al mal tiempo, buena cara.

“look, i got free flowers because the strange man i went on a date with got nervous.” daniela elopes into her daughter’s home carrying the bouquet. she has already forgotten his name but now that enough time has passed, she has the ability to find it funny. she was silly for ever thinking she could date again, there was only one man for her. “do you want them? they won’t go in my home with the color scheme and quite frankly, i think they’re messy looking but that’s more your thing?” she begins snooping in her daughter’s cupboards for a vase. “where would you like them? i think your messiest room is the sitting room, they could maybe pull it altogether?” @evelynxmendez​

;

Mari laughed and let her head tilt to the side as she smiled at Daniela. “I’m sure it’ll happen, but let’s face it, Evie and Roman are at the top of their careers. I doubt either of them are ready to give that up.” Mari comforted. “Not yet, anyways.” She knew how she felt now she had her career, and while she wouldn’t change being a mother for the world, she was grateful she didn’t become a left behind housewife. Nothing wrong with it but it wasn’t for her. Mari’s laugh snorted slightly, thinking Daniela was making a joke about her daughter’s apparently surprising personality but she stopped herself. “Personally, I think being a head strong woman in this day and age is an act of rebellion. Just means when she does find someone, you know they’ll be good for her.” Mari tried to dance around it as politely as she could. “Oh, well I appreciate the offer. But, Bella isn’t into all that. Whole nursery is pretty neutral, and she’s even waiting until the baby is here until she thinks of a name. Cute, right? I would’ve been so stressed but…she’s made up her mind.”

“roman is, evie joined a career which is capped and basically a servant to the people. she can’t decide her hours so where’s the freedom? she’d have to have a nanny and you know what they say about children who grew up with nannies.” she tuts because it annoys her to think about, she’s fifty five and not getting any younger. the little pitter patter of feet would be a nice way to spend her retirement when it happens. she laughs at mari and knows exactly what the other woman is kindly wording. “you mean whoever ends up with her has no backbone but eventually they will get tired of everything being an argument?” she nods, sipping her coffee. “i’m a strong woman too, mari and my husband was a strong man. i couldn’t walk all over him, and these days they don’t make men like it.” daniela doesn’t take no for an answer and leans towards her friend to tap mari’s hand. “just mention it to her, sometimes mothers don’t want to make a fuss or be a burden but if you act like it was your idea she will love it. i promise. and i will make it a beautiful day. very classy, none of this...weird smoke in the air with the colors.”

“what do you mean she was angry at you?” daniela asks her son firmly and her hands rest on her hips. “nobody tells me anything, how was i supposed to know?” she feels justified in herself that mentioning sofia to her son is just normal conversation and she wasn’t going to tolerate eye-rolls and huffs. “well you should apologize, whatever it is. maybe buy flowers, you have known each other long enough for flowers to not be strange. besides, she works so hard she was probably just having bad day. you’re not an easy person sometimes, mijo. but you have the same smile your father had so it’s hard to be angry at you for long. it must have been the end of her nerves.” @romanmendez​

“if i become a grandmother by sixty, i think i’ll be able to be happy.” daniela admits to her friend. they were unlikely friends, meeting after one of mari’s shows in new york city and the rest was history. she was great to text whenever life seemed chaotic because she’d always make daniela laugh. “evie i can see why it won’t happen but i’m confused why nobody wants to make roman a father. he’s sensible and works hard, and he’s wealthy and handsome. evie would be a catch if she learned how to be more agreeable. i don’t know where she gets it from.” daniela sighs and sips her coffee but tries to smile for the happy moment her friend is experiencing. “do you think you can convince isabella to do a gender reveal party? i can host it for her, she won’t have to lift a finger.”

Leo guessed the owner of such a fine home must have been someone of equal status but he wasn’t expecting the vision he ends up seeing. For only a second, the mechanic is stunned into silence and has to allow his brain catch up that she’s speaking to him. “I don’t think I would be outta a job, no. I do a lot more than fix up dead batteries.” he smiles, dropping all of his previous attitude of not wanting to be there. Nodding at the question, Leo follows her back to the garage and decides that being good at customer service isn’t as taxing as it usually is. “I can suggest some, yeah…” he puts down his tool box so he can retrieve the cables and show them to her. “Can get them anywhere too, pretty much. I can show you how to use them if you want?”

now that daniela thinks about it, having a big strong burly man who can fix cars has never looked so good. she doesn’t really understand what he’s talking about but she nods along with interest. “well, that’s good to know. maybe i will contact you directly if there’s ever something else wrong.” she suggests with a dainty upwards tilt of her chin. daniela watches him as she gets the cables and laughs musically when he says he can show her. “by all means, but i just had my nails done so i won’t be touching them.” she expresses when she walks back to the car and gestures for him to pop the hood. “sorry, i don’t think i caught your name earlier. i’m daniela.”

closed starter, daniela’s home with @danielaxmendez​

Leo doesn’t do too well with difficult customers. It’s rare for him to do call outs but this woman was bloody minded and declared that there was no way for her to solve a simple car battery problem. Fair enough. But when he arrives, he finds the several vehicles she owns that she could have used for the flat range rover. “All sorted…” he sighs, wandering through the home which seems empty. She had politely left the garage door open, and hadn’t once came to offer him a drink. “Anyone home?” Leo glances around, deciding the house seems abnormally large if it’s only her living there. Whoever her is. “I’ll leave the invoice here, I guess.” he says, placing the sip by the table near the door. “Will save you cash next time if you buy some cables…”

the only reason why daniela enjoys expensive cars is because of how she looks driving them. anything to do with their maintenance or upkeep isn’t her issue, which is why she had demanded someone take a look at her range rover. it’s her run around vehicle, as she couldn’t possibly take the mercedes to denver for work. “yes, yes. just leave it there.” she calls back to the voice, grabbing her files to walk through the house. “let me check you’ve done everything right.” daniela adds despite not knowing the first thing about what was wrong. she wants to make sure he hasn’t left any dents or scratches. “if we all bought cables wouldn’t you be out of a job?” she laughs but it stops as soon as she sees him, and her tune changes almost instantly. suddenly the idea of him staying for longer to talk her through about cars doesn’t seem such a bad idea. “are there any particular cables you’d recommend?” 

-

“I know I’m so funny.” Roman grinned as he walked with his mother, feeling an inward wince at the name Quinlan. He thought the days of hiding with Sofia would be long over, but old habits died hard. He jolted his body to the side as Daniela pinched his hip, groaning out loud like a frustrated teenager. “Stop.” he warned just the once, sighing again at her onslaught of insults wrapped up with a kind smile. “I haven’t been nesting, whatever the f…hell that is.” he didn’t want to know either. Reluctantly, Roman watched as Majesty appeared and he nodded to continue walking. “Me? Evie and I got her for you, mami.” he mumbled, watching with a slight terrified expression at Daniela’s baby talk to the canine. “…Can you not?” Roman asked firmly, stopping in his tracks once he was convinced his mother would never stop. “She can’t reply. And if she could, she’d tell you to stop too.”

“if you say so.” daniela chimes, not wanting to argue and roman always has a natural flare for getting into debates. which is perfect for the mendez firm but isn’t so fun to experience when she’s simply wanting to speak to him. “good. well, not good. but good that you haven’t been nesting and not telling me who she is.” she points a manicured finger to him accusingly. there’s a gut feeling that daniela possesses when it comes to roman. he either plays the field like a dog, or he’s scared to come out of the closet. both explain why he has never introduced a lovely woman to her. daniela often thinks the latter, and gets excited about the prospect of having a son that doesn’t wear all black. “yes and i love her but i don’t like the piddles or the poopies, you gave me a big responsibility so the least you can do is take her to the toilet.” daniela sighs, off-handing the chihuahua to roman effortlessly. “she can talk, in her own little puppy way. she’s almost learned how to ring a bell when she wants something.”

•

Evie scoffs, shrugging at her mom. She loves her mom, of course she does, but she had to get her stubbornness from someone. “No one cares, mami,” she says, making a face at the sweats still before raking a hand through her hair, pulling it back into a low bun. “Well, you should’ve told me you didn’t like it. I would’ve gotten you something else,” Evie sighs, making a note to have Laurie look into an exchange. Her mom isn’t exactly wrong when she says Evie gets her way, though it’s less with her mom than when her dad was still around. “Please, I think you’ve got me confused with Roman. He’s always treated like the principito.” But she does feel triumphant when her mom relents. Truthfully, even though she doesn’t prefer it, if her mom had wanted to keep the suit on, she wouldn’t have minded given the circumstances. “It’s why I’ll never get married,” Evie says offhandedly, even though she knows the topic drives her mom crazy, “I like how my life is. I wouldn’t want to change it or compromise. So maybe love just ins’t for me.”

daniela stuffs the sweatpants back into the bag, huffing while she does so as if her daughter has denied the sweetest gift. sometimes she doesn’t cause atmospheres with her words, just her mood. “please, if i tell you i don’t like something you have a grumpy face the next time i see you as if i’ve insulted your personality. sometimes it’s easier for me to just take it and say thank you.” she shrugs, with a there i said it motion of hands. “see, compromise. it’s easy when you care about someone.” daniela adds triumphantly but she begins tsking at evie’s gripe towards her brother. “i don’t have favorites, mija. roman simply carried on your father’s legacy and it’s a little different with first borns, but i love you both equally.” she explains, and doesn’t wish to ever reflect on how she might treat them differently. daniela is quick to sulk, pouting sadly at evie. “okay, if that’s what you want. i’ll respect it.” she says as if she’s doing her daughter a favor. “being a grandmother isn’t that important. have you thought about who will take care of you when you get old? it’s getting closer. with forty around the corner, you need to consider everything is all i’m saying.”

•

Evie crosses her arms petulantly at her mother’s demand. If anyone taught her to be stubborn, it’s the woman who’s now insisting she change outfits. “I’m not changing into Roman’s hoodies. I don’t know where it’s been or what’s been done with it on. No thanks.” She can gag thinking about it as she glances at her mom wearing the same snowsuit as her. “No voy a cambiar,” she insists before nodding at her mom’s suitcase. “Besides, you’re the one wo packed for a year, why not change into something else. You didn’t bring your Moncler? I even made sure to order us both different styles.” She doesn’t remind her mom that she’d asked her which Prada suit she was going with but hadn’t received an answer to that text (typical of her family, really) so she doesn’t feel as bad. “Besides, once my shift starts no one will notice,” she reassures without actually knowing if that’s a fact. 

her children are well into adulthood, but daniela shivers when it is hinted that either of them do or have done any adult activities. “evie, please. inside voice.” daniela snaps and huffs. “i washed them.” she adds, not wanting to think any more on the topic. “por favor. hazlo por tu madre.” the mother pushes the suitcase along the floor towards evie. “no, no. it’s too puffy. this is my problem with everything, evie. if it doesn’t hug in the right places, then i look like a circle. i want to look in shape, not like a shape.” daniela sounds as if she’s scolding her daughter but she is pleading. she knows by the cross of her daughters arms that evie won’t change and she sighs loudly, tugging on the zip of her own snowsuit. “fine. you always get your own way and that’s exactly my failings as a mother.” she says, passing majesty over so she can take the rest of the suit off. “one day you will meet someone who doesn’t let everything slide, and then what? love is about compromise.”

“this is silly, one of us will have to change.” daniela states as soon as she sees her daughter. the two of them in identical Prada snowsuits. it would be adorable if it was planned, but it isn’t. and now the whole town will think daniela copies evelyn, and that’s not a rumor she’d ever want to start. “i brought sweatpants and some of roman’s hoodies you both left at my house. they’ll be warm.” daniela adds, holding onto majesty in one arm and waving the free one to her LV luggage. anybody would think she has packed for an exotic vacation. “evie, please. you know i find it hard to find warm things that compliment my figure. it’s a blessing to be able to wear hoodies without your chest making you look three dress sizes bigger, own it darling.” @evelynxmendez​

at: edison high school @danielaxmendez​

-

Who knew visits to the Principals office could be so fun? And what better way to erase all memory of that fun than for Roman to wander back to the gymnasium and be blindsided by his mother. Within an instant, he reverted back to being a teenager getting caught sneaking a girl in through his bedroom window. It didn’t matter that Sofia and him were now masters at secrecy, it still felt like it was written all over his face. “I thought you were too busy planning a Snow Storm Party and forgot to get here.” he stifled back a laugh, taking a cautionary step backwards. “I must’ve missed the memo.” he then added, pointing at his mother’s Prada snowsuit which was identical to Evie’s. “Where’s Queenie?” Roman asked, not wanting it to be too obvious that he had actually grown a tiny bit attached to the chihuahua they gifted Daniela. He kind of had no choice, since she always left the dog with him. 

“you think you’re so funny, romy.” daniela sighs, passing over several bags of supplies to him. “bring them to the room, i made quinlan get us it.” she waves, taking off her sunglasses so she could see the school better. the snow reflected light, she’d tell people. which is true, and protecting eyesight is important. she begins to lead them out of the gymnasium, unsure what her son means by a memo and she looks to her snowsuit curiously. “you don’t like it? hm, best you don’t you’d look like a marshmallow.” she squeezes his hip. “are you nesting without telling me? or has the gym been too difficult to get to?” she understands the latter, but if he has a partner that he is seeing and snacking happily with then she’d like to know. “majesty is here.” daniela announces, unzipping the top half of her suit so the chi’s face pokes out to take a look around. “you’ll need to take her somewhere for a piddle in a minute. she’s been holding it in. you’re such a good girl. who’s mommy’s little angel?” she cooes and smooches to the pup.

•

“Thanks for calling me difficult, mami,” Evie snickers, though she knows her mom is right. Mendez women were notoriously strong willed and uncompromising when they knew what they wanted and what was right. “I think it’s worth trying, though. Maybe you could go to a speed dating thing,” she grins, teasing her mom, “no one would know what hit them.” Daniela Mendez is a hurricane and speed daters would be blown out of the water. Evie clicks her tongue as the conversation steers back to her, and she thinks of the secret she’s now keeping for her brother. Some cute babies. 

Waving her hand, Evie gestures around them. “Have you seen the dating pool? I mean, you have, so you know it’s not great. Besides, I’m too busy. Between work and Decades. I wouldn’t have time for anyone anyway.” It’s why her last serious relationship had ended – neither of them could make the other a priority. “I am happy.” She insists with a nod, “so you can relax, mami, or just bother Roman instead,” added with a small smile.

daniela taps her daughter’s knee with a double pat pat, as if she’s saying you’re welcome silently for calling her difficult. it’s the truth, and no more needs to be said. she begins to laugh, rolling her eyes playfully. “ i’ll go if you go, it will be funny if nothing else. if two men even make it to the final round, they at least deserve a drink. ” she laughs louder, picturing the scared faces of unsuspecting men having to deal with not just one, but the two of them. 

“ men never used to be like this evie, but then i only had eyes for your father so perhaps they’ve always been this way. the tinder one didn’t even pay, i thought that was a golden rule but maybe i’m behind the times. ” she shrugs and looks to evie with a smile. “ if you’re happy, i’m happy. and don’t think for one second i don’t tell roman the same thing about settling down soon. but i mean it for you. ” daniela gestures over her body downwards. “ once everything starts getting sadder looking, it gets more expensive. ”

-

“I’m not a house plant. I get plenty of sun, anyways.” Roman returned, pulling a confused expression at how his mother’s mind even worked. Having two Evie’s so close in your personal life was not a good mix. He thought this was a good reason to explain his general sour mood. “I only argue with people when they’re wrong, gender identity and sex has nothing to do with it. I don’t discriminate against idiots. An idiot is an idiot.” he shrugged, failing to see how he was arguing with his mother in that very moment. The wife lecture made him sigh but as Daniela continued talking, a heavy feeling of guilt arrived like an anchor in his chest. She was a grandmother, she had a seven year old grandson and missed out on all the years of doing the things she wished to do. And she had no idea, but their safety meant she should never know. “I can’t help you there mami, too busy for the whole father thing. Maybe take Evie to those classes that make women more agreeable, or whatever.” he shrugged, hating that he was lying and hiding the truth. The last part of her words made Roman pause in thought and scrunch his face slightly. “What do you mean you’ve seen them?” he seemed shocked, and kind of…grossed out. “Don’t answer. I don’t wanna know.”

“ you being all dressed up in that biking thing does not count as getting sunlight roman, if you were a houseplant you’d be dead. ” she snaps with a nagging tone. roman’s answer for everything is an exhausting trait that daniela has always questioned its origins. her and evie certainly don’t answer back like this! “ but darling you think everybody is wrong, all of the time. do you not realize how much more you’d enjoy life if you didn’t think like this? even diego thinks you’re angry at something, and i had to tell him that it’s just your face. now imagine if that was a pretty woman, wondering why you were so unapproachable? ” maybe daniela is a little hung up on her lack of grandchildren, or seeing either of her children in a healthy relationship. “ evie is her own woman, and i will not dull her sparkle. it takes a good man to be able to cope with a mendez woman, and i like to keep that as the standard. ” she scolds her son but only by smacking his arm lightly as she laughs. of course roman doesn’t want to know about her dating life, even though it has only began and she doesn’t wish for it to continue.  “ fine, fine. but maybe instead of worrying about me, you worry about you. evie said something about a ra-ra? raya? apparently the people on there are much better than the ones on the tinder and tinge. ”

diego wishes to make a joke to the woman. heard good things i hope? but he knows she hasn’t. it’s been a long time since somebody has heard diego’s name followed by good news. something he wishes to change, if only he can figure out where to start. so, all he does is nod with a small smile and then a soft laugh escapes. “they weren’t so bad, i know sofia and evie are close and everytime i see roman he seems to look- mad about something. not sure i wanna ask what.” he chuckles, unsure if he’s made strong enough bonds to be joking like this. “yeah it sure is. i’m doing good, just happy to be back with everyone. didn’t really wanna come tonight if i’m being honest. you look great though, i thought i saw you in a different dress earlier?” he scratches the back of his head, hoping his eyesight wasn’t the next thing to start playing up. 

daniela muses over how her son has ever earned business with a face so naturally miserable, but she has also seen him smile once or twice and strongly believes his smile can win people over naturally. “ i’m sorry about him, pay no attention. i think he likes to prove a point, that he’s the meanest lawyer in the southwest as if that’s good for business. ” she waves a hand, reminding herself to remind roman to loosen up for the millionth time. “ when he learned how to talk, he stopped smiling for photos. i had to tell him an incorrect fact on purpose so he’d smile because he had to correct me. ” daniela laughs softly and then nods with sympathy to diego’s predicament. being away from her children for a few short years was enough for her heart to ache. she could only imagine. “ i’m happy you’re back with them too. sofia is a wonderful woman, i bet she is amazing to have as a sister. i heard your son was there waiting for you too, xavier? such a strong name. ”  she engages the conversation with a heartfelt touch on her chest before looking down to her dress and laughing. “ thank you, it’s a tradition i’ve had for...well, longer than i want to say. it keeps the photos looking interesting and gives me an excuse for a shopping trip. ”