Chapter 16
The day dawns under a relentless curtain of rain, but Patricia and Carlota don't mind their plans being ruined because they've replaced them with something they consider much better: sex. They've spent hours between caresses, confessions, and cuddling, and now they're sitting with pillows against their backs, exchanging furtive glances and typical silly smiles.
"Hey," Carlota says. "Just to clear things up, no hard feelings about the job thing? I'd like to put that behind us."
"Yes, of course, please forget about that and my stupid behavior," Patricia says, embarrassed. "I stand by what I told you yesterday, and I promise it's water under the bridge. Besides, to be honest, I must confess I wouldn't trade my current job for anything in the world. I love my specialty, and now I visit different clinics during the mornings seeing only animals with heart conditions, and in the afternoons, I work part-time at another clinic."
Carlota's mouth opens in a strange expression, and her eyes narrow as she points an accusing finger at Patricia.
"You hypocrite," she says with a smile that spreads to Patricia, "acting all mean and accusing me of stealing your job when you actually don't care," she adds, pushing her affectionately.
Patricia's laughter makes it hard for her to speak.
"Back then, I did want it," she says in her defense.
"So what? Do you live stuck in the past?" Carlota asks, rolling underneath Patricia between laughs.
They spend several minutes like this, playing between silly reproaches, stolen kisses, and lots of laughter.
At one-thirty sharp, both are showered and heading down the stairs toward the inn's dining room, where they're meeting Yolanda and Sonia for lunch.
"Can I ask how long you've been dating?" Sonia asks in the middle of lunch.
Carlota feels herself blushing and feels incredibly grateful that they're Patricia's friends and not hers because that saves her from having to answer.
"Well," Patricia clears her throat while glancing sideways at Carlota and smiling, "we're not officially dating, let's say we're getting to know each other."
The wink Patricia gives Carlota makes her heart leap, causing vertigo and a wide smile.
"That explains why you haven't told us about her, although if you'd told me you'd been together for months, I would have believed it," Sonia says.
"Me too," her wife adds.
"Why's that?" Carlota asks intrigued.
"Because of your chemistry. You show a connection that many couples who've lived together for years would want. My prediction is that you have a great future together," Yolanda jokes, raising her wine glass.
"That's reassuring," Patricia laughs, "by the way, I haven't introduced you to Coco," she adds, reaching for her phone.
"Who?" Sonia asks, looking at her wife, who frowns and shrugs.
"Coco, my dog," Patricia responds.
"Your dog? Since when do you have a dog?" they both ask simultaneously.
"For a few days now. He's the reason I got trapped in the shelter with Carlota, isn't he cute?"
Patricia stretches out her arm and proudly shows them her phone screen. In it, there's a photo of Coco wearing the reindeer antler headband she put on him the day she and Carlota decorated the shelter.
"How beautiful," Sonia says, snatching the phone from her hand.
"My goodness, look at you now, Patricia," Yolanda says with raised eyebrows. "Not only are you in love again, but you're also a dog mom."
Patricia smiles and immediately puts an arm around Carlota's shoulders to pull her into an affectionate hug. Carlota, for a moment, felt some insecurity after Yolanda's comment because it reminded her that Aida is in Patricia's life, but when she hugged her that way, she felt stupid for feeling like that and immediately understood that, for Patricia, Aida is the past and she is the future.
When lunch ends and after checking that the rain has decreased to barely a drizzle, they both decide to go for a walk to visit another Christmas market that Yolanda and Sonia recommended. Protected under a huge red and black umbrella they've borrowed and that Patricia holds, the two walk leisurely among the crowd, stopping at all the stalls, completely immersed in the Christmas atmosphere offered by the songs playing through the speakers and the decorations and lights everywhere.
"I love Christmas," Carlota says, stopping in front of a stall full of nativity scene figurines and other Christmas ornaments.
"I like it more this year than others," Patricia smiles before giving her a kiss on the forehead.
Carlota feels a wave of warmth envelop her body after the kiss and looks at her tenderly for the comment. She loves this sincere Patricia who has removed that shield of being determined to be mean to her.
"I love it, isn't it beautiful?" Patricia asks, holding a snow globe with her free hand.
Carlota nods without saying a word and, before Patricia can make another comment, takes out her wallet and pays for it.
"What are you doing?" Patricia asks surprised.
"You liked it and I wanted to give it to you, I hope you don't mind," Carlota says, blushing.
"No, of course not, but you didn't have to do that," Patricia says smiling.
Carlota shrugs and buttons up her coat.
"I wanted to do it," she says, pressing close to Patricia to avoid the cold.
"Well, I loved it, thank you so much for the gift."
"I'm really sad to leave, I had such a good time," Carlota says the next morning, when they've just gotten up and have their suitcases open on the bed.
"Me too, but we can plan another getaway soon, and we'll take Coco."
"That would be great, we could go camping and do some hiking, Coco would have so much fun," Carlota agrees.
"Well, you'll be in charge of organizing that trip because I took care of everything for this one," Patricia teases.
"You've got some nerve," Carlota complains laughing.
Patricia gives her a kiss on the cheek that echoes throughout the room.
"Go take a shower, we need to check out. I'll take the things to the car meanwhile," Patricia says, already ready to leave.
As soon as Carlota locks herself in the bathroom, she grabs the suitcases and runs out of the inn. She regrets not being more creative and thinking of an excuse that didn't involve dragging suitcases, but at least she managed to leave the inn without Carlota, exactly what she wanted. She runs quickly to the car, leaves the suitcases, and from there runs to the Christmas market to return to the room fifteen minutes later, flushed and breathless.
"You took a while," Carlota says, who has just gotten out of the shower.
"I got distracted looking at shop windows," Patricia lies, trying to breathe slowly.
When they go down to reception, they say goodbye to Yolanda and Sonia with their promise to visit them in Salamanca next time. Patricia and Carlota head to the car and, when they get in, Patricia turns to the back seat and grabs the bag with the gift she bought a few minutes ago.
"Here," she says, handing it to Carlota.
"What's this?" she asks, though she can't hide the excitement in her eyes.
"Look inside and you'll know, I couldn't find wrapping paper," she says with an innocent expression.
When Carlota opens the bag, Patricia can't believe that something as simple as a puzzle could make her so happy. They saw it when they were walking through a market on the first day right after lunch, but the store was closed at that time and they couldn't go in. To Patricia, it seemed like any other puzzle, but Carlota was fascinated that it was an advent calendar made up of twenty-four small boxes to assemble a part of the puzzle each day.
"I can't believe you bought it for me, thank you so much," Carlota says, hugging Patricia so tightly that the cardiologist thinks she would do anything to see her this happy always.