Chapter 3
Since her conversation with Ursula two weeks ago, Maria has committed to not letting her friend down again.
The memory of that rushed morning, with smeared makeup and messy hair, still causes a twinge of embarrassment in her stomach.
Obviously, she has no intention of changing her current lifestyle because she considers it works well for her this way, indulging when she wants and then a cold goodbye and on to the next thing, like flipping a switch.
What she won't allow is for what happened the other morning to happen again, when things got out of hand and she not only arrived late to the meeting but did so without even having time to shower.
Maria has kept her word, she hasn't been late any day since and doesn't plan to be again.
In fact, she's chosen not to spend the night at anyone's place anymore, which seems even better because waking up and not having to rush out is less stressful.
The awkward morning-after excuses have always seemed like the most uncomfortable part to her.
Sitting at her office desk, she finishes drafting an agreement and, after checking the time, gets up and heads to Ursula's office for their informal daily nine o'clock meeting, where she reads her boss's agenda and takes note of any details she needs to resolve throughout the day.
"Good morning," Maria nearly drops her tablet when, upon entering, she catches Mildred sitting on Ursula's lap.
The driver jumps up as if she'd sat on a cactus spine and stands straight as a reed while her cheeks flush until they're as pink as if someone had just pinched them.
"Hi, Maria," Mildred greets as Ursula shows a crooked smile, seeming more amused than embarrassed by the situation.
"Want me to come back in a while?" she responds sharply and points to the door ready to leave.
Mildred clears her throat and Ursula stands up, smoothing her skirt with a studiedly casual gesture.
"No, sit down," Ursula orders pointing to the chair. "Mildred is leaving now."
Maria looks away when they share a goodbye kiss, such an intimate gesture it almost hurts to witness.
Lately, she can't stand seeing anyone's displays of affection, she doesn't know if it's pure envy or rejection of something she believes she can't feel again, like someone who's forgotten the taste of their favorite food.
"Well, what do we have for today?" Ursula asks sitting back down.
Maria looks at her and raises her eyebrows.
"Are you really asking me that?"
"Yes, of course," Ursula frowns, aware that when Maria looks at her like that, it's because she's overlooked something important, though she can't figure out what it is.
"The charity gala, Ursula," Maria says rolling her eyes, "it's tonight."
Her friend's mouth opens like a fish before smiling like an innocent child.
"I'd forgotten," she says and makes a face.
"Of course you forgot, you get frisky first thing in the morning and your brain melts," Maria snaps.
"Guilty," Ursula raises her hands.
"Anyway, I've cleared your schedule quite a bit so you won't have a very busy day, I only left what couldn't be postponed, like the meeting with Antonia for the building facilities budget review."
"Okay, what time is it?"
"At eleven fifteen, I've already sent Mildred a notice to pick us up, if we resolve it quickly, you'll have time to drop me off here and pick up Lily from school. After that you're free."
"And until then?"
"I want to review the guest list with you. I've already marked all those who seem most likely to donate large amounts," she says and Ursula smiles, "and I've also written your speech, it's in the printer."
Ursula turns, rolls her chair a bit and picks it up from the tray.
"Read it and we'll change whatever you don't like, as always."
While Ursula reads, Maria takes the opportunity to check the Tinder app, where she lately spends considerable time swiping through candidates without understanding why she's vetoed men so radically since her husband asked for a divorce.
She can't find a reasonable reason to justify it, she simply doesn't feel any attraction to them, all she wants is to sleep with women, with as many as she can as if she had to prove daily that she's still desirable.
She glances sideways at Ursula while noting things in the margins of the page when she receives an email on her tablet from the Human Resources department.
"Well," she says and twists her expression.
"What's wrong?" Ursula looks up, intrigued.
"Anabel, from accounting, has submitted her voluntary resignation," Maria comments to her boss's stunned look.
"Voluntary resignation? Why?"
Ursula doesn't understand anything. Anabel has been working for her for more than ten years.
She has good hours and more than reasonable pay, plus an extra week of vacation every year that she arranged with Ursula at the time to spend a full month in Argentina, her home country.
All this not to mention that the woman loves her position and, moreover, is very effective, so Ursula is also delighted with her.
"Well, she hasn't commented according to what they say in Human Resources, she's given her two weeks' notice and that's it," Maria responds and clears her throat.
"I don't understand, tell her to come see me."
"Here?" Maria tenses.
"Of course, Maria, I'm not taking her to my house," Ursula says.
"Well, I might have something to do with this," she admits in such a low voice that Ursula takes time to process what she's said.
"What did you say?" the businesswoman asks.
"That maybe..."
"I heard you, Maria, what I'm wondering is what you did to make a woman who supports an entire family in her country want to leave her job to run away from you," she says trying to stay calm.
"I might have flirted a little with her and we slept together, and apparently, she fell in love a little, but not too much..."
"Oh my God!"
Ursula drops the speech document and falls back against the chair's backrest.
"What the hell is wrong with you, Maria? Aren't there enough people on Tinder that you have to sleep with company staff too?"
Maria doesn't know what to say, she feels bad about what happened with Anabel.
She felt very flattered when she saw how she started looking at her and flirting with her seemed very fun and boosted her self-esteem a lot.
But she should have stopped there, she should never have gone to her house, slept with her or let her cook dinner, because Anabel fell head over heels, love at first sight, and Maria had to be very rude to her to make it clear that the feeling wasn't mutual.
"I'm sorry, it got a little out of hand," she says and lowers her head again.
Ursula looks at her for a long time and then also looks at the stapler on her desk that she'd like to throw at her head. If it were anyone else, she'd probably fire her immediately, but it's Maria, her best friend and she loves her like crazy.
"Fine, get out of here and have her called in, I'll handle it. And Maria, don't you dare go near her again, understood?"
"I swear," Maria raises her hands in relief, she knows that if there's anyone capable of consoling Anabel and also convincing her not to leave, it's Ursula Monte.