Diego got them in the truck and he was silent as he drove toward Mrs. Bellmont’s house. Alejandro sat with his arm behind the seat, sort of around Elise, but not.
Elise suddenly realized that all her fears were for herself. What might happen to her. But it dawned on her that the success or failure of this venture would also affect them. It must be in their minds that she could, well, dump them. She could get the design job, then hire one of the more glamorous landscape companies, the ones with the green vans with gold lettering on the sides. Their workmen wore nice uniforms.
“You’re not going to let me down, are you?” Elise asked.
“What?” Diego asked.
“If I get this job, you aren’t going to tell me it’s too big for you, that you don’t have enough men or tools or whatever, are you? I’m not going to be alone in this, am I?”
Alejandro seemed to know what she was doing, but then he knew his brother well. Diego always worried that everything good was going to turn bad.
One of Elise’s hands was on the truck seat and Alejandro squeezed it.
“I have thousands of cousins at home,” Diego said, “and I’ll bring as many as I need to help. And I know men who do concrete. You want handmade tiles for your little house? I can get them.”
“Yeah?” Elise said. “What else can you get for us?”
The silence in the truck was broken as Diego began to talk. He hadn’t let on that he was seeing this as his big break, but it all came out as he talked nonstop on the way to the house.
When they got there, Alejandro got out, put his hands on Elise’s waist, and swung her down. “Gracias,” he said.
“Too early for that! I haven’t yet done anything to earn thanks.”
Alejandro just smiled, and they went to the back to get tools out of the truck.
Elise wanted time to go over her sales pitch, but Mrs. Bellmont was waiting for them—and she seemed to be in a bad mood. She was telling Diego to take out some flowers that she didn’t like.
“When Leonardo gets here, all this will have to go. Just clean it up now and he’ll oversee everything later. Whenever he bothers to get here,” she added.
When she started back toward the house, Alejandro gave Elise a push, then a glare. “Okay, okay!” she said, and took her drawings from him.
All the workmen were watching her. Miguel’s usual laughter was gone.
“How did I get the job of savior?” Elise muttered, and Alejandro grinned. When she started toward Mrs. Bellmont, he pulled her baseball cap off to let her blonde hair fall to her shoulders. She shook her head to loosen her hair, put her shoulders back, and strode forward.
“Mrs. Bellmont?”
“Yes?” She sounded angry. “What is it?” Turning, she saw Elise and her eyes widened. “You’re—Oh good heavens! Everyone is looking for you.” She glanced at the men behind her. “You haven’t been with them, have you?”
Elise didn’t answer that. “Is it true that you used to be a dancer?”
Mrs. Bellmont blinked a few times, then smiled. “Why, yes, I was.”
“I thought so. It’s in the way you move. I wonder if I could show you—”
“Why did you run away from your wedding?” Mrs. Bellmont demanded. “The rumor is that you have mental problems.”
The memory of that ride in the trunk of Dr. Hightower’s car came back to Elise. And how Kent had lied about the pills he gave her. But as she looked at Mrs. Bellmont, she knew she couldn’t tell the truth. To tell on Carmen would hurt her brothers.
“I found out that Kent is gay.”
“No!” Mrs. Bellmont said. “That gorgeous young man? But then, that should have been a giveaway. You poor thing. How did you stand it?”
“I couldn’t, so I had to run.”
“And this?” She waved at the men behind her, who were only vaguely pretending to work, and her eyes fixed on Alejandro.
“Sex,” Elise said. “Wild, never-ending sex. Alejandro doesn’t speak a word of English and I love that about him. He’s the perfect antidote to Kent and his...well, his nothing.”