“I’ll be honest... I don’t want to make excuses, but I feel clueless when it comes to creating a safe and healthy environment for my farmworkers. Where would I even start? My father has always been about profit, focused on one thing—the money. But when he bought up a block in Barrio Logan, everything changed for us. We were just going to turn Julieta’s restaurant into another one of our locations and replace the other local establishments with chains and box stores. But Ramón started dating Julieta, and then we all became part of her wonderful and humble family. Ultimately, Ramón gave stock from the company to Linda to preserve the neighborhood and its character, and now she owns the block. But something shifted inside of me, as well. I don’t want to be rich, entitled, and clueless anymore. I don’t want to just go through life explaining away every unethical and problematic thing our company does to justify margins. I want to be better than that.”
Carolina brushed his shoulder. “Enrique, that’s beautiful.You’rebeautiful. I love that you are trying to do the right thing, and I know it’s hard. The previous owner of this farm treated us like shit. We all worked awful hours, were exposed to dangerous pesticides, and had no access to health care. Many of the people who work on these farms don’t have any choice. They are here illegally; they don’t speak English. What are they going to do? Tell the authorities? No. They’d get deported.”
“I get that. They have no voice.”
“That’s right. We need people like you with both power and integrity to spark change. I’m only one farm owner, but with your wealth and reach, you could make a real impact. There is an entire subset ofhardworking people who do this to provide a better life for their families back in Mexico. So, you want to be good and fair? You need to pay everyone a living wage to support them and their loved ones. You need to provide access to affordable housing. You need to not use harmful pesticides. You need to regularly provide them with medical care. Set up a tent on your farm and have doctors and nurses available—free and confidential.”
“I know. There’s so much to do. I don’t even know where to begin.”
“Start with one thing at a time. I feel like you know everything I’m telling you. Nothing I’m saying is new information in this industry. I know it’s hard to do the right thing. Youwilllose money. A lot of it. Your profit margins will drop. You won’t produce as many crops. The labor will be slightly more expensive. There are all sorts of barriers. But your company is huge. If you do this, you will set an example for the rest of the fast-food empires to follow.”
Enrique exhaled like the wind had been knocked out of him. She was right; this all seemed so obvious now. But Enrique realized that he needed someone to make this so clear to him. He needed someone to believe in him, to listen to him. Support him. And someone to tell him that what he’d done in the past, though wrong, could be forgiven.
Someone like Carolina.
“Carolina, I’ve done so many things wrong in my life. I know you think I’m a good, respectful man, but I’m not. I’ll be honest with you. I’m a slacker. Ramón always has worked his tail off, and I’ve ridden on his coattails. But theworstthing I ever did was not care. I never gave our workers or their conditions a second thought, not in the farms we contract with or in our restaurants. I bought into my dad’s narrative that they were lucky to have jobs.”
“It’s never too late to grow. And to seek forgiveness.”
“Thanks for everything.” He paused. There was something aboutCarolina that brought out the best in him. And he would never forgive himself if he ruined the chance of having a relationship with her. “So, about that date I mentioned earlier... Have you ever been to Carmel-by-the-Sea for Christmas?”
She licked her lower lip and tilted her head. “No, actually. But it’s almost three hours away.”
“I know. I was thinking we could go up there tomorrow. We can stroll through some art galleries, go shopping, have lunch. And look at the lights in the evening.”
She paused. “Like spend the night? I can’t do that. My father would flip.”
Enrique shook his head. “No. We can just get up early and make it a day trip.”
“Oh. Well, that sounds fun. Sure.”
He wrapped his arms around this gorgeous woman and kissed her. “Then it’s a date.”
Chapter Eighteen
On Tuesday morning, Carolina suffered through yet another silent meal in her household. Her parents hadn’t mentioned anything else about the other night that she had been out dancing. Her father was at a doctor’s appointment, so Carolina only had to tolerate her mother.
Even so, the tension was excruciating.
“Mamá, pass the orange juice.”
Her mother kept her gaze at the wall.
“Mamá! Pásame el jugo de naranja! Por favor!”
Mamá didn’t move. Finally, Blanca stood up and reached over their mother to give the beverage to her sister. Carolina poured it from the carafe into her glass and downed it—the sweet and tart citrus was so refreshing; it was almost worth the humiliation she had to endure to drink it.
When would this nightmare end?
The rumble from an SUV engine echoed through the thin walls of the house.
Enrique had arrived.
Well, clearly, the drama would not end today.
He was under strict orders to remain in his vehicle—Carolina had already told him by text to wait in the Tesla.
It was time to escape.
