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Lola got out of the taxi after paying the driver and she paid for the ride. When the taxi drove off, she stood on the dirt road by the entrance, looking at the ranch where she once lived with her parents. Now her mother lived in it with Thomas.
At the front, she talked to the guards who at first didn't recognize her. They took her luggage into the house and she stayed behind, deciding to walk around the ranch. She visited fields, where they had planted different fruits and vegetables. But her favorite was the strawberry patch because of the way its fragrance decorated the air she breathed. She visited the horse stalls, where her horse still lived. She hated having left Palomo behind because her father had given him to her. Lolita loved the ranch, she only hated one aspect of it, the fact that Thomas lived there as well.
As she made her way towards the house, she was stopped by the voice of a man, a voice she recognized from when she was a little girl. "I've never seen you around here. May I help you? I'm the owner of this ranch." He asked with a friendly smile he extended a hand out for her to shake as she cut the distance between them. He was speaking to her in German and it had taken her a couple of seconds to process what he was saying.
He had been loading his luggage into the car that would get him to the airport. But he stopped when he saw the young woman poking around the ranch. Her eyebrows contorted into a look of anger. "You're no one around here." She told him in English, so that he could understand her. Though in five years with Gabriella, he had been able to learn a lot about the Spanish language. "The owner of this ranch is Gabriella Gallegos."
Her words wiped the smile clean off his face. His eyes were suddenly full of recognition as he looked at her. Though he should have known it was her. She was the exact image of her mother with her long ebony hair and piercing green eyes. "Lolita?"
"Lola." She corrected him, her words were fll of pure venom that was directed at him. "I'm not a child anymore."
"I'm sorry, Dolores." This time he called her by her full name. One his face was a look of surprise at how much she had changed in very few years. And if he had to be completely honest, he thought she was beautiful. "Of course these lands belong to you and your mother, I only help her administer them on my free time. I have no intention of taking something that is rightfully yours."
"You should know that better than I do." She continued.
Thomas' lips turned down into a frown. "Lets not argue, Dolores. Its been years since I last saw you and I'm glad to see you all grown up. You're...you're beautiful." He paused for a moment, taking her in. He was mesmerized by her beautiful green eyes that reminded her of her mother's. He quickly added, "As beautiful as your mother. Your father did always say you got your looks from her." He smiled at the memory. It had been on the first day in which Ernesto got the job as Bayern's team manager, and he didn't last very long in the position.
"Save it, Thomas." Lolita spat. She didn't want to let herself become convinced by his words. She had been fooled by him once when she was younger, but never again. "You don't have the right to bring up my dad after the way you betrayed him."
"Whether you believe it or not, Ernesto was my friend, and I cared about him." Thomas assured her. "We used to get along, Dolores. Back when you were a little girl, we were friends. Remember?" Images of a ten year old girl running onto the field at the training ground came to his mind. He remembered how happy she used to be, the way she smiled. The way he could make her smile. Now he no longer had that ability. Lolita had been something of a younger sister, or even a daughter to him, and it pained him to see how much she despised him.
"That will never happen again." She told him, trying to walk past him, but he grabbed her arm to stop her.
"It won't happen because you don't want it to." He explained to her. All the while she tried to wrench her arm from his grip. But all he wanted was for her to listen to him. Lolita hated Thomas and he wanted that to change. "The moment you decide, things can change and we can be friends again. Please, Dolores." The German footballer pleaded. "Give me the chance to be your friend again. If you won't do it for me, at least do it for your mother. You don't know how much she's suffered since you left." He knew better than anyone that it hurt Gabriella to be divided between her husband and her daughter. Thomas would do anything to please Gabriella.
