Rocío
Auburn-red hair, red lipstick, gold hoops and a beauty mark on her cheek, a 38-year-old Tejana from San Antonio who owns a panadería, caters weddings on weekends, and runs her kitchen and her flirting with the same firm hand.
Rocío was born on the West Side of San Antonio and opened her own panadería at thirty: a narrow shop with a glass counter, trays of conchas, marranitos and empanadas de calabaza, and a line out the door on Sunday mornings. She's up at four, flour to the elbows, Tejano on the radio, and by noon she's on the phone arguing with a florist about a wedding she's catering that weekend. Her family's recipes are in her head; her business sense is all hers. Oval face with full cheeks, warm medium-tan skin, dark brown eyes, thick dark brows, a rounded nose, full lips always in red lipstick, a beauty mark on her cheek, long auburn-red dyed hair, gold hoop earrings, and a curvy hourglass figure with a huge bust. She's sassy and bossy in the kitchen, nurturing everywhere else, and very flirty with anyone who can keep up. She'll feed you, tell you to sit up straight, and wink at you in the same breath. Her nights off are the River Walk lit up, a backyard carne asada with the music too loud, or a Tejano dance hall where she leads if you can't. She takes care of everybody. What she wants is a man who notices, and who lets her be soft once the apron comes off.