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Francisco watched Natalia walk away toward the main house.
He was tempted to accompany her, but didn’t want to be more recklessness than he had already been that morning.
He had to admit she was a very attractive woman.
Beautiful, or rather.
She had this beauty that could be compared to an angel. Blonde as the sun, with beautiful blue eyes, a provocative mouth, with good height, slender and above all intelligent.
It was a deadly combination for Francisco who still did not understand why he was determined to keep thinking about her. He could not spend all day with her in his thoughts. It was neither prudent nor productive.
“Francisco, I wanted to apologize for not having taken care of the woman, if it's okay with you, I'd advise you to send someone else to supervise the work or we can change companies.”
Francisco smiled. Rodrigo knew him very well and on any other occasion he would have increased his salary but at the moment he couldn’t fathom the idea of never seeing her again. If he followed the norm with his foreman, he wouldn’t.
“No, Rodrigo, don’t worry. A little company doesn’t hurt me.”
Francisco was as surprised as Rodrigo by his words.
“As you wish.”
“Who hired the company in which Ms. Castañeda works?”
“Pilar, sir.”
“Okay, tell your wife to come over when she is free so I can to talk to her.”
“I shall.”
“I'm leaving with Scout for a walk.” Rodrigo nodded as Francisco mounted the animal. For a moment he had the notion to propose his foreman call his wife and they do him the honor of having lunch with him.
He did not know why he suddenly felt so alone and so tired of hiding from the world.
How could he ever become so unhappy overnight?
It was only days before he had seen happiness at its best, in fact, Francisco did not remember what happiness was. Not even when he escaped the inquisitor's hands. He was blamed for their deaths. They were his responsibility and he did not allow himself to feel any kind of happiness.
He spurred the animal and Scout understood he must run fast as his master liked. Francisco used to feel free when he galloped but not today.
On the contrary, he felt a pressure tightening more and more in the center of his chest. It was suffocating. He was being dominated by this whirlwind of feelings that had been harassing him for so many centuries, and of which he didn’t know how to be free.
The pressure rose to his throat and without realizing a river of tears began to overflow his dark eyes.
The pressure was not relieved, rather it took more strength. He ended up screaming as loud as he could.
He stopped the horse and hugged the horse's neck as he wept like a lost tyke.
And that in fact was how he felt: lost.
Natalia resurfaced in his mind again.
From a moment he remembered her at Manuel's house. The first time the old man threatened her with his shotgun, he knew she was going to bring him trouble. Although he still didn’t believe she was involved in the secret society. He was convinced Natalia Castañeda appeared in his life to completely turn it upside down.
***
Natalia left Caserío Peña thinking of the most effective method to approach Manuel without him firing his shotgun. She could continue with the basket game but it would cost her a fortune to convince the man his living conditions were not the most convenient.
So she had to do something else.
She had been thinking about what she could do for two days, and hadn’t come up with anything. She told Isabel the big step she took in respect to the ruined property.
She asked her if she could deal with the old man alone. Fortunately, Isabel did not object and gave her the freedom she wanted as long as she didn’t jeopardize the company, of course.
She had not seen her grandmother in a few days, and told herself she would visit her that afternoon without fail.
She entered the office, and Isabel was waiting for her with a radiant smile.
“Good Morning! She greeted her effusively.”
“It must be really good for you to look like that. New client?”
Isabel rolled her eyes, got up from her desk and walked to where she was.
She hugged her very firmly.
“Wow!” Natalia was surprised by the hug.
“I knew I wasn’t mistaken in hiring you. Pilar just called to speak on behalf of Mr. Peña and tell us that our work is” —Isabel ran to find the paper where she had noted what Pilar said— “sublime and exquisite. He also said that he loved the professionalism of our employees and hopefully we will continue to hire such risky and intelligent people.”
Natalia was astonished.
“He said you were charming,” Isabel smiled, “and he was willing to negotiate for the house in ruins if we persuaded Manuel to move to another dwelling.”
The man had something up his sleeve, Natalia thought.
“Thank you.” Isabel sincerely thanked her for everything she did for her and her company.
“It’s my job Isa. I think Mr. Peña is exaggerating a lot. It’s more than obvious he has another interest.”
“You don’t have to be a genius to figure it out. What's up, my dear? You are single, enjoy life. You told me he was a handsome man.”
“And suspicious, too. Did I tell you the woman who brought us coffee didn’t raise her head in his presence and that Rodrigo almost had a heart attack when he saw us talking?”
“Well yes, the truth is, that is quite strange.”
“It could be anything from the mafia to a drug cartel” Lots of money, no family, and a lot of mystery.”
Isabel peered doubtfully at her.
“Didn’t you say you thought he was a good man?”
“Appearances are deceptive, Isa. Although my instincts are hardly ever wrong, you never know.”
“That’s true. In any case, it’s obvious he likes you, so do not be surprised if one of these days he calls to invite you to coffee.”
“I doubt it, and if he does, I'll mention the busiest place in town to see if he dares to show. That will tell me if he’s hiding something or not.”
“Valid. It is your right. In the end.” Isabel gazed at her with dreamy eyes. “Carlota is coming soon!”
Natalia was glad to hear the news. It was nice to know Isabel would be with her sister again after being separated for so long by the older Alcalá’s job.
“She’ll be here by Christmas, then.”
“The only reason she wouldn’t be home on Christmas Eve, is if she were dead.”
They both laughed.
“I need you to help me buy Christmas paraphernalia.”
“Relax, Isa. It’s not time to begin decorating. Halloween has barely arrived.”
“We'll have to arrange a trip to the United States. I want to have the house beautiful by the time my sister arrives.”
Natalia was thinking she wanted to return to the United States on vacation.
“Well, I could use a few days off.”
“Done, I'll buy the tickets for the end of November. We’ll stay for a week in New York, so you can see the branch office of this office and we’ll go Christmas shopping.”
“I love the idea.”
For the rest of the day, Natalia was submerged in pending work, attending to a new client who was coming to the office to ask questions and she was continuously thinking about how to approach Mr. Manuel.
Without realizing it, it was lunch time and almost on an automatic mode, they closed the office and went to their separate homes. Natalia would go to her grandmother's house.
She was grateful there was not a lot of traffic at that hour due to the fact she was hungry.
As always, her grandmother received her with a delicious dark roast and homemade mashed potatoes.
“Well, what worries you today, sweetheart?”
Few things escaped her grandmother.
She told her everything that had happened with Manuel. She wanted to skip the details of the shots fired, but it did no good to try to hide it. Her grandmother would suspect she was hiding something from her and force her to tell. So she saved herself the irritation and told the entire story.
“It’s like talking to your grandfather. You're just as reckless as he was. What the hell were you thinking about when you saw the shotgun?”
“Don’t be a drama queen grandmother, nothing happened.”
“But it could have. Not a word of this to your mother. She will be hysterical, for sure.”
Natalia smiled, it was true.
“And now,” continued Natalia, “Mr. Peña challenged me to get Manuel out of that ruined house, and I don’t know how to do it.”
“I see Mr. Peña may have an interest in you too. Is he handsome?”
Natalia rolled her eyes.
“Yes, Grandmother, he is. He reminds me of my grandfather when he walked on the estate with his horses.
“Honey, I'm sorry, but no one could be more handsome than your grandfather!” Natalia knew she meant it. For her grandmother there was no man more handsome than her late husband. “Well then I'll make some coffee while we think of a strategic plan for that poor man to get a better home and you getting the satisfaction of remodeling the property. Besides, you never know what can happen between Mr. Peña and you.”
“Grandma, I don’t intend to date anyone. I'm fine as I am.”
“I didn’t tell you to date, I just said go out and have some fun.”
“Isabel and you should go out for coffee.”
They both laughed.
She told her grandmother about this morning, how they planned to go to the United States, at the end of November.
“Seems alright to me. Go out and enjoy. If you can, take Mr. Peña with you, you never know.”
“Grandmother! ALREADY!”
The perfectly-trimmed white-haired woman smiled wryly at her granddaughter.
“I think I have a good plan for approaching Mr. Manuel.”