Chapter 2
Saturday morning drags on for Violeta. She has everything ready in her car. Last night, she packed a small bag, prepared a thermos that she filled with fresh coffee this morning, and added a package of chocolate cookies in case she gets hungry on the way.
"Are you sure? It seems crazy to me," Teresa says beside her. "Plus, temperatures are dropping, and it's going to snow in Huesca."
"I've already told my mother. She doesn't agree either, but I've made up my mind."
"Have you even listened to me? It's going to snow, Violeta," her colleague insists.
"I've seen it. I've checked the weather forecast, and it's not much. I've dealt with worse snowfalls. Besides, with luck, I'll have arrived before it starts, and it's just a few flakes tonight."
"You know what you're doing."
Teresa rolls her eyes and sighs. Violeta eats a salad while the last few minutes until departure time tick away. Suddenly, she chokes and coughs until her face turns red. Teresa watches in shock, offering her a glass of water from the fountain behind her.
"No," Violeta refuses, her voice still raspy and her cheeks burning from the effort. "I filled the car with diesel last night so I wouldn't have to stop along the way. If I drink water, I'll need to pee."
"You're crazy, you know that?" Teresa asks before drinking the glass of water herself.
When the clock strikes two, Violeta turns off her computer, grabs her purse and coat, and gives Teresa a hug goodbye.
"Call me when you arrive," her colleague demands.
"I'll send you a message," Violeta replies, disappearing down the hallway.
In the car, she knows she has almost five hours of driving ahead. It doesn't seem like much to her; she's made much longer trips, and besides, she enjoys driving. If all goes well, she'll arrive at her mother's house around seven in the evening. She'll take a shower, and they'll have time to chat for a couple of hours before dinner. Then she'll spend all Sunday morning with her and return to Madrid after lunch. She doesn't understand why Teresa is making such a fuss or why her mother insists it's not necessary.
As she drives with the radio on low volume, she thinks about the situation. Last night, driven by anger, she was about to call her father and put him in his place, but she held back because she's so frustrated with what happened that she doesn't even know what to say to him. She prefers to wait and talk to her mother to get more details about what happened before having a conversation with him.
When she's covered more than half the journey and eaten three cookies, it starts to drizzle, and Violeta slows down cautiously. Traffic becomes a bit heavier, but nothing serious, and the navigator indicates she'll arrive only twenty minutes later than expected. Violeta doesn't mind; she's comfortable and doesn't feel tired. But when she's half an hour away from Huesca city, the light rain turns into snowflakes that grow larger and thicker as she advances.
Traffic slows down even more. The snow isn't sticking to the road yet, but Violeta, who has seen many snowfalls, knows that if it keeps snowing with this intensity, it will soon start to accumulate, and that will become a problem. She checks the navigator, a bit more anxious this time, and sees that she's fifteen minutes away from Huesca city. If it keeps snowing like this, when she reaches the capital, she'll look for a hotel and stay the night, because continuing to Alquézar in these conditions and on the winding road that leads to her village would be madness.
She remembers Teresa's words and imagines her reproaching her for her stupidity when she finds out her plans have been thwarted. Violeta breathes a sigh of relief when she enters Huesca city, not only because she feels safe but because it's well-lit and she can see much better than a few minutes ago when the windshield wipers couldn't keep up with sweeping away snowflakes, and she felt like her car's lights were illuminating less and less.
Despite growing up nearby, Violeta doesn't know Huesca city well, so she lets the navigator guide her to the center and looks for parking as soon as she sees the sign for a hostel with a decent-looking entrance.
The snowflakes crunch under her feet as she heads towards the entrance. Violeta feels like the snow is falling less heavily now, and for a moment, she wonders if she should return to the car and resume her journey. But then she thinks about getting stuck and having to spend the night inside her vehicle, and a sudden feeling of suffocation at the thought makes her walk until she crosses the hostel's threshold and approaches the reception desk.
"Do you have any rooms available?" she asks, feeling her cheeks frozen.
A man with sharp features and an age Violeta can't quite determine turns with a calm smile and nods.
"Of course. Just for tonight?"
"Yes, I'm going to Alquézar, but with this snow, I don't dare."
Violeta assumes it's the man's friendly manner that has made her share her intentions.
"You're doing the right thing. I don't think it'll get worse than this, but it's better not to risk it with the car, especially at night. You'll see, by morning there'll be nothing left but traces of snow on the roadside. The big snowfalls are yet to come," the man says as he takes her details.
"I hope so," Violeta says.
"You'll see. Room one twelve, first floor."
He hands her the keys and points to the elevator right in front. Violeta says goodbye to the man and decides to take the stairs, whose wooden steps creak with each step. Once in her room, small but cozy with a double bed, she leaves her things and calls her mother to explain the situation.
"I told you you didn't have to come, Violeta. Now I'm just worried something might happen to you," she says anxiously.
"Nothing will happen to me, Mom. I'm already at the hostel. I'll stay here and set off when dawn breaks."
"Alright, honey, but don't you dare come if the weather doesn't improve."
When they say goodbye and Violeta hangs up, she checks the time and realizes it's not even nine in the evening. She's not sleepy at all, and she doesn't want to dine on chocolate cookies either, so she takes a shower that helps her warm up and returns to reception to ask the friendly gentleman about a place where she can eat a hamburger not too far from the hostel.
The man gives her directions, and Violeta steps outside after sending a message to Teresa telling her she's arrived without specifying where. The large, thick snowflakes that were falling when she arrived have almost disappeared, becoming so sparse that cars don't even activate their windshield wipers.
Once again, the idea of returning to the road crosses her mind, but this time, she thinks of her mother and how upset she'd be if something happened to her, so she keeps walking until she reaches the hamburger joint the hostel owner recommended.