Caray, Caray!

(I think this is episode #37)

Repeat of Paloma in Angelica’s office saying she wants to move away. Angelica assures her that the scholarship is almost a done deal, and notes that sometimes distance helps us look at things more calmly.

Liliana and her gal pals are at school laughing and talking when Romina walks by. Lili gives Romina a hard time about Emiliano breaking up with her and says that Romina got her just deserts for being a whore. Paloma shows up and demands that Liliana stop insulting Romina, who then starts shoving Lili and pulling her hair.

Angelica visits the mother superior with a list of students who are failing, which includes Romina. Angelica asks if they’re going to expel her. Yes, if Romina fails again or has a lack of discipline issue again. Just then they hear the girls yelling outside. The mother superior puts an end to it and after shooing the onlookers away, scolds Paloma, Romina and Lili. Romina and Lili each claim that the other started it. The MS says that this will have serious consequences, especially for Romina since she’s on probation. Paloma comes to the rescue by saying that it’s her fault and Romina was only defending herself. The MS asks if Paloma if she’s sure and if she knows that it could mean losing her partial scholarship at the school, and that she could also lose the chance to get a university scholarship. Angelica begs Paloma to tell the truth, and Lili starts to say that Paloma didn’t start the fight, but Pal insists that she did. Angelica asks Romina if she has anything to say, and Romina answers that Pal and Lili have already explained everything. So it’s off to the principal’s office for Paloma. After they leave Lili tells Romina that she doesn’t deserve a friend like Paloma and it’ll be her fault if Paloma doesn’t get a scholarship. Romina’s attitude is, I didn’t ask her to lie for me, besides, you got off without getting punished. Lili vows that Romina is going to pay for all the bad stuff she’s doing.

Angelica knows that Paloma didn’t start the fight but Paloma’s response is that Romina can’t get in trouble or she’ll lose the year. And you’ll lose the scholarship, Angelica argues. Romina not losing a year of school is more important to you than a scholarship? Paloma says the scholarship isn’t a sure thing yet, but Romina’s expulsion is. Angelica thinks that Paloma is sacrificing herself because she feels so bad about her feelings for Emiliano. Paloma denies this, but Angelica doesn’t believe her and tries to get her to reconsider. Paloma refuses and asks her not to interfere.

Orlando has called German to his office and wants him to handle the steps for making Emiliano his business associate. German is surprised--he didn’t realize Emiliano had the money. He doesn’t, but he’ll pay Orlando little by little. Orlando wants to delegate so he’ll be able to do other things, to enjoy life, travel, and he tells him about Camila.

Macarena talks to Camila about how with the sale of the engagement ring and pearl necklace Paloma could earn money to stay in Mexico City or wherever she gets a scholarship. Camila laments how unfair life is--they have to sell something valued for Paloma to go to college while Romina, who has everything, doesn’t want to study. Macarena suggests that maybe Emiliano can encourage her, like Aron is doing with Paloma. Camila is surprised to hear this--she’s happy for Pal but also for Romina, who broke up with Emiliano because she thinks that he’s interested in Paloma. But if Paloma and Aaron are going out, Romina has no reason to doubt Pal.

German wonders why Emiliano doesn’t seem very happy about becoming Orlando’s business associate. Emiliano answers that he is happy, but he’s not sure if it’s for the best because it means he’ll have to stay in Real del Monte longer. German realizes that Emiliano is thinking of leaving because of Paloma. German advises him to fight for her, but Emiliano asks what about Aron? I think German tells him to take Aron down or get him out of the way, but I’m not sure. He punctuates this with “haven’t you heard that all’s fair in love and war?”

Carlota is meeting with the mother superior, who tells her that Paloma had to be punished for bad behavior, fighting with a classmate, and she isn’t going to be able to keep the scholarship they’ve given her. The MS says Pal could also lose her chance of getting a university scholarship. Carlota seems alarmed about the idea of Pal going away to college, but the MS says she hasn’t won it yet, although she was the #1 candidate. Carlota says she understands that the MS has to report the incident with Paloma to the university. Because hiding information is a form of lying. If Paloma lost the opportunity for that scholarship, she’ll have to face the consequences.

Aron is getting Paloma’s engagement ring appraised, but the guy says he can’t pay what it’s worth and recommends that Aron take it to Mexico City.

Ines invites Cristobal to the welcome party so he can meet the women in the Accion Catolica church group. It’ll be at the house of Carlota Espinoza de los Monteros--Cris has a look of dread on his face.

Rafael and Joel are looking at the new pottery line and talking business. Rafa asks if Joel’s lawyer also handles divorces. Joel thinks it’s best for Rafa to start the proceedings now, as the longer he waits the more of his earnings/profits (from the new project, I think) he’ll have to give Diana.

Speaking of Diana, she’s in Camila’s store bemoaning her situation. Diana doesn’t know what to do and says she needs Camila more than ever, calling her “amiga”. Camila tells her to keep busy, it’s not going to help to stay at home lamenting her fate, but Diana scoffs, saying she has never worked before. Camila suggests other things like studying, but Diana’s not interested in any of that. She wants Camila to make Rafa understand the horrors of divorce.

Carlota yells at Paloma for losing her school scholarship and informs her that she’ll have to pay the rest of the year herself. Paloma thinks she’ll be able to pay for it with the money she’ll get from selling the engagement ring. Carlota says Pal will have to forget about university, because she lost the chance to win a scholarship, and there’s no money for that in this house. I tried to convince the mother superior to give you another chance, but it was useless. No puede ser, frets Macarena. After Carlota leaves Mac asks Pal why she fought with the girl, but Pal doesn’t answer.

Romina tells her mom about Paloma losing the scholarships....I tell ya, Paloma is bad luck--when she’s just about to achieve something, something happens where she can’t have it. First she didn’t marry, and now she’s not going to college. Camila sympathizes “pobre muchacha” but Romina’s attitude is “pobre my foot”-—supposedly she’s a good girl but she fought with Liliana and is trying to steal Emiliano from me. Camila relates the news about Paloma going out with Aron, isn’t that proof that she’s not interested in Emiliano? Nope, answers Romina, she wants everyone at her feet. (Look who’s talking!) She’s not the saint everyone thinks she is, you’ll see.

Carlota tells Macarena that she’s very angry with Paloma, so don’t ask me to go easy on her. Mac insists that something else must be going on with Paloma. They change the subject to talk about social gathering with Padre Juan (Cristobal) planned for tomorrow. She asks if Carlota’s going to Mexico yet? No, not yet. Mac wonders if Carlota could postpone her (alleged) doctor appointments to pay for the rest of Pal’s schooling but Carlota shoots that down.

Emiliano calls Paloma and asks if it’s because of Aron that she can’t accept him. She replies yes, I’m not interested in you and starts to cry while on the other end Emiliano starts crying too.

Orlando has stopped by Camila’s house to ask her to the movies and dinner; she goes upstairs to ask Romina if she wants to come along.

Paloma’s in her room when Macarena comes in to tell her that Aron is waiting downstairs, and she wants to talk with her later.

Needless to say, “forget it” is Romina’s response to her mom’s invitation. Camila asks what Orlando has done to make her reject him, and her answer is that he wants to take her father’s place. Camila explains that she’s only looking for a friend, a companion. Wouldn’t you like me to be happy? Romina just ignores her.

Aron returns the ring to Paloma and informs her about the jeweler’s suggestion to go to Mexico City. She tells him that now she really needs the money--she’s going to tell him what happened and he’ll be the only one whom she tells the whole truth.

Emiliano runs into Ines on the street and learns that Aron went to Paloma’s house.

Paloma explains that she felt taking the fall for Romina was the best way to demonstrate her friendship. Aron disagrees and thinks Romina doesn’t realize Pal’s sacrifice. Paloma believes Romina does understand, and she’s sure things will go back to the way they were before. It’s going to be clear to Romina that I’m incapable of betraying her. I lost Inaki, I lost Emiliano, and I don’t want to lose her. Aron asks what she means about Emiliano and she shares what happened in their phone conversation earlier. He asks if she loves Emiliano.

After the commercial Aron repeats his question to Paloma and she says she doesn’t know. He tells her not to fool herself, it’s better to recognize what she feels for E. Pal starts crying, it’s hard because I should only feel friendship for him. But you fell in love, Aron points out. Yes, Paloma confesses, but she doesn’t want to be in love with Emiliano. Rufi overhears all this. Aron asks what she’s going to do. She replies that she’s going to stay away from Emiliano for the memory of Inaki, and because Romina loves him. Aron says he wants her to know that she can trust him and he’ll always be at her side.

Cristobal asks the other padre (my captions say Padre Mateo) if he has to go the luncheon party thingy with Ines et al., and the answer is “of course...Why don’t you want to go?” Cristobal thinks something simpler in the church would be more than adequate. Padre Mateo explains that things are more personal here than in the capital and refusing the invitation would give offense. Besides, it’s good that it’s in the Espinoza home because Carlota leads the group. Cristobal notes that they have a very high opinion of Carlota-—yes, if only all of the believers had her values, says the poor deluded padre.

Carlota is on the phone talking with Ines about organizing the welcome party. She hangs up in disgust, saying “as if the arrival of that padre was so important...as if it was the only thing one has to do.” Indeed. Who has time for planning parties when one’s schedule is jam-packed with schemes for bribery, theft, and murder?

Rufi has told Macarena what she heard Paloma say about Emiliano. She comments that Mac and Carlota fell in love with the same man and now it’s as though history is repeating itself. Mac agrees and notes that although Pal and Romina are only friends, they have been almost like sisters since they met. Rufi says that things with Mac and Carlota didn’t end well, it caused a lot of pain, and Mac adds, “even the death of my father”. Rufi replies, yes and no--his anger from knowing that Mac was going to run off provoked the heart attack, but she (Rufi) has always believed that Don Rodrigo was already in bad health and nobody knew. Besides, it was God’s will, not yours. Macarena laments that it would be very sad if Paloma’s/Romina’s love for Emiliano ended up in another tragedy.

Camila and Orlando are outside her house after their date and she mentions that Romina is upset about Emiliano. Orlando says Romina is old enough to face her problems on her own, and Camila has to let go. Camila admits he’s right, but Romina will always be her little girl. He thinks it’s time for Camila to think of herself and have fun, and he’s here to help her with that.

Romina and Diana are having a pity party. Diana assures her that Paloma will never be welcome in her house. Romina mentions that Pal took the blame for her at school and Diana says well there it is, she feels so bad for wanting to take your boyfriend that she wants to pay for it somehow. She warns Romina to be careful and promises that Emiliano will never have another girlfriend that’s not Romina.

Carlota visits Paloma in her room and Pal tells her how the local jeweler can’t pay what the ring is worth, she’ll have to take it to Mexico. Carlota of course offers to take it for her to find a jeweler. Well, there goes yet more of Paloma’s money into the Bank of Carlota. Carlota cryptically adds that getting rid of Inaki’s ring doesn’t mean Paloma can remove him from her heart. There are loves that always remain. She looks thoughtfully into the distance while saying this, so we know she’s talking about herself here as well. If your love for him was so great, nobody will be able to replace him. Nobody.

Emiliano and his dad are walking around town-—Rafa is glad Emiliano isn’t leaving just to get away from Paloma, and E says it’s hard to live in the same place as her and have to control himself not to tell her how important she is to him. Rafa tells him that he never felt that passion—-when he fell in love with Diana she accepted right away. Emiliano feels that being in love like this is hell sometimes.

Paloma is crying in her room when Macarena comes in and reminds her that they need to have a talk—-Rufi overheard Paloma say she loves Emiliano, does she want to talk about it? Paloma cries that she feels shame for what she feels for him, she fell in love with the wrong man.

Rafa tells Emiliano that he’s pleased about his new association with Orlando, but wants him to be careful, because nobody knows anything about him. Don’t believe everything he tells you and carefully check everything you sign. Emiliano says Orlando isn’t like Pablo Lara, who I guess is an old business partner of Rafael’s. Emiliano promises to be very careful. Then he asks how his dad is doing, does he miss...? and Rafa says yes, and he even misses Diana (he’s kidding, right?), but he thinks he made the right decision. Emiliano just wants to see his dad happy.

Paloma tells Macarena that she feels bad and wonders how, if she loved Inaki so much, can she love Emiliano? She wonders, how does she know if what she feels is really love. Macarena suggests that maybe she began to feel something for him back when he and Romina began dating, but she didn’t realize it. Paloma points out that Romina fell in love with him first, and she is never going to forgive me now that I’m in love with him. That’s exactly what happened with me and...your Aunt Carlota, sobs Macarena. She tells Paloma what we in the audience have already guessed, that she and Carlota fell in love with the same man, and Carlota couldn’t get over the fact that he preferred Mac. When she and he became novios, Carlota felt betrayed. In the end neither one of them ended up with this guy, but Mac's relationship with Carlota was never the same after that. Paloma is convinced that the same will happen with her, so Romina and Emiliano can never know that Pal loves E.

Carlota looks at the ring and laughs that Paloma continues to trust her. She calls her lawyer and he says that things are ready for them to go to Mexico next week--she doesn’t want them to travel together, so she’ll meet him there.

Tomorrow: Aron vows that he'll get Paloma to love him, even more than she loves Emiliano; Romina tells Paloma she thinks Emil wants to get back together with her; Emil confronts Aron and asks what his intentions toward Paloma are; Rafa and Camila appear to be getting closer; it looks like Emil and Paloma may share a kiss.

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