Sweetheart Deal Read Free

been looking forward to spending the afternoon with the famous Mrs. Frugalicious.”
    1. Including but not limited to my financial newscaster husband losing all of our money in a Ponzi scheme, my transformation from well-heeled housewife into reality TV’s Mrs. Frugalicious, a series of savings-related scrapes, and two murders.
    2. So to speak—see next footnote.
    3. Not only his personal indiscretions, but also his creative solution to keep me in the fold by orchestrating a television deal for us as a family whereby we pretended to be happily married in order to foot the bill for our children’s college education and restore his tarnished image, thus re-ensuring our financial future.
    4. An interview of a reality show participant before or early into a major event that captures the excitement and anticipatory giddiness.

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    â€œI’m sorry your husband is feeling under the weather,” Alejandro said.
    â€œMe too,” I said with crossed fingers. I wouldn’t wish stomach discomfort on anyone, not even my all-but -former husband. However, I wasn’t entirely unhappy about having my own private tour of the hotel property. Especially since Alejandro, with his thick brown hair, light brown eyes, and just shy of full lips, was the closest I was going to come to a date until Frank and I could officially un-couple .
    But just then Frank reappeared from the men’s room looking downright pasty. He seemed to regain a bit of color as he introduced himself to naturally bronze Alejandro, who, as I suspected, ran the vacation ownership operations for the resort. Frank, who made it a point to always be camera-ready , appeared to be on the mend while we did the necessary extra takes, had a quick story day wardrobe change, mulled over a script for the segment, and strolled across the lobby for the camera, past the veranda where the rehearsal dinner was to take place. We made our way over to the poolside café.
    Frank did his part, admiring the grounds and abundant grandeur of the hotel. One glance at the pan of refried beans bubbling at the lunch buffet however, and whatever color had returned to his face drained.
    He rushed away once more.
    Alejandro and I found ourselves dining alone. We indulged in a pleasant poolside lunch of shrimp quesadillas and I had my first of what threatened to be a weekend’s worth of the Hacienda de la Fortuna’s signature bottomless mango margaritas.
    The drinks went down a little too easily as Alejandro shared details about his youth, graduating with honors from the Universidad Autónoma de Somewhere-in -Mexico and working his way up in the resort business. His relaxed style and easy laugh had me revealing not only a few tidbits about my life and family, but comfortable enough to recite a cue card–prompted vacation ownership wish list I hadn’t created. Thankfully it was both reasonable and accurate:
    A place to create family memories …
    Somewhere we’ll look forward to returning year after year …
    Has to be by the beach …
    I wasn’t sure whether it was Alejandro’s charming manners—starting with whether I wanted to sit in the sun or shade—the way the staff seemed to be at extra attention in his presence, his seemingly earnest interest in my growing notoriety as Mrs. Frugalicious, or those delicious margaritas, but the camera crew seemed to vanish. Despite the multiple takes, out-of -sequence shots, and other assorted realities of reality television, we might as well have been all alone together as we ventured back indoors for a whirlwind tour of everything from Sushi Especia, one of the six internationally themed, on-premise restaurants, to Serenidad, the plush state-of - the-art spa and fitness facility. More impressive than the various amenities were the guest rooms—all suites, and all boasting living rooms filled with designer furniture and bathrooms filled with marble fixtures and high-end