Chapter Twenty-Three
Jaime made love to Alma all night long. It was like back when they’d first started sleeping together in college. They couldn’t get enough of each other. They spent the next couple of days holed up in the hotel room or relaxing by the pool, just soaking up every minute left on the trip.
After taking brief breaks for food and beverages, they were back at it. Like rabbits.
But the vacation was coming to an end.
Jaime had meant it when he said he loved her.
But she hadn’t said it back.
He did love her. But what did that matter?
Maybe she hadn’t said it back because she didn’t believe he would truly commit to her. Move for her, even.
Jaime resolved that he would fully commit to her. Tonight, at dinner.
It was a rare rainy evening in Guadalajara. Their last evening. Jaime had booked dinner at a restaurant in town with an award-winning chef, but Alma wanted to stay closer for their last night, so they planned to dine in the hotel restaurant.
Alma emerged from the bathroom wearing a long red dress that hugged all of her curves. Her black hair cascaded down her back. How did she get more and more beautiful every time he saw her?
“Good evening, gorgeous.” He kissed the nape of her neck. She smelled like vanilla and citrus. He couldn’t wait to take off her dress after dinner.
“Good evening, handsome.” She fixed his tie. “I like this suit. It’s no tuxedo or anything, but you clean up well.”
“I’m not putting on another tuxedo for a while.” He paused and realized he was wrong. There was a formal event in his near future. “Actually, that’s not true. I’ll be wearing one at Ramón’s wedding.”
Her eyebrow rose. “Oh, yeah. You mentioned it.”
“It will be huge. There will be a church ceremony at Mary, Star of the Sea. Then pictures on the beach. And finally, a big reception in La Jolla at the Del.”
She nodded. “That sounds fun.” She looked down at her shoes. “Let’s go eat.”
Jaime noticed that she changed the subject rather quickly. He had already asked her a while back, but she hadn’t taken his invitation seriously.
He took her hand. “Alma, I already asked you, but I will again. Do you want to go to the wedding with me? You can come down and stay in my house. I’ll show you around San Diego. It will be really fun.”
Her eyes opened wide, and her long black lashes fluttered. “You really want me there?”
He dropped his hand around her waist and kissed her. “Of course I do. I already told you that. I’d love for you to be my date.”
She grinned and then bit her lip. “Are you sure? There are always beautiful women at weddings. I’m sure Julieta has a big family with a bunch of cousins. I don’t want to cramp your style.”
Jaime was sick of her teasing. “Stop. You act like I’m some womanizer.”
“Aren’t you though? I’ve seen your Instagram.”
“Alma, it’s not like that. Many of the girls are just models who I never even dated. And the rest…” He exhaled. “They meant nothing.”
“Sure they didn’t. And you wonder why I think you’re a playboy. Because make no mistake, you are a playboy. I’d almost go so far as to say fuckboy, but spare me the details.”
Why was she being so nasty? Yes, he had dated women but not when they were together.
She was probably feeling insecure. Jaime decided to put her mind at ease.
This was his chance to lay it all out there and be honest with her. “Fine, I’m not going to lie. I was. But I’m crazy about you. I love you. And when we were together, I never cheated on you. You know that, right?”
“I don’t think you ever cheated on me, but things were different then.
” She clasped her hands together over her mouth.
“You say you love me, and I don’t doubt that you feel that in the moment when we are having sex, or even now, but we’ve been dancing around this question since you came back into my life.
What do you want? Do you want to get back together?
What does that look like? Do you want to do long-distance?
Because all I know is that we are flying back to San Francisco tomorrow and you’re turning around the next day and flying to San Diego.
And I’m not. And I can’t take this anymore.
You disrupted my life. I was happy before you showed up.
And now, look at me. I’m acting jealous. ”
Jaime sat on the sofa. Here it was. They couldn’t avoid this conversation any longer. “I want you back. And I’ll do anything to make it work.”
She sat next to him, her lip trembling. “Jaime, I can’t believe I’m hearing these words from you. To be honest, I don’t know what I want.”
Jaime gulped. “You don’t want to get back together? You don’t still love me?”
She placed her hands in a prayer position. “I do love you. I’ll always love you. But I’m happy in my life. Maybe you were right—we were too serious too young. I want to focus on my career for a bit.”
Jaime hung on every word she said. Did she really not want to try to make this work?
“You don’t think I could make you happy? Alma, it’s different now.”
“I don’t know, but I’m not moving to San Diego. I own the bar, and I’m happy in Tiburon. And I would never ever ask you to move to Marin, so how could this work?”
Jaime exhaled. “Well, it could work. I think we could figure it out slowly. Organically. Not make any rash decisions. But I’m open to moving.”
Her jaw dropped. “That sounds nice and mature. What do you propose?”
“Come to the wedding. And then I can see if I can spend some time up there. I want to make a change. I love Marin. Obviously, you are there, but I’m super close with Santi.
My brothers are so busy with their women that I barely see them.
” He paused. Time to lead into what he had to tell her. “And possibly we could work together.”
Her head tilted. “Really? How so?”
Rain splattered against the window, as if echoing the heaviness in both of their hearts. Alma looked at Jaime, who buried his hands in his pockets.
“Well, I told you I wanted to start a tequila line.”
Alma crossed her arms over her chest. “I know, Jaime.”
“Maybe we could do it together?”
She loudly exhaled. “Is that why you are trying to get back together with me?”
“No. No, I was honest with you, and yes, you helping me learn about tequila was the reason I went to Marin. I did want to see you, but that was my motivation. Since spending time together, I realize that not only do I have feelings for you but also that we would be successful together.”
Alma sat there staring at him, her lip quivering. “How could I be so stupid?”
Jaime tossed up his hands. “What are you talking about? Stupid about what?”
“This was your plan, right? All along? Pretend you are falling back in love with me to get me to start this tequila line with you? Lie and say you want to commit to me?”
Jaime was dumbfounded. “Oh my God, no, Alma. No. That wasn’t the plan. Yes, I selfishly wanted you to teach me about tequila, but I have already told you that.”
She shook her head. “I don’t believe you, Jaime. I want to so badly, but I just can’t believe in my heart that you really are ready to commit to me. I think you want to do this for your business.”
How had this gone so wrong? He couldn’t look her in the eyes, so he looked out the window. “I don’t want to use you. That’s not it at all. A month ago, I was sent an influencer packet for a tequila brand. Tom Bluey’s. Have you heard of it?”
“Yes. What does that have to do with anything?”
“Well, I considered it at first. Typical campaign. And I was alone in my house, just tired of my life. Sick of social media, the women, just everything.”
“Go on.” She leaned away from him.
“And I don’t know if I’d been hanging around Julieta too much, but she was always talking about cultural appropriation, and I got mad.
Why should I promote this guy’s brand? He wasn’t even Mexican.
It makes me madder now that I actually know something about tequila thanks to you.
So, he was just going to use me, a pretty-boy Mexican face, to sell his tequila. ”
She squeezed his hand. “Yeah, I do think that’s pretty shitty. I try not to carry celebrity brands in my bar.”
“I think it’s awesome that you look to source good ethical tequila brands.”
“Thanks. But I’m still lost. What does all this have to do with us?”
Jaime shook his head. “It sparked something in me. I wanted to be more than the pretty face. I wanted to contribute. I didn’t want to be used.
So, I got this crazy idea.” He lowered his voice.
“I thought I could start a tequila line. But I knew nothing about tequila. I looked you up and then I saw you had a bar so—”
A look of confusion washed across her face. “You already told me this.”
Jaime could almost see her mind processing everything. “I know. But I’m trying to tell you that I have changed. I don’t want to be the womanizer, influencer. I want to start something new. Something I can be proud of. With someone I trust.”
“And now, you want to just latch on to my hard work.”
“No. It’s not like that.”
“You know, ironically, the other day I thought about what it would be like to start a tequila line. With you. But not now. Way way off into the future. If we had actually been committed. Like married. Now, I feel used.”
“I am not using you.”
“Yes, you are.” She looked up at the ceiling as if it could give her answers. “Is that why you stayed behind the other day at the agave fields? Were you trying to broker a deal with Alejandro?”
Oh fuck. There was no getting out of this one.
“Not exactly. I mean, yes. I did ask him about the possibility of starting a brand, but he put me in my place really fast. Said that I shouldn’t do anything until I was stable.
He thought you were amazing and that I should marry you, for what it’s worth. ”