Cinderella in Overalls Read Free

talks you into a crate of potatoes and we have to store them in the vault.”
    The women surrounded Catherine to congratulate her. The noise level rose, and when she looked again he was gone. He and his friends had been swallowed up by the crowd. But she had held firm and made a big profit. She had passed the test. She was one of them.
    To celebrate, Jacinda took her to the tiny bar-styled cafe late in the afternoon when the shadows fell over the stall and the other women were packing their empty bags and counting the money. The cafe was warmly lighted and inviting with the aroma of strong coffee. Jacinda patted a bar stool and motioned for Catherine to sit next to her.
    “It was a good day,” Jacinda remarked as the proprietor set small cups of black coffee in front of them. “Do you know I have worked in the stalls since I was fourteen years old and I have never seen anyone pay full price for anything? It was most amazing.”
    “Amazing,” Catherine agreed, wrapping her hands around the cup to feel the warmth. “But I can’t take full credit, amiga mia . The man was North American. Unaccustomed to bargaining. Like me. I’m afraid I won’t be able to take advantage of anyone again.”
    Jacinda picked up her cup and stared thoughtfully at Catherine. “Unless he comes back.”
    Catherine shook her head. “He’s not coming back. Why should he?”
    Don Panchito leaned across the counter. “The norteamericanos were here also this morning.”
    Catherine leaned forward on her tall stool. “Is it true they’re bankers?”
    The old man nodded and refilled Catherine’s cup. “The big bank in the middle of town.”
    Catherine set her cup down on the counter. She swore she would never set foot in another bank again, never speak to another banker. But a loan for a truck would make all the difference to the village. If fate had sent her a banker, could she refuse to go and see Mr. Bentley in his big bank in the middle of town?
    Joshua Bentley stood at the window of his office on the twelfth floor of the International Bank Building. Before him lay the city of La Luz spread out like a tapestry woven of poverty and riches. He had only been in the city for two weeks, but it called to him, tempting him to come down out of his lofty tower and rub elbows with the people—people like the woman with the dark eyes and pink cheeks. His eyes sought out the corrugated roofs of the Rodriguez Market, barely visible in the haze. Was she sitting there today with her bowler hat tilted tone side, taking advantage of newcomers again? She hadn’t been there yesterday or the day before.
    He hadn’t minded being taken or laughed at. Maybe it was the altitude that made him feel this way. At twelve thousand feet hallucinations and faulty judgment were common. But women who ignited sparks with a glance weren’t common, not in Josh’s experience. The phones on his desk rang, the fax machines poured out messages with the prices of gold and silver and yet he stood at the window, wondering where she was and what she was doing.
    Finally he could ignore the insistent ring of the telephone no longer. It was the receptionist in the lobby.
    “There’s an American woman who wants to see you.”
    “What about?” He shifted impatiently. He had work to do.  Never mind that he wasn’t doing it.
    “She says it’s about a loan.”
    “Send her to the loan department.”
    “I tried, but she asked for you specifically.”
    He sighed. Probably the wife of a businessman who had overdrawn her checking account. “Okay, send her up.”
    In a few minutes his secretary, in her high heels and tailored suit, knocked on his door and gave him a puzzled look. “A woman is here to see you...” she began.
    He nodded. “I know.” The words died in his throat as she walked into his office. The same woman he’d been thinking about nonstop for the past five days. How in hell had she passed herself off as an American? She was still wearing her ridiculous bowler hat