Page 10 of A Christmas Adventure

Chapter 6

Exactly two weeks have passed, and Violeta feels nervous. Her bags are packed, and tomorrow at this time, when she leaves work, instead of going to lunch with Teresa as she just did, she'll get in her car and eat a sandwich while driving to the village with her mother.

"You could try to hide how eager you are to leave all this behind," Teresa says after taking a big sip of water and wiping her lips with a napkin.

Violeta smiles and keeps chewing.

"Your mother must be thrilled about your arrival. How is she?"

"Much better. Hiring that Olga woman was the best thing that could have happened to her. They've become quite good friends, and my mother has found a lot of distraction with her. Thank goodness, because the idea of her being so alone really stressed me out."

"Doesn't she have friends?" Teresa asks, surprised.

"Yes, of course, but they're all friends of hers and my father's who only meddle instead of listening to her. Olgatakes her for walks when they can, helps her with the oven even when it's not her turn, and listens without stirring up trouble."

"What if she's a psychopath who wants to kill her to get her money?"

Violeta looks at her, horrified.

"Don't talk nonsense."

"I don't know, all that selfless attention, you can't tell me it's not a bit strange."

"She's just a grateful woman, and apparently very lonely, according to my mother. She's new in the village and doesn't know anyone, and she needs the job to live, just like you and me."

"Okay, okay," Teresa says, raising her hands.

"The truth is, I'm looking forward to meeting her so I can thank her for what she's doing for my mother," Violeta says, fixing an intense gaze on her coworker.

"You're right, people from small towns are very different from city folks. Here, they can see you dying on the street and not even flinch. Anyway, changing the subject, are you going to stop in Huesca?"

Her friend's face transforms into a mischievous expression that sets Violeta's heart racing as soon as she understands the double meaning of her question.

"Don't be dirty, no, of course not."

"Why not? If I were you, I'd go back to that bar just out of curiosity. It doesn't cost you anything to stop by. Imagine if that mysterious woman is there and you can repeat that incredible night you talk about so much."

Violeta blushes until her face burns.

"I don't talk about that night that much."

Teresa raises her eyebrows and clears her throat. Now even Violeta's ears are burning.

"Okay, maybe a little," she admits, laughing.

If she's honest with herself, she thinks about that night daily. She hasn't forgotten that woman, much less everything she did with her. In her mind, that sick desire that awakened in her with every touch and the ease with which pleasure spread through her body over and over until she was exhausted is very present. Violeta is sure that this type of connection or chemistry in bed can only be had with one person, and that woman was hers. She's convinced that she won't meet anyone else capable of awakening such passion in her, but she doesn't mind either. Life is made up of all kinds of experiences, some better and some worse, and now she knows that when it comes to sex, she, at barely thirty-two, has already had the luck to experience the most pleasurable.

"A little, she says," Teresa laughs. "By the way, have you talked to Marina yet?"

Violeta's expression changes. At the end of last week, when Marina called her again, she decided she would meet with her and settle the matter once and for all. At least that's what she told Teresa, but the truth is, as always, she's been letting the days go by, postponing something she knows is inevitable.

"No, not yet."

"Damn, Violeta, you're going on vacation and she's going to keep bothering you. Is that what you want?"

"No, of course not. It's just that since she seems to be spacing out her calls a bit more, I don't know, maybe she's getting the hint."

"If you say so."