“Yes.”
“Okay, then, Adan. You’re coming by when tomorrow morning?”
“I thought about nine, if that’s all right, Delia.”
“It’s all right,” Tía Isabela quickly answered for me. “Is this a party, Adan, some of your friends?”
“No, Isabela. For now, I thought it would be better if there was just the two of us.” He looked at me. “We have a lot of catching up to do.”
“Yes, I imagine you do,” Tía Isabela said.
Adan nodded. “Well, then, I’ll see you tomorrow morning,” he said, standing. “It’s nice seeing you, Isabela.”
“And nice seeing you, Adan,” she said. She followed him to the doorway and said good-bye. Then she turned quickly and walked back to the living room.
“That’s a man for you,” she said. “See how stupid they are? After the way you treated him, he’s still infatuated with you. If you’re smart, have any brains at all, you’ll take advantage of it. This is absolutely the very last opportunity I’ll provide for you. When you drive him away this time, you drive it all away,” she concluded. “Come to my room, and I’ll give you the clothing and the bathing suit.”
I rose and followed her. When she handed the clothes to me, she looked more closely at my hair and face.
“You can stop your working today. Go do something about your appearance, your hair, your nails, everything. It will probably take you until tomorrow to get yourself presentable again. How he didn’t see that just now is beyond me. Well, maybe not so beyond me. Men are blind when it comes to women. Look at your father. Go on, get to it,” she ordered, and waved at the door.
I hurried out, feeling very confused. What had brought Adan Bovio back? Was I happy about it or not? What definitely did make me happy was the reaction Sophia had when she heard. She came running up the stairs to my room. I had just washed my hair, using the hair softeners and treatment Tía Isabela had given me and not taken back. I was sitting at my table brushing out my hair and drying it when Sophia burst in.
“Is it true?”
I shut off the dryer and turned to her. “What?” I asked, pretending ignorance.
“You know what. Don’t play dumb with me, Delia. Did Adan Bovio come here and ask you on his boat again? Well?”
“I think it’s true,” I said.
She stared, fuming. I saw her mind spinning. “My lying mother had something to do with this. She’s still after his father. I can’t believe it,” she said, and then smiled. “You’ll do something to mess it up, I’m sure. On the other hand, maybe he’s taking you out to sea to drown you. Or maybe my mother asked him to do her a favor.” She left with a smile on her face.
As foolish as that sounded, the image frightened me. Was Adan angry enough to do something that drastic and horrible? Certainly, I could believe mi tía Isabela would. Then I shook my head at myself in the mirror, laughing at how paranoid I had become.
That evening, Tía Isabela did another surprising thing. She had Inez set out a place setting for me to have dinner with her and Sophia. I could see how displeased Sophia was, but Tía Isabela was acting as if nothing much had happened since I had sat with them at this table before I went to Mexico. In fact, her topics of conversation were centered all around social events and the upcoming political events that were being held for Señor Bovio. When she talked about my boat trip, Sophia was so infuriated she interrupted her mother to say she was finished eating and wanted to go up to prepare for going out. She jumped out of her seat before Tía Isabela could respond, but at the doorway, she turned, her eyes blazing with rage, and said, “You’re still the laughingstock of Palm Springs, Mother, because of what you did for her, and this isn’t going to change it.”
She ran to the stairway before Tía Isabela replied. She didn’t seem to want to reply, anyway. She simply smiled, shook her head, and continued talking about people and events that were filling the social calendar. I listened, nodded, and smiled whenever I thought I should, but to me, it was as if I were humoring someone who had gone mad.
By the time I went up to my room, Sophia was already gone. She came home very late and made enough noise to be sure she would waken me. I heard her open my door, but I kept my eyes closed to pretend I was asleep. She laughed and came to my bed.
“I know you’re awake,” she said. “You’re probably having a hard time staying asleep because you’re so excited about tomorrow on the boat with Adan.”
I groaned and turned over to look at her. “What do you want, Sophia?”
“Nothing.”
She wobbled a bit, and I could smell the alcohol on her breath. There was a rum drink they were all into now.
“Then go to sleep,” I said, turning back, “and give the rest of the world a rest.”
“Very funny. Ha-ha. For your information, I have some information for you.”
She waited, but I didn’t ask what, and I kept my back to her, hoping to discourage her.
“It’s about Adan Bovio.”
“Right.”