Loving Pedro Infante

In the soothing darkness of her local theater, thirty-something teacher's aide and divorcee Teresina "Tere" Avila looks straight into the smoldering eyes of Pedro Infante and wonders where her life has gone. The impossibly handsome Mexican singer and movie icon died in 1957, but to Tere -- secretary of the Pedro Infante fan club chapter 256 -- he remains an everlasting symbol of the possibility of passion beyond her New Mexico town.Tere's passions are wasted on Lucio, the married lover who plies her with sweet kisses and false promises. Comfort comes in her adoration for Infante and in the companionship of her best friend, Irma "La Wirma" Granados. Then, one night at the Border Cowboy Truck Stop, Tere is forced to confront reality -- and the choices she must make to reclaim her life.

Denise Chavez is the author of The Last of the Menu Girls and Face of an Angel, for which she won the American Book Award. She is a founder of the Border Book Festival in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where she lives.