Neerja Pawar's Eternally Single, Rosa Álvarez Explores A Spanish Summer Romance

Rosa Álvarez leads two lives – one is deceptively normal. A respectable physiotherapist living in Los Angeles: the city of fish tacos and famous bigwigs. She works hard at her job, loves living the single life, and has a trip home to Mexico at the very top of her priority list. And other is her mother’s worst nightmare.

For one, the first is a lie. She does love her job, but its uniqueness would put any good chick flick to shame. She hasn’t been on a date in five years, at least, not any good ones. And she will do anything to avoid a trip to her sleepy hometown. But when a notorious man from her past shows up in LA, Rosa’s secret life starts unravelling. There’s also the matter of the really annoying actor (who just so happens to be annoyingly good-looking) she keeps bumping into whom she cannot seem to shake off.

Find out if Rosa is able to keep her two worlds separate… or if her mother’s flying chancla will find her first?

Here's an excerpt from Eternally Single Rosa Álvarez

‘Mamá—’

‘Mija—’

The two Álvarez women started and stopped short.

‘You go first,’ Rosa said after a moment of silence. Her mother looked stumped for a second. ‘What? You’re not even going to invite me in?’

‘Seriously, Mamá? You’re here to scold me?’ Rosa chuckled humourlessly.

‘As your mother, it’s what I do. It’s my right.’ Mrs Álvarez almost smiled. Almost. Then she got busy studying her hands as she said, ‘No, I’m here to…talk.’

This time, the younger Álvarez was at a loss for words. ‘You are?’

‘If you have something to say to me.’

‘If you think I’m going to apologise—’

‘That’s not what I meant—’

‘You’re right.’

Mrs Álvarez looked up from her hands, surprised.

‘I’m sorry, Mamá. It wasn’t my place to say things the way I said them, especially when I didn’t do a good job of living my life the right way. You raised me to be who I am, and you tried your best with what you were given, when all’s said and done.’ Rosa looked at her steadily, not quite meeting her eyes.

‘Thank you, mija, but—’

‘But, let me finish. You were not good parents to me or good partners to each other. You may have done your best, but it wasn’t enough. You did what you had to out of duty, but what about love? I fault you for that. I fault you for being terrible to each other. You never let up. You have to realise what that did to me. I didn’t—couldn’t—imagine life any other way. I thought that’s what marriage was, that’s how all relationships eventually became. Hostile and full of regret. Did—did you and Papá ever love each other?’ she asked, finally meeting her eye, her heart thudding, not sure she wanted the answer, not sure if it would even change anything. Or everything.

‘No,’ Mrs Álvarez answered after a pause, her voice measured. ‘Our circumstances were different, mija. We married out of need and convenience, not choice. We didn’t have to love, or even like, each other for that. And some days, we really didn’t. All we had was respect. And that was enough for us.’ She smiled sadly. ‘But it’s not the same for you. It shouldn’t be. I’m…I’m sorry we made you feel that way.’

‘I’m sorry, too. It wasn’t just for you to set an example. It was my responsibility to grow up too. I was always too scared to see what was beneath the surface, so I just avoided it altogether. Like most things in life. Not the best decision,’ Rosa laughed shakily.

There was a pause.

‘I read the article. Well, I had your Papá read it to me. All those nice things people said about you and your job…’ Mrs Álvarez began tentatively, her voice choking up.

‘It is a nice job.’

‘And you feel safe?’

‘I feel very safe, Mamá. It’s like I have another family, looking after me and cherishing me. I haven’t regretted a single thing when it comes to my job, just how I treated it around other people.’ Rosa squeezed her mother’s hand, realising that she meant every word.

‘Good…good.’

Another pause. Rosa cleared her throat and looked around. ‘Where’s Papá?’

Mrs Álvarez squeezed her daughter’s hand back. ‘He…will take some time to understand this…You. But he will.’

Rosa nodded, taking what she could get, which was more than she’d hoped for.

Extracted with permission from Eternally Single, Rosa Álvarez by Neerja Pawar. Published by SAGA Fiction, 2023. You can also join SheThePeople’s Book club on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.

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