It Ain't Paranoia if...

To my surprise, El Saguaro, who rarely spoke more than a few words or interacted with anyone, led Kaitlyn to the floor, where he showed us that his moves in battle were possibly surpassed by his dance moves. They made a remarkable couple: the shapely 5'6" blonde and the burly 6'4" brown-eyed, handsome man danced as if they had been partners for years.

I swallowed a tinge of jealousy and escorted Rosa back to the table. Kaitlyn and Saguaro stayed and talked, and then Saguaro played a cumbia. After a brief period of instruction, Kaitlyn danced like a Tejano, and I saw a spark of jealousy in Rosa's eyes. Her crush on Saguaro was well known, but he had given the sexy Latina little reason for hope.

"Come on, Rob; we're going to show them how!" Rosa challenged.

I dance decently, but I already knew I wasn't going to show Saguaro how; he looked like he was born dancing. Cumbia Del Sol by Little Joe Y La Familia began, and Rosa put on a show. I hung as well as I could, but, lawsy mercy, that girl could move!

Saguaro was facing Rosa and he was staying right with her, eyes locked. I looked at Kaitlyn and signaled her to move off to the side with me. They ignored us; we semi-danced while watching them engage in the equivalent of a breakdance battle, eyes locked on one another, challenge on their faces.

The song ended and everyone cheered. They laughed and looked around for their former partners, but then Cuando Caliente El Sol began playing. Rosa looked at Saguaro; he stepped to her and held out his hand; she pressed herself against him, and they actually moved as one.

While I was watching Rosa's dream play out, Kaitlyn took me by the hand. When I turned to her, she plastered her body against me and began swaying. Against my better judgement, I took her in my arms; I tried to keep a decent distance, but she was having none of that.

I swear, with her so near to me I could feel the hot sun on the beach, and I damn sure could feel her trembling. Her hair smelled of lilacs, just as it did back then, and I got lost in a reverie.

The intervening five years of torture were momentarily forgotten, replaced by a sense of serenity induced by having my children with me, and this beautiful, sensuous creature in my arms. When she tenuously turned that beautiful face up, her full lips beckoning, her eyes asking, it felt so right. When Luis Miguel sang of tus besos, I came very close to kissing the bewitching creature looking up at me, pressing her lush, firm body against me.

I leaned toward her; she closed her eyes and opened her lips invitingly, and I felt her warm breath on my lips before I froze with the realization of my folly. Overcoming my desires, I retreated, put my chin on top of her head, and just danced. She held me even tighter, and I felt tears on my shirt.

As soon as the music died, she scurried away to the ladies room; I went to get another beer, ignoring the inquiring looks. "Rene, how about another round on me; I'll help serve."

I didn't dance any more, nor did Kaitlyn. What we did was drink beer and involve ourselves in the spirited conversations around the table.

She had always been a lightweight, both literally and in terms of drinking ability, but she held her own against some of the best... for a while. Finally, with pretty much all of the table shitfaced or close to it, and with the kids sacked out in the bunk room we kept for those who shouldn't drive, El Toro just had to ask. "So, you two, what's the story? You have two of the cutest kids I've ever seen, you seem perfect for each other, and I can see you love each other -- why the hell is Sol out here in his hermitage in the middle of nowhere and you're in Houston?"

Kaitlyn looked directly at him and calmly, if drunkenly, answered. "Once upon a time there was a sheltered, spoiled, and naïve girl of twenty-five who fell into the clutches of a pathological liar. She listened to his bullshit about her husband wanting to travel all over the world with his job because he wanted to be with his whores until she finally believed him. She was jealous, angry, feeling neglected, and her husband was never there, so she made bad decision after bad decision and ended up in the liar's bed.

"Once she broke her vows and became a slut, the only choice she could see was to become a whore. So she traded her body and her self-respect for his promises of a mansion in River Oaks, servants and limousines, an exclusive country club membership, vacations in the south of France, jaunts to Rome and Athens, and unlimited spending for her and her kids. He also promised a loving, devoted, and appreciative husband who would be there every night and weekend to care for her and her children.

"When her absentee husband returned and confronted her, she told him that she wanted a divorce, and, although she still loved him, that she was making the right choice for the kids and herself. Her devastated husband acquiesced when their well-coached children told him they wanted to stay with Mom and Daddy Robert. He signed the divorce papers her lover's attorney had prepared, and left.

"No one knew where he went, but a few months after he left her lover's house of cards began to fall in on him. It turned out her ex-husband was the secret to the success of the company, which Robert resented almost as much as he resented his father's love and respect for his rival. He was sending the husband on all the long and unnecessary trips so he could seduce the stupid, gullible wife, which obviously worked.

"Anxious to prove his business savvy, he had been investing money in dead-end projects that drained the accounts, so he played fast and loose with his daddy's company, kept two sets of books, and broke laws galore.

"After less than a year, the Board chairman insisted on a forensic audit and investigation. Before that was completed, the FBI came calling about his 'business contacts' in the Middle East and Africa. When the investigations were over a year later, the liar was out of a job and on his way to federal prison for, among other things, embezzlement, blackmail, and consorting and conspiring with terrorist organizations.

"Before any of that happened, however, the numb-scull wife had married the pathological liar. At first, he was attentive and thoughtful; he spent money on her and her kids, and took them to islands in the Caribbean and Mediterranean. The sex was bad, but otherwise he lived up to his promises... for a while.

"When things began going bad, however, he blamed his troubles on her and her ex. As his problems worsened, he began cussing and hitting her, which she accepted as penance for her stupidity and sins. But then he hit her kids, and she called the law.

"She filed for divorce as soon as she got out of the hospital the next day, and, very fortunately, got half of what he had left, just months before he lost the rest in court. The humiliated woman sold the house she got in the divorce, moved her kids into a new home, and tried to atone for her mistakes and iniquities.

"Years passed, but there was a problem: she still loved her first husband, and the kids made it worse by constantly asking why they can't go see their daddy.

"So, she hired a private investigator who tracked him back to the Big Bend and Davis Mountains. She packed their suitcases, loaded everyone into her SUV, and drove from Houston to Alpine. She asked for directions at the store in Study Butte, and found the man she had so grievously harmed in a fortress on top of a granite mountain. Despite showing up uninvited, he was welcoming and gracious, and he showed them courtesy -- even the stupid cheating wife - in spite of the mistreatment and injuries he had sustained at their hands.

"And here we are, eating and drinking in La Kiva."

The table remained silent for far too long, as if everyone was afraid to break the spell her tale had cast. Finally, I broke the silence. "If I remember this story correctly, the wife of four years, who is actually quite intelligent, strongly urged her husband to take the big promotion, in spite of his warning that it would involve a lot of travel.

"When she complained about him being gone so much, he reminded her of his warning, and volunteered to quit and find a new job. That in spite of the fact that he was part owner of the company, and he knew it would fall to pieces without his steadying hand because Robert was a straight-running idiot.

"He also warned his wife that Robert resented and hated him because their fathers were best friends, and he had been named after Robert's father before Robert was conceived. Robert senior saw potential in his namesake and godson, and taught him the business inside and out.

"Senior also saw his son for the weak-willed and weak-character man that he was, so, upon his retirement he made him CEO, but limited his power, dividing most of the power between the Chairman of the Board and the Vice-President for Exploration, Extraction, and Transport. Because the VP was his rival, the bad feelings only grew.

"The husband further warned his wife that Robert was trying to seduce her, as much to get back at him as for her beauty. She laughed him off, and when he became suspicious, she, in concert with her lover, lied to him.

"It was only when confronted with undeniable evidence that she came clean, and rather snidely informed him that 'she was doing what was in the best interest of his children and herself.'

"She and her lover had even proceeded to turn his kids against him, and had told them what to say to crush him. The husband was devastated. Broken hearted and rejected by those he loved, he capitulated and left his family and business.

"Oh, he was smart enough to sell his ownership shares back to Robert before he left, which gave Robert great joy. At least until he came to understand that his rival was responsible for the company's success, and his maneuvering around the law was likely to be discovered.

"Did his rival inform the Chairman, a retired Air Force general, of his concerns about Robert's relationship with certain elements in the Middle East? Yes, he did. Did his rival suggest an audit would be a good idea? Yes, he did that too. Did the husband actually have whores in every port? No, he was faithful to his unfaithful wife to the very-bitter end.

"And with that out of the way, I think I'll take the kids and the drunk tale teller back to my house and put them all to bed."

Part 2 will be posted tomorrow; hopefully, it will be published soon.