Chapter 18
What does a person do after a notoriously horrible day at work? Tatiana was driving to the movie theater trying not to have an accident with all that was on her mind. She thought she was a professional in a thriving career and not in an overly dramatic soap opera. Her Uncle Beto's novelas had nothing over her employment experiences. Tatiana was seriously considering writing the Televisa TV studio and telling them about an idea for a new soap opera. It would be called La Oficina de Pendejadas/ The Office of Stupidities.
If only Tatiana's all-time favorite comedian, Cantinflas, was alive. He would've been great for this soap, providing the ideal wisecracker making fun of the ridiculous situations. He wouldn't get angry at Augusta's antics or fall for them either. He'd twist and turn her instead of the other way around and meanwhile the audience would be laughing off their seats, wondering who would work in such a place.
I work there. Why do I do it to myself? I need to have my head examined, thought Tatiana.
Being in a dark theater somehow calmed her. She'd always liked going to the movies by herself. It was she and the screen and nothing else. Tatiana watched a thriller with plenty of action. Then she went to a comedy. The problem was that as soon as the film ended, she was back to square one on the tension mode. As she was driving home, she thought about how the horrible scene in the office reminded her of when she was a kid, having to put up with her parents’ blow ups and feeling helpless. There was nothing uglier than seeing people tearing each other apart like vicious animals.
Tatiana arrived at her oasis to find the impossible sitting on the stairs of her apartment complex. For a minute she was thrilled, wanting to collapse into his arms. But then the moment passed and she grew puzzled, ecstatic, and upset all at the same time. Tatiana didn’t exactly know why her feelings were so mixed.
“What are you doing here?” Tatiana questioned Tristan, her voice shaky.
“You called me.”
“No, I didn't” she murmured.
“Tatiana, I've got caller I.D.”
She sighed. “Okay, so I called you, but I hung up.” Tatiana had tried to ignore her one moment of weakness when she had dialed him while at the parking lot of her work right after having ended the conversation with Nydia about the snake.
“How mature was that?” Tristan questioned lightly.
“I decided I didn't need to talk to you after all.” Just thinking of you with your ex-wife made me hang up.
“What is it that prompted you to call me, Tatiana?” Tristan murmured. “What’s happening?”
“It doesn't matter.”
“It matters to me.”
“Aren't you supposed to be in San Antonio?” Tatiana asked.
“Yes, but I took a plane here. Luckily, there was an immediate flight.”
“Why didn’t you come?”
“Are we going to keep playing these games? I came to see you.”
“You did?”
He let out an exasperated sound. “Yes!”
“What about your ex-wife?” Tatiana blurted.
“What about her?”
“Aren’t you now with her?” Tatiana inquired, her voice small and shaky.
Tristan shook his head. “No, I’m here with you,” he murmured softly.
All of the sudden, Tatiana’s eyes watered. What she had inside her heart came flooding out.
“Tatiana, are you okay?” asked Tristan, putting his arms around her. Tatiana didn’t resist his warmth. “What's wrong?”
“I've had a horrible day.”
“You want to talk about it?”
“I don't want to bore you.”
“Have I ever given you the impression that I'm a fair weather friend?” he asked gently.
“No.”
“Then tell me about what's making you so miserable. I'm here for you.”
Tatiana asked him to step inside since she didn't want her neighbors to know her business. She dealt with enough gossip in the office. As she told him about the explosion in the office, it occurred to her what a truly remarkable listener he was. His eyes didn't glaze over trying to be somewhere else like Randy's had often done.
“So that's why you got out early,” Tristan stated.
Tatiana raised her eyebrows in puzzlement. “How did you know?”
“I called and found out that the agency was closed for the day.”
“After that major blow up, Bill closed up.”
“Remember what I said about me sticking to you and Nydia,” he remarked. “I know I'm not the only account who will do that either.”
Tatiana smiled. “Thank you.”
“Don't thank me for looking after my business. I don't understand Suzanne at all. I make it a point to know everything that's going on. I make it a point to know my workers. I know who is trying to kiss up to me from those who actually do the work. The only way I've gotten to where I am is by seeing clearly what needed to get done. You're chain is only as strong as it's weakest link. How does Suzanne not see her weakest links? How does she not see that those links are straining the rest of the chain?”
“I don't know.”
“Bill offers very little leadership, and I'm glad she finally got rid of Jack. I saw what a liability Augusta was the first day I walked into that office.”
“You did?”
“I told Suzanne about it, too,” declared Tristan.
“You did?”
“I hated to have Augusta come near me. I told Suzanne that that woman was uncivil, unprofessional, and had no people skills whatsoever.”
“What did Suzanne say?”
Tristan rolled his eyes. “She said that people just didn’t understand Augusta, that she might’ve been a bit curt but she was good inside.”
“Typical. That's always Suzanne's excuse for her.”
“I asked her why she was having her clients put up with Augusta's rudeness and questionable capabilities. Shouldn't the clients be the ones catered to instead of having to deal with Augusta? I imagine the only reason clients put up with her is because of you and Nydia.”
“You told her that?”
“Yes, I did. And I want you to know I told her before you gave me that dressing down that time. I might've not known how to take you, but I still knew you were brilliant.”
Tatiana smiled. “Thank you.”
“Do you feel at least a little better?” Tristan murmured.
“Yes. I'm a lot better.”
“Good. Are you hungry? Would you like to go to dinner?” he asked.
“I need to tell you something before I lose my nerve.”
“You're not going to throw me out again, are you?”
“No, of course not,” Tatiana stated, chuckling.
“Tell me then.”
“What’s happening in the office isn't the only situation that has been stressing me out.”
One of his eyebrows arose. Actually, it was very sexy, and Tatiana almost lost her train of thought.
“Oh?” he asked.
“I miss you.”
“Come again?”
“I miss you,” she repeated shyly.
“Do I need to clean out my ears, or did you just tell me you miss me?”
“I'm sorry I was unreasonable the other night. When you said you were going to San Antonio and meeting with your ex-wife, I assumed the worse.”
“You thought I was abandoning you for someone else?” Tristan murmured.
Tatiana nodded. “I've never admitted this to anyone, but I've felt abandoned by most of my relationships in one way or another. Look at my dad. He left to California for some tanned koochi.”
Tristan chuckled. “Tanned koochi?”
“You know what I mean.”
“Unfortunately I do.”
“My father abandoned me time and time again,” explained Tatiana. “He hasn't called me since I had that talk with him on his porch.”
“The one where you told him he needed to accept you?”
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“Yes.”
Tristan shook his head. “You understand that it's his loss, right?”
“It still hurts.”
Tristan hugged her tighter. “I know. I still hurt over my mom.”
“All my relationships with men have been a bust. Take the one before you. Randy was here physically, but he never wanted to talk about what was deep inside. He abandoned the real me.”
“I'm not abandoning you.”
“But—”
“I'm here,” asserted Tristan. “All here. And I want you to be all here too.”
“Really?—but what about your ex-wife?”
Tristan frowned. “You keep asking me about her. I repeat, what about her?”
“You did meet with her in San Antonio, didn’t you?” Tatiana blurted.
Tristan frowned more deeply. “I talked to her alright.”
“And?” Tatiana questioned eagerly.
He let out a deep breath. “Well, I’ve got to admit that you were correct.”
“She wants you back, right?”
Tristan nodded solemnly. “She told me she had made the biggest mistake in her life when she cheated on me. She’d asked me for a second chance.”
“I knew it! What did you answer her?” Tatiana asked anxiously.
“What you were wrong about was how I would react. Tatiana, I’m not in love with her anymore.”
“No?”
“No! I’m with you now. I’m not going to mess it up.”
Tatiana smiled. “You don’t know what it means to me to hear you say that.”
“You just don’t know everything that you mean to me,” he sighed. “I still have business in San Antonio. If you want, I won’t go back and I'll handle it over the phone.”
“You'd do that for me?” Tatiana asked, surprised.
“Of course.”
Tatiana smiled. “How long would you have to be over there if you went back?”
“About a week.”
“Then you go back there and finish.”
“I don't want you to feel abandoned. I know the feeling. I don't want to inflict it on you.”
“I don't feel abandoned anymore.”
“Let's keep it that way,” he stated, giving her a long lingering kiss.
Tatiana caressed his face when they disengaged. “I don't want us to have a relationship where we stumble all over each other. We'll need to work our issues out without suffocating one another.”
He nodded. “Sounds about right.”
“I'm so glad you came back.” Tatiana pecked him on the lips.
“I'm glad you took me back.” He gave her another moist kiss. Once more, she responded with never-ending sparks.