I felt like an idiot, getting stuck in Los Angeles. Who knew how long it would take to rope-in Alejandro and con him out of his money? My brief visit was about to be greatly extended.
I left Bea’s place and stumbled back to the motel, falling onto my bed in a stupor. To try to distract myself, I turned on the television—some mindless entertainment to make me forget my problems. Ironically, the first thing I saw was a puff-piece about Alejandro. The smitten female reporter talked about his latest album and rehashed news about him from the past few years. They showed him with Quinn Freeling, the Hollywood starlet who dated him briefly. Other pictures showed him at nightclubs, out on the street, or in the middle of interviews. In each, he was surrounded by beautiful smiling women, all of them staring at him with the same longing that I always felt. These women wanted his body. What kind of a fool was I to think I could take his money?
After the segment ended, I turned off the television. Then I called Wanda. I needed to talk to someone normal, someone without criminal intent. Wanda had lectured me about finishing this visit quickly and getting back to New York. She was wary of Bea, even though the two of them had never met. Unfortunately, Wanda was right—she had an intuition about these things. She was certainly more of a mother than Bea had ever been.
“Dee! How’s it going?” I smiled just from hearing her voice. Typical of Wanda, she didn’t give me a chance to answer and went on at double speed. “The shop is selling your pottery like gangbusters. We’ve sold six pieces since you’ve left. I ordered another palette for you yesterday. And on Sunday. . .”
Wanda loved to talk more than anyone I knew. Under normal circumstances, I’d be happy to let her go on for a while. But today, I had to deliver some bad news. “Hold on, Wanda. Things aren’t going so well out here. It looks like I’ll be staying for a few weeks.”
She groaned. “And just what do you mean by ‘a few,’ my dear? You realize that you’re the lynchpin of this business. At the rate things are going, we’ll be completely out of stock in three weeks, so you need to get back here sooner.”
“It’s okay, Wanda.”