I looked at the giant mansion and tried to control my nerves. I failed.

The night was falling and Frank Sanchez’s home looked utterly enchanting in the fading light. It was located in the city’s most exclusive neighborhood and I had never set foot here in my life before now.

The property looked empty and I wondered why Frank lived alone in such a huge house. Didn’t he get bored and lonely there by himself? I know I would if I had all those rooms to rattle around in and no-one to talk to.

I imagined dining on spaghetti and meatballs with Daisy at a huge table. Would there be servants there to attend to our every whim and look horrified as we slurped away happily?

I crept around to the front door, feeling like a fish out of water and trying my very best to not be noticed by anyone. There appeared to be no-one around in the entire neighborhood but I guessed that several CCTV cameras were now trained on me.

I walked up to the entrance and found an entry system that looked like it belonged in a NASA building. I tentatively pressed the biggest button and waited.

Nothing happened.

I pressed again and was about to give up when a little old man came walking slowly towards me from inside the property. He looked either Latin or Asian, with one of those faces that told of a long, hard life.

The man was holding a rake in his hands. His eyes wrinkled up as he looked at me suspiciously through the gate.

“Dr. Frank no here.”

“Is he at the clinic?”

“Who you?”

“Dr. Frank clinic?” I decided that matching his Pidgin English was the best approach, even if I felt very foolish doing it.

“Dr. Frank Las Vegas”

“Las Vegas? What’s he doing in Las Vegas?”

“Las Vegas.”

“Yes, I got that. Thanks.”

The old man started to walk away but then stopped and turned round to look at me. He scrutinized me from head to toe and then took a step towards me.

“You Yanie?”

“What?”

“Yanie. You Yanie?”

“Janie? Yes, that’s me?”

His wise old eyes lit up and a huge smile showed yellow teeth with several gaps in them. Despite this, it was one of the nicest and most genuine smiles I had ever seen.

The door creaked open and I wondered why the mention of my name had magically gained me entry to this exclusive, high-security mansion. How did he even know who I was?

The gardener or housekeeper or whoever he was left me by the pool while he went away to do something. I no longer had any idea what was happening and decided to go with the flow.

I looked at my reflection in the shimmering water of the pool and imagined swimming here with Frank by my side. To be honest, we were skinny dipping in my fantasy and it was delicious.

It was a fabulous infinity pool that overlooked the city and had a giant statue of Buddha at each side of it. There was a feeling of peace about the property that I hadn’t expected.

The house itself was Mexican in style and looked as though it was completely spotless. I had never wanted to live in this sort of mansion or felt any jealousy towards the people who did. Yet, something about this place made me feel much more at home than I had imagined.

“Are you Janie? We’ve been hoping you would turn up.”

A woman of about my age was walking towards me. From her foreign looks, I guessed that she was maybe the grand-daughter or niece of the old man. However, she spoke perfect English rather than just random words thrown together.

“Wait a minute, you don’t even know me. How could you be expecting me to turn up here?”

We sat down together at a table overlooking the pool and the old man brought out a beaker of fresh lemonade and some little pastries. I could get used to this sort of lifestyle.

“Janie, we are all worried about Doctor Frank. He has been working too hard and we think it is because he misses you.”

“Wow, hang on a second. How do you even know who I am? Never mind…he misses me?”

She smiled and sipped some lemonade.

“Sometimes he forgets that I speak good English, unlike my grandfather. I heard him speak to his family and friends about you.”

“What did he say?”

She shrugged enigmatically.

“He is confused. He thought he loved you and then he thought that you cheated on him with another man.”

“Maybe I did.”

“Ha ha. Then why did you come here? My grandfather is 84 years old and is the best judge of a person I know. He told me that he saw purity and goodness in your eyes.”

“Things got complicated between us. I messed up and he misread the situation. It was my fault, really.”

“Did you come here to apologize? Do you love him?”

“I don’t know and, well, I don’t know. I wanted to see him and try to put things right between us. I enjoy being with Frank and I think he likes me too.”

The woman nodded and went to speak but decided to hold her silence while I ate a pastry. It was delicious, filled with some sort of warm, sweet jelly that I had never tasted before in my life.

“He tells people that you are the first woman that he felt could change his life for the better.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“This is none of my business, really. It’s just that…Doctor Frank has always looked after my family very well. My grandfather dreams of helping him find a wife and be happy before it is too late. He thinks that you should try.”

“Try what?”

“To be that woman. Go to Las Vegas, Janie.”

“What the Hell? You want me to just turn up in Las Vegas and look for Frank there? What if he doesn’t want to see me?”

She shrugged again.

“That’s what I would do if the man I loved was there.”

She excused herself and went away to work, leaving me with a note of the hotel Frank was staying in for the next week. Was she being serious?

I had just enough money to get the bus to Las Vegas and stay for a couple of nights in the cheapest hotel I could find. Daisy could stay with her favorite aunt and I could say that I was traveling there for a job interview.

It really wouldn’t be all that difficult to sort out everything if I tried.

This was the most stupid thing I had ever planned to do. Why was I even seriously considering this ridiculous idea at all?