I showed it to her, and she nodded and smiled. “Very thoughtful, Adan. It’s a particularly good picture of you both as well.” She handed it back to me. “And I see you’ve brought her a beautiful rose as well.”
“Yes. My father always brought my mother a single rose. He said it meant more because it was an individual and not a clump.”
Tía Isabela laughed. “How sweet. Would you like to stay for
lunch?”
“Oh, no, I promised Delia I would not interfere with her schoolwork.”
“I’m sure she has to stop to eat lunch. We can have a nice lunch on the patio. I was just heading to the kitchen to have Inez and Mrs. Rosario prepare us all a refreshing shrimp salad. Would that be good?”
“Well…” He looked at me. “Is that okay with you, Delia?”
“Delia?” Tía Isabela followed when I hesitated.
“Yes, of course,” I said. “I’ll just take the picture up to my room.”
“Oh, I can get Inez to do that for you. Why don’t you show Adan to the patio. As soon as Inez puts the picture in your room, I’ll have her bring out some iced tea.”
She took the picture from me before I could object, smiled, and went to the kitchen.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause you any problems,” Adan said.
“No, it’s all right. This way,” I said, taking him to the French doors and out to the patio that overlooked the pool. The gardeners had cut the grass yesterday, and the aroma of it still sweetened the air. I showed him to a table and put my rose down.
“This is a beautiful property,” Adan said. “I remember your uncle. He was a very distinguished gentleman, always well groomed, elegantly dressed. He was the sort of man who is never surprised, if you know what I mean. My mother called him Palm Springs’ own Cary Grant. You know who Cary Grant was?”
“Yes. I have seen him on television. Once, even on our television in Mexico—when it worked, that is.” I laughed. “We didn’t always have electricity.”
“I can’t imagine the world you were in once.”
“I can,” I said. I looked out at the property. “Tenía más.”
“What? Doesn’t that mean you had more then?”
“Sí, Adan. It does,” I said, smiling.
“But how could you have had more than this?” he asked, sweeping the scene before us with his hand.
“I had my parents and my grandmother,” I said. “Cuando usted está pobre, la familia significa más. When you are poor, family means more.”
“I see what you mean.”
We were both quiet. Inez came out with a tray carrying a pitcher of iced tea and two glasses. She also put placemats on the patio table. I caught her looking at Adan and then smiling at me as she raised her eyebrows. Everyone was imagining too much, letting their fantasies run away with them, I thought, but I had no idea how to change their thinking, not with Tía Isabela behaving like a matchmaker.
She joined us, and soon after, Inez brought out the shrimp salad and bread. Tía Isabela got into a conversation with Adan about his father, the campaign, their home, or I should say homes. I learned Señor Bovio owned a condo in Los Angeles and a house in Big Bear, the mountains not far away. I sat and listened to them reminiscing about the grand social events they had both attended in the past and for the first time wondered how Tía Isabela had dealt with all of this the first time she had been shown the great wealth and glamour. She came from the same poor world from which I had come. There were things yet to learn from her, things she would rather teach me now than teach her own daughter.
I was afraid to ask about Sophia. Was she still up in her room pouting? Had she been invited to join us for the lunch? Did she even know Adan was here?
Adan and Tía Isabela had coffee after our lunch, and then I walked him out to his car. We stopped to look at my yet-to-drive new sports car.
“It’s a beauty,” Adan said. “Since your foot isn’t as bad as feared, do you think you would have time one day this week for me to help you get used to your car? I could come by after work. Since I’m the boss these days, I can make my own hours and come whenever you have the free time.”
He walked around the car and looked at it with more desire than he was looking at me, I thought, and laughed.
“What?”
“You do love cars, Adan.”