Chapter 14
"It's super late," Olga says, stressed, getting dressed for the third time this morning. "Your mother will be here soon and we haven't done anything."
"Speak for yourself, I've torn off all that." Violeta points to one of the walls and the pile of paper lying on the floor.
Olga smiles, kisses her on the cheek, and goes straight to her purse to get money.
"Go on, do me a favor and go to the prepared food store to buy something to eat. It'll look really weird if I go and your mother finds you here alone. I'll tear off a little more paper, clean this up, and I'll get in the kitchen to set the table."
Violeta accepts the bill and looks at Olga, unable to hold back her laughter.
"What are you laughing at?"
"At you. Don't stress out. My mother doesn't know how far along you had the room or if it's hard to tear off this paper or not. We'll tell her it's really stuck on there and it's very time-consuming."
"Are you always such a liar?" Olga puts her hands on her hips and narrows her eyes.
"It's not a lie, we're just camouflaging the truth a bit, and we're doing it to make you feel good, don't forget that. What do you want me to buy?"
Violeta waves the bill in the air.
"Whatever you two like, I eat everything."
Violeta looks her up and down and Olga feels the current run through her body like a gust again.
"Damn, get out of my room right now," she orders authoritatively, pointing to the door.
"Okay." Violeta laughs and crosses the door, ready to leave, but Olga holds her back by grabbing her arm.
"What are you doing? Are you going with that crazy hair?" she asks, laughing, pushing Violeta toward the bathroom.
The two look at each other in the mirror: Violeta in front and Olga standing right behind her. Their tousled hair clearly betrays that it hasn't exactly been paper they've been tearing off. They both wash up and tidy themselves, then they kiss and that's when Violeta leaves.
Olga tears off a little more paper, then puts the remains in a garbage bag, sweeps the floor and when she goes outside to throw it all away, she finds that Maite is already coming. Her heart races and she feels a pang of guilt when her neighbor smiles at her from afar. Olga feels like a traitor and really doesn't know if she's acting correctly by hiding from her what's happening with her daughter, but she already has that agreement with Violeta and for now she's going to keep it.
"How'd it go?" Maite asks as soon as she reaches the door of her house.
"Good, although between one thing and another, I got held up longer than I thought. Plus, then I ran into an acquaintance I hadn't seen in a while and I stopped to have coffee with her."
Olga gets very stressed when she realizes that if Maite hadn't done all that, she would have arrived at her house much earlier and caught her in the middle of things with her daughter, and not tearing off paper as she should have been doing.
"Where's Violeta?" Maite asks, accepting the soda Olga has offered her.
"She went to buy food while I finished cleaning up the room. I don't think she'll be long."
Maite eyes her sideways as Olga rummages through the kitchen cabinets. She notices her nervous, too tense when she's usually a very calm woman.
"Are you okay, Olga? You seem a little uneasy."
The glass she had just picked up crashes to the floor as soon as she hears her. Olga stands paralyzed looking at the pile of broken glass scattered on the floor, unable to understand why she got so nervous at Maite's question. It's her neighbor, the one who, resolute and determined, quickly stands up to get the broom and sweep up the whole mess.
"Leave it, Maite, I'll do it," Olga reacts, taking the broom from her.
She sweeps up all the glass in silence, feeling her neighbor's gaze fixed on her. When she finishes, she throws it all in the trash, opens another soda and sits down across from her.
"Sorry for the scene, I'm a little distracted today," Olga says, trying to appear normal.
"I've already seen that, but is something wrong? You haven't argued with my daughter, have you?"
Olga opens her eyes wide when she looks at her and shakes her head.
"No, not at all, it's hard to argue with Violeta."
Olga realizes at that moment what's happening to her. She needs to talk about what's happening to her, to express to someone what she's beginning to feel for Violeta and also that concern that the situation in general is causing her, but she can't do it because her only friend in town happens to be Violeta's mother.
"So what then? I tell you everything, Olga. If something's wrong, you can tell me. I'm always going on about my problems and maybe you need to tell me things too."
"It's nothing, Maite, really. I'm just having a silly day," Olga smiles. "I got a little nostalgic, that's all."
"Nostalgic? Do you miss your ex-husband?" Maite asks, trying to get it out of her.
"No, not him, but sometimes I do miss sharing my life with someone else."
The doorbell rings at that moment and Olga jumps up like a spring to go open it for Violeta. Maite looks at her again and half a smile escapes her when she sees them by the door.
"Your mother is already here," Olga whispers as soon as Violeta approaches her.
Maite's daughter stands still for a moment, but quickly reacts and acts as if nothing is happening.
"I brought a little of everything, I didn't know what you liked," Violeta says, handing the bag to Olga.
"I already told you I like everything."
Violeta gives an evil little laugh that Olga can't help but return and the two walk to the kitchen.
"How did it go? Did you make much progress?" Maite asks as soon as the two are in front of her.
Olga, who doesn't feel comfortable lying to her neighbor, starts taking the trays out of the bag so that Violeta can answer.
"Well, not much. Some pieces come off very easily, but there are others that are very time-consuming. The paper breaks and you have to scrape with the scraper," Violeta explains as if nothing happened.
"Well, then you come over every day until you finish it," Maite decides.
Olga glances at her sideways, flustered because Violeta has just passed behind her and subtly brushed her butt. She feels her cheeks burning and the tingling running through her whole body. She turns to Violeta and gives her a murderous look that her neighbor's daughter receives with a mischievous smile.
Olga's revenge is not long in coming, when she sits at the table, next to Violeta because Maite has occupied the chair on her other side with her purse, with the excuse that she is moving the chair to lean forward a bit, she has let a hand go and squeezed Violeta's thigh until she makes her jump. This time it is Olga who receives an intense look from her lover and has to bite her cheeks to contain her laughter. That's how they spend the whole meal, taking every opportunity to brush against each other or drop a caress.
"I'm going to the bathroom," Maite announces when they are already having dessert and Olga has gotten up to make the coffees.
Violeta gets up as soon as her mother walks out the door and presses herself against Olga's back, trapping her body against the marble. Olga, excited and eager to feel her, clings to Violeta's hands around her waist and squeezes them tightly as she sighs and throws her head back for a moment that Violeta takes advantage of to kiss her neck.
"Come on, let me go, she's going to catch us," Olga smiles because it tickled her.
"But she just left," Violeta protests in a childish tone.
Olga turns around in her arms and gives her a passionate kiss that catches Violeta so off guard that, when Olga pulls away from her, she doesn't even remember which chair she was sitting in.
"Come on, get off," Olga tells her amused, slapping her on the butt and pointing to the chair.
Violeta drops into it as she looks at her and understands at that very moment that she doesn't want to go back to Madrid. Suddenly she realizes that her life there no longer makes any sense. She has hated her job for a long time, her relationship with Marina died months ago and except for her friendship with Teresa, there is nothing there that motivates her.
Olga hears the bathroom door open at the same moment she turns to set the coffees on the table and sees Violeta's pensive and worried face.
"What's wrong?" she whispers anxiously, leaning over the table as she looks toward the door waiting for Maite to return.
"Nothing." Violeta smiles at her with a grimace, troubled, unable to change that expression because thinking about her return is giving her anxiety.
Madrid has nothing for her, except a job that no longer fulfills her with an egocentric and unbearable boss. Alquézar has her mother, it has the tranquility she has been longing for so long, and it has Olga and the Christmas adventure she has started with her.