Rod and silently shakes her head.
==============

As for Isadora, she's back at the apartment and totally frustrated. Apparently she still wants to get busy with Frankie and has been repeatedly calling his cell hoping he wants some of that strange. Since Sofia keeps answering, Isa is forced to keep hanging up and we are left to wonder if she actually rememberd to key in the "anonymous caller"code before she dialed.

Labels: Destilando

Permalink posted by Jardinera654 @ 9:58 PM