It’s easy to say the bad girl treated Ricardo poorly and he loved her so unconditionally so their relationship is one-sided. Maybe it’s the romantic in me, but I feel despite her denial, she felt something strong for Ricardo. The bad girl had the abilities of a chameleon and, she still always allowed Ricardo back in her life. She aspired for more and didn't want to settle down into anything in the fear that she may disappear, but with Ricardo she never had to worry about being less then important. She loved him in the only way that she knew how. It’s not conventional and she can easily be written off as a horrible deceitful woman but with every opportunity to be gone and stay gone she allowed their relationship to pick up where it left off without pause.  She feared that if she let their love run its course their desire would cease, she says on page 209 “you’ll never live quietly with me, I warn you. Because I don’t want you to get tired of me, to get used to me. And even if we marry to straighten out my papers, I’ll never be wife. I always want to be your lover… because I’ll always keep you crazy about me.”

This book reminded me of that obscure object of desire because no matter what Conchita did, Mathiue always went back. The fact that the bad girl like Conchita was always changing, is because it was never just about the women it was about the desire. In each stage of Ricardo’s life the bad girl fit into the Ricardo’s life styles, changing to stylish women of the time.  even at the end of the novel with her impending death, all he wanted from her all along , was to be settled and happy and in his old aged he got exactly that.  This book allowed me to see that desire is fleeting, always changing as you progress, but love is undying and  can stay In the heart dormant, ready to surface at any given moment, fully. Like they always  “distance makes the heart grow founder.”