Caray, Caray!

Diana succeeds in passing off the Sexter as her "favorite" cousin.  For now.  Alonso covers up the reason for their visit, saying he needs a "fiador" (guarantor, cosigner) for his new place.

Carlos takes Carmen out to the middle of nowhere in the truck and tries to get fresh with her in the bed of the truck.  When she won't give up the goods, he proposes.  He brought a ring and everything.

Alonso and Alberto spout a bunch nonsense at each other about not noticing the Sexter was gay.  Right.  Cause you can tell just by looking.

Grumpy Grandpa shows Diego the photos and tells him he paid the bribe to prove to him how much trouble his aunt is.  They repeat the previous day's argument.

Irene tells Lala, the maid, about seeing Tadeo.  Irene is convinced she has to stay away because her father doesn't love her and doesn't want her there.

Abdul tells Brigitte and Lupita about the new truck.  Guess who's excited.  Carlos and Carmen come in and Carmen shows off her engagement ring.  Natalia has a disapproving look on her face.

Carmen shows the ring off to Luz.  She's happy for Carmen.

In his study, Irene gets busted by Grumpy Grandpa.  She says she's not looking for booze.  He screams at her about last night's scandal.  She blames him for her alcoholism, saying he drove her to it.  He counters that all he's ever done is cover up her mistakes, "but maybe my first mistake was letting Amalia adopt you."  Ding-ding-ding!  That's one mystery solved.

While the three eldest Garcia ladies are at home, the boys and Lupita are out joyriding in the truck.  Carmen, Natalia, and Brigitte will need to learn how to drive.  Natalia's boss at the Good Vibes kiosk asks her to look after the kiosk the next morning.

The Shrimp wants to take Jackie to see Banda el Recodo tomorrow, but she complains she can't keep missing work all the time.  Carlos shows up and tells her she's definitely snagged his friend.

Eleazar comes over to see Luz.  She gives him a hard time about Kimberly again…and tells him about Carmen being engaged.  Eleazar thinks it'll come to nothing and Carmen is being taken in, "just like all the other times."

Diego visits his aunt's room when he gets home.  Irene wants to go back to Monterrey, but Diego insists she stay, join an AA group, find a therapist.  Irene promises to think about it.

In his study, Lala brings Grumpy Grandpa the phone and balks about bringing him a coffee, but he insists.  Tiburcio is on the phone to tell Vicente that they have a prospective buyer.  At his wife's urging, he asks what's going to happen to him and his wife when the house sells.  They'll get their "liquidacion" (final payment; severance pay; not just the final paycheck, but an additional amount depending on how long the person has been working) as soon as the sale goes through.  The wife says if he doesn't take advantage of knowing Vicente's deep dark secret, she will.

Jackie complains to Eleazar that The Shrimp was just about to reel her into the business, she's sure of it...but then his friend showed up and screwed it up.  Eleazar complains about guyslike that... giving a girl a truck and an engagement ring and…um, nothing, never mind.  Eleazar agrees that Jackie is right about The Shrimp's intentions.  He suggests she meet him somewhere other than the bar.

Carlos stops by the fonda to give Carmen a surprise.  He won some tickets to Miami at work.  Oh, what a coincidence.  Abdul encourages her to go, saying he can look after the fonda.  Crap.

At the Good Vibes kiosk, Irene picks up a rose quartz.  That's a good one for her.  Natalia touches her hand and tells her to keep holding it, it will give her strength, especially when she's scared.  They're mesmerized by each other as they succumb to La Llamada De La Sangre…ding, ding ding!  Natalia can tell just by looking at her that she's not doing well.  Irene admits she's right.  Natalia insists on giving her the stone, because "something" is telling her she has to.

Diana invites the Sexter over to the house for dinner with the fam.  Diana directs Lala in pulling out all the stops for this dinner in honor of her "cousin."  She invites Irene as well, but Irene seems indifferent.

Diego sees Irene in her dad's study, being tempted by the bar cart.  She feels like she has to tell Diego she really wasn't going to drink.  She tells him about meeting a nice girl at the mall.

Natalia's boss gets back to the kiosk and hears the story.  She jokes that Natalia is trying to take her place.  Actually, a friend of hers is opening up an Internet café, so she recommended Natalia.

Meanwhile, at a nice quiet restaurant over lunch, The Shrimp is YET AGAIN interrupted by Carlos…this time by phone.  Carlos wants The Shrimp to get a job for Natalia.  Ugh!  Jackie pounces on The Shrimp's mention of a warehouse, but all he'll tell her is he sells product that's in high demand and makes everybody happy.

Carlos visits Garcia Central Station to tell Carmen that his friend has a job for Natalia, managing inventory in a warehouse.  When she gets home, she tells them she's already got a job as manager of an Internet café.  She rushes off to her room, with Carmen on her heels.

Back at Eleazar's office, the cop crew decide not to get ahead of themselves.  Eleazar says they have to be patient and wait for The Shrimp to make Jackie an offer.

Carmen asks Natalia what's up with her being rude to Carlos.  She insists that Natalia thank him for getting her a job, even if she's not going to take it.  Natalia agrees, but once Carmen's out of the room she says she's only doing it for her mother's sake…something about that Carlos guy just bugs her.

Here we go with the infamous dinner.  Diego and Irene can't wait to get away from the Sexter.  He's obnoxious.  He flirts with Grumpy Grandpa.  Kill me now.  At the dinner table, he brags about being a ballet dancer.  Grandpa and Irene recognize him from the suit commercial and marvel at his manliness onscreen.  Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.

When Natalia thanks Carlos, Carmen insists on her going on the interview, even if she doesn't want the job.  Carlos mentions the trip to Miami and raises Natalia's suspicions even more.

Irene escapes from dinner and ends up answering the front door to Tadeo.  I'm kind of glad this happened at the house where Diego can talk her down before she hits the bottle.  Everyone hears the screams and Grumpy Grandpa tells Diego to get Irene out of there while he yells at Tadeo for leaving Irene while she was pregnant.  Oops, didn't know that, did you Tad?

Diego probably hasn't ever seen Irene freak out like this.  He calls Alonso to come over and keeps trying to calm his aunt.

Yeah, Tad didn't know.  Vicente, almost gleefully, tells him that his child is dead and it's his fault that Irene is a "drunk."  Diego (why'd you leave Irene alone?!) asks his grandpa who that was, and he just says a guy she was stupid enough to be with many years ago.

Alonso tells Irene she's as beautiful as ever as he takes her blood pressure.  She starts crying as he talks about how she always protected him from Diego and Rodrigo.  Alonso decides to give her a sedative.  Out in the hallway, Alonso and Diego talk about how shocked they both were to see her in that state.  Diego is determined that she not go back to Monterrey.  Alonso agrees with him that she needs to go to AA and find a therapist.

The next morning, Vicente tells Irene that he told Tadeo not to come back again, but he doesn't think Tad will stay away.  Irene assures him she has no interest in speaking to Tadeo.  "Why didn't you tell him you were pregnant?  He was surprised when I told him."  Irene is pissed that he told him and throws him out of her room.

The Shrimp assures a "client" that he'll have his "merchandise" next week and he won't "betray" him.  Natalia shows up for her interview and he looks her over in a way that makes me want a shower.  And a weapon.

Tomorrow: Carlos slips Carmen the drugs and she gets busted.  The creep.

Labels: te-quiero