Anything — anything you need, for the rest of your life —” “Don’t pay me,” Joaquín said at once, and firmly, before the old man could finish.

“That’s not what this is.

If you want to thank somebody, thank Santiago.

He’s the one who planted this.

Years ago.

In my own kitchen, with my own daughter.

I’m just giving back what was already his.”

He said it plainly, without drama, because Joaquín Fuentes was not a dramatic man.