Caray, Caray!

Natalia tries to talk to Diego, but he brushes her off, since it's "strictly professional" between them, so what could there be to talk about?

Rosa loves the idea of the clothing line, but she knows Vicente doesn't.  She laughs to hear that he hasn't heard about it yet.  She's happy to see Irene so happy.

Karina is so grumpy, she can't finish her cereal.  Diana is so hungry she finishes it off for her.  Karina wasn't kidding about that being the last food in the house.  "And if I don't get a job today…."  She encourages Diana to start looking for a job too, but Diana says "I wasn't born to work!"  Well, whatever…Karina has an interview to get to.

Rosa and Irene bump into Natalia, who is less perky and polite than usual.  Irene knows she's not usually like that and Rosa takes her word for it.  "Is it just me, or was she crying?"  Irene says something must have happened.

Natalia gives herself another of those bathroom pep talks.

Irene tells Diego she's ready to claim that empty office and get to work.  Also, Rosa is back on the job and is taking the desk that was Karina's.  Diego halfheartedly says he'll go welcome her.  As far as what's wrong with Natalia, he cryptically tells Irene "Ask her yourself.  See if she has the guts to answer you."

Carmen is making arroz a la tumbada (which is similar to a paella, but is a more of a soupy preparation with a seafood broth, tomatoes, and chiles and without saffron http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art4182.asp )for Eleazar.  For dinner.  Tonight.  Too bad the boys are busy with a bowling tournament.  Let's see how we get rid of the rest of the kids :D

Andres muses aloud about Natalia and some random guy says you've got to watch it with those Garcia girls.  But since he turns out to be Chato Reynoso, Lupita's dad, who stood Carmen up at the altar, he can take his opinions about the Garcias and shove 'em where the sun don't shine as far as I'm concerned!  He remembers Andres hanging on Natalia all the time.  Chato, that jerk, would kinda like to get a look at Carmen again..you know, if she's got all her, ahem, assets in about the same place and in about the same proportions as she used to (which Andres, who I'd very much like to kick in the pants, verifies that she does).  Then Chato has the nerve to ask whether Carmen had a boy or a girl.  Dude, she had a frickin' diabolical mastermind is what she had.  The.  Nerve.

Irene sees Natalia in the break room, where Natalia claims she just had something in her eye.  They make plans to get Irene moved into her new office.

Karina gets hired, but immediately complains about her low salary.  The good-natured hiring manager says it's not so bad--she'll get 2% commission, up to 10,000 pesos a month, and everything's priced fairly high, so it won't be hard to do.

Natalia and Irene start arranging furniture as the movers bring it in.  Natalia offers to help Irene out with sewing samples, but Irene says there's no way she's going to get on Diego's bad side by stealing his secretary.  "He's very jealous.  Hadn't you noticed?"

The hiring manager introduces Karina to a coworker who seems friendly enough.  Karina crassly gapes at the price of a tall skinny vase, but the coworker, like a good sales associate, explains it's diamond-cut.  This is high-end stuff, but to Karina it's just overpriced.  She gawks at the price tag on a larger vase and drops it when someone taps her on the shoulder.  So much for the new job.

Andres takes Chato to Lupita's school to see her.  Really, Andres?  I just mentally kicked you in the pants less than five minutes ago.  After a stupid joke about "no, not that kid, the other one" Chato puffs up with pride at his good-looking daughter.  She can also kill you with her pinky.  Don't forget that for a second, Chato.  He can't wait to introduce himself to Carmen and Lupita, but he's gotta make his story sound good, because Carmen's his last chance at solving, um, a little problem that he has.  Let me guess…he needs money?  He whispers to Andres what his "little problem" is and Andres laughs.

Alberto goes over to Karina's and Diana goes on the offensive immediately.  Alberto tells her that Diego won't accuse her of infidelity if she accepts an uncontested divorce and takes a DNA test.  Diana calls Diego immediately and tells him if he wants a divorce and a DNA test, he'd better cough a LOT of cash.  Diego won't offer her anything.  Alberto tells her not to take too much time waiting to accept Diego's offer or he'll get tired of waiting and report her.  I tried looking it up, and it doesn't look like adultery has been a criminal offense since 2011, so I assume all reporting her does is take the decision of whether or not to "give" him a divorce out of her hands.  After Alberto leaves Diana crows that her lawyer is going to rake them over the coals.

Diego leaves his office grumpily and Natalia mentally tells herself she's just his secretary.  Then she starts talking out loud about "I won't even smile at him anymore!"  Poor Rosa thinks Natalia was talking to her and Natalia rushes to apologize.  Rosa tells Natalia she's going over to Don Grumps' place and to call her if anything comes up.

Karina goes home and tells Diana about ending up with no job and yet another charge on her credit card that she doesn't know how to pay.  Diana's not worried, 'cause once she bleeds Diego dry, she'll be able to help Karina with her money problems.  For now, she suggests they go out for a nice meal and charge it to Diego's credit card.  "And on the way, I can tell you about Alberto's visit…."

Rosa stops by Irene's new office before she leaves, to let her know she's going.  She asks about Diego's impending divorce and the supposed "other woman."  She guesses it's Natalia, but the Natalia she's sharing space with doesn't seem like the Natalia Don Vicente's been griping about.  Irene assures her that while Diego does have a thing for Natalia, she's not the reason he's getting the divorce and they met quite a while ago.  Rosa heads for the house and workmen keep coming in with boxes and fabric samples for Irene.

Andres and Chato have some lunch.  His shoddy excuse for leaving Carmen at the altar is that he was terrified at the thought of suddenly being a father of 4.  He thinks he can fix this with a serenata.  Or by getting someone to set him up on a date with her without telling her who the date's with.  Or offering to take her on a trip.  "Chicks dig shopping, right?  I'll take her to Miami…."  Andres chokes and tells him he'd better not even mention Miami.  Chato tells Andres to pay for lunch.  And ok, he'll hire him for the cab company, which I think amounts to the company doing dispatch duties and Andres paying a set fee or a percentage of his fares in exchange, instead of him just roaming around on his own.  How did I miss that Chato is the cab company boss?

Tad is trying to paint, but his hand is shaking again.  I can't tell if his agitated breathing is from physical pain or emotional anguish.  The phone rings and it's his doctor.  He wants to talk about the diagnosis in person.  Tad's hand is still shaking as he puts the phone down and heads for the doctor's office.

Diana brags about how she's going to buy a sports car, but Karina thinks she's going to need an SUV, you know…FOR THE BABY!  Whatevs.  Diana plans to delay taking the DNA test until she's gotten all the money she can out of Diego.  The waiter runs her card right at the table so that I have the pleasure of him telling her it was rejected.  She tries a second card….

Diego finishes cancelling all of Diana's credit cards at the bank.

I don't know what card number she's on, but it seems like she's gone through all of them and Karina either doesn't want to put it on her card, or she doesn't have any credit left after paying for the broken vase.  The waiter won't let Diana leave and come back with cash, even though she tries flinging the Caceres name around.  The manager threatens to call the police if they don't pay.  Yes, please do!  Oh, oh, oh!  Diana in a hair net!  They put them to work!  Karina had to clean the bathrooms and Diana is ruining the last manicure she's going to be able to afford for a while washing dishes.  I may go back and watch that again later, just to savor the moment properly.

And the diagnosis is…brain tumor.  The doctor doesn't think it's cancerous, just messing with his motor function, and they need to run some more tests and see if they can yank the sucker.  And even if it is cancerous, the doc thinks it can be managed.

Diego walks in as Natalia is taking a call from an automotive plant to confirm a meeting.  He takes the call at her desk and then asks her to stop by legal for the contract and then collect the samples he's planning to show them.  He pretty much demands that she go with him to the meeting tomorrow.

Tad tells his maid that he's got a tumor, though they don't know if it's benign or malignant.  He shows her his shaking hand.  Is that a vaguely Warholesque painting of Irene behind him?  Tad asks the maid not to tell anyone and swears he's going to live life to the fullest, no matter how this goes.

Eleazar comes in with a lovely bouquet of roses and tells Abdul that of course he brought flowers for Carmen, because that's what you do when someone invites you over for dinner.  Abdul gives him one of those "yeah, right" looks and goes back to the bedroom to get ready for his big bowling tournament.  Carmen takes the flowers to put them in a vase while El chills in the living room.

Natalia obsesses over what to wear tomorrow and chides herself for getting so antsy over a simple trip to Tlaxcala.

Carmen remembers that Eleazar did give her flowers once before, when she was 15.  Alberto comes over, but he's there to collect Brigitte.  Carmen thought everyone would be having dinner together and Brigitte begs to be allowed to go out.  "Well, ok, but ask me next time, I'm not just painted here!"  The boys make a run for it.  Natalia also begs off, saying she just isn't hungry.  Carmen wonders if the kids were plotting against her.  Eleazar's eyes light up when he hears they're having Arroz a la Tumbada.  Lupita appears in a puff of smoke "She made it for you because you like it!"  Eleazar doesn't care if somehow Lupita used the powers of darkness so he could have his favorite dinner without a table full of nosy kids, he swears he'll finish off the entire dish by himself.  Well, Lupita will be joining them, but I'm sure it'll be in a matchmaking capacity.  If this doesn't work, she'll probably be locking them in a closet next.

Brigitte and Alberto end up waiting for a table…at the same place where Diana and Karina have been toiling all day.  Take out your phone, Brigitte!  Put that brattiness to good use for once!  Diana loudly complains that they should have taken her earrings, which are worth more than the crappy meal they had.  She sees Alberto and tells him if Diego wants war, he's got it!  As she and Karina are leaving, Diana tells the diners that this place is a dumpster and they're going to have roaches in their food.  The manager apologizes to Alberto and explains what happened.  Brigitte recognized Diana and she thought bubbles that Natalia turned out to be a robamaridos (husband-stealer).  I take it back, Brigitte…quit being such a brat!

Eleazar had three helpings.  Lupita excuses herself to go to bed at a decent hour…EVIL!  Eleazar offers to kiss Carmen's hands, she made such a good dinner.  Carmen offers them for smooching and El takes her up on it.  If El doesn't have anywhere else to be, Carmen invites him to stay for a while.  She got a copy of that movie they watched together in Tuxpan.  Work it, Carmen, work it!

Brigitte asks Alberto about Diego's divorce.  He says they have some problems they can't resolve.  "But let's not talk about that.  Do you want to order dessert?"

Eleazar and Carmen are cracking up over the "scary" movie that probably wouldn't even scare Lupita.  El jokingly grabs Carmen like he's scared.  They decide to turn off the movie and listen to some music for a while.  Carmen says she'll put on some cumbia…"Let's see if you're as good a dancer as you say."

Lupita's got a stomachache.

Eleazar proves he can cumbia and says the next choice is his.  And he puts on Luis Miguel's "Inolvidable"…pulling out the big guns, El!  Ladies and gentlemen, WE HAVE SMOOCHIES!  Big time smoochies.  No, Eleazar, don't talk!  Just smooch!  Even Lupita, stomachache and all, sees the smoochies and knows better than to interrupt.  They bleep out everything after Carmen sighing "Ay, Negro…." but I would be willing to bet that what she just asked him was "do you have a condom," but I don't know how to interpret his shrug.  Is it a "no, oops" shrug or a "yeah, but not because I thought I'd need one, I just like to have one handy at all times."  Carmen hears a door closing and freaks out that someone might have seen them.

Lupita wakes Natalia up to tell her that Carmen and Eleazar are "novios" (boyfriend/girlfriend…I don't think she's assuming they're engaged) and she saw them kissing and she got so excited it took away her stomachache!

Eleazar pleads for a resumption of smoochies, but Carmen can't get him out the door fast enough.  "Ay!" is right, Carmen.  She can't believe she had the guts to kiss him.  "What if they saw me?" 

Tomorrow: Diego can't live without Natalia.  Chato shows up and Eleazar ruins a perfectly good bouquet over it.  Damn you, Chato!

Labels: te-quiero