“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 wantto 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.”
“It’s worth nothing! None of what we shared or what we did is worth a damn thing.” She pulled her hair, and her eyes bugged. “How could you have done this to me, again? I’m so stupid. I vowed after you hurt me to never ever let you back in my life, and here we are. I hate myself so much right now.”
Jaime winced as if he’d been struck, his eyes pleading with her to forgive him. “I screwed up, okay? I got lost in the what-ifs and maybes. I thought, if we got back together for this reason, maybe we’d find the magic we had once. And for a while, it felt like we did. Didn’t it? Can you say this hasn’t been magical? That you don’t feel what I feel? That we should never be apart?”
Alma shook her head slowly, her gaze fixed on his. “You missed the point, Jaime. Even if we did find something meaningful again,it wouldn’t change the fact that you waltzed back into my life and expect to just profit from my work. That’s something I can’t overlook.”
“Alma, if you give me another chance—”
She held up her hand, stopping him in his tracks. “No more chances, Jaime. I’ve given you one too many. Like the saying goes: ‘First time, shame on you; second time, shame on me.’ It’s time for me to think about what’s good for me, and being with someone I can’t trust isn’t it.”
