Death of a Telenovela Star (A Novella) by Teresa Dovalpage

Author:Teresa Dovalpage
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
Publisher: Soho Press
Published: 2020-03-26T19:55:01+00:00

9: The Night of “El Rey”

The party was indeed family-friendly. Why the heck had they chosen to throw it at one of the ship’s bars, of all places? Marlene would have rather attended another Blue Man show, but there was no stopping Sarita. She had won nothing at the raffle but didn’t care: she was now fixated on the strobe-lit dance floor.

The girl stood in front of the mirror, applying cherry-red lipstick as if her future depended on perfectly drawn outlines. She wore a tight black dress with a revealing neckline, high heels and way too much blush. Marlene didn’t approve of the outfit, but Sarita swore that her own mother had bought the dress for her.

“Could you please stop acting like an uptight spinster?” she complained. “You used to be fun!”

“Yes, and you used to behave,” Marlene replied.

“I am behaving!”

“Like a guanaja.”

“A goose?”

“Maybe worse.”

The fact that Benito was still on shift at The Ambassador—one of the cooks had called in sick—probably accounted for Marlene’s foul mood. The last thing she wanted to do was attend a party.

“By the way,” Sarita turned around and blotted her lips with a tissue, “Carloalberto’s on the passenger list for the ‘swimming with dolphins’ excursion tomorrow. Can we go too? Please?”

Marlene had planned to visit the Tulum ruins the following day, but the temperature was expected to hit the high nineties. She had already been reconsidering, and Sarita knew it.

“We don’t need to see two ruins, Tía,” she pleaded. “We’re going to Chichen Itza on Friday, and all those sites look the same. There’s never a place to pee in any of them, and they’re so hot and boring. I’m sick and tired of that Mayan stuff!”

Marlene was getting pretty sick and tired of Sarita’s sass, but reminded herself that this trip was a gift to her niece. So what if all she wanted out of it was to be around a semi-famous actor? It was all harmless. Thankfully, Carloalberto hadn’t given a single sign that he’d noticed her. Too much on his plate to acknowledge a teenage fangirl. Marlene hoped he would stay busy with “his women” and that loan shark until they returned to Miami. In the end, she relented and called reception to book the excursion. It would be cooler than Tulum, shorter, cheaper. And she liked dolphins too.

“Thank you, Tía!” Sarita hugged her. “This means a lot to me. I can’t believe I’ll get to be in a swimming pool with Carloalberto!”

“You and two dozen other people,” Marlene muttered.

“So?” Sarita shrugged and turned back to the mirror. “At least Emma isn’t going. I didn’t see her on the list. She probably doesn’t want to get sunburned. And Helen’s no competition.”

“I’m sorry, competition for what?” Marlene asked sternly.

Sarita blushed and shook her head. “I mean—never mind.”

“Competition for what?”

“Oh—you know, Tía. I just want to talk to Carloalberto.”

This was the problem, Marlene realized. The girl was so young, she was confusing a celebrity crush for an ordinary one—she’d never had a boyfriend and had been painfully shy until just a couple years ago.

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