Chapter 14
From her office window, Maria watches Ursula's car arrive with Mildred at the wheel. Both get out and say goodbye with a kiss before Mildred gets back in and leaves. Maria sighs with her tablet in hand. Today she's arrived earlier than usual, something rare for her considering it's Monday.
She's spent the whole weekend with Trinidad stuck in her head, first remembering that caring and distracted attitude shown with the child that's far from the cold woman she knows, then, thinking about that moment when, unable to sleep, she stood in front of Trinidad's hotel room door at midnight ready to make it clear that they wouldn't just have sex when she decided, but just as she was about to knock on the door, the one next door opened and a sleepy Benjamin peered out, as if he had sensed a shadow approaching his protégé.
"Ah, it's you, Mrs. Maria," the man said and she looked at him stunned, "have a good night," he said and closed the door again.
Maria was thrown off and lost her nerve thinking that, if Trinidad let her in, Benjamin might hear them, so she turned around and returned to her room, frustrated, but the worst came the next morning when she met Trinidad for breakfast before heading to the airport to return to Spain.
"Did you have insomnia last night?" Trinidad asked while they waited in line for toast at the breakfast buffet.
Maria almost broke her neck when she turned to look at her. Trinidad wore a pearl gray suit that made her seem even more unreachable.
"How could Benjamin know I was there?" Maria asked intrigued, lowering her voice so only Trinidad could hear her.
Trinidad smiled, Maria didn't know if proud to know she had crawled to her room door or just because she found it amusing.
"I don't know, he has a kind of sixth sense, that's why I chose him," Trinidad answered and moved forward in line.
The subject died there and rage coursed through Maria. She wanted her to ask why she hadn't knocked on her door, but as always, Trinidad seemed indifferent to everything, and Maria remains just as angry since then.
She hears Ursula's heels and goes out to meet her to discuss the week's agenda.
"How was the weekend in London?" Maria asks when they enter the office.
"Very good, we took Lili to Madame Tussauds and to see the Harry Potter tour. It was like going with two children, you should have seen Mildred posing with the wax figures."
Ursula shows her some photos and they both laugh while commenting on them.
"And you? How was it with Trinidad?"
"What?"
Maria turns red and her left ear starts itching.
"I don't know, you were in the same hotel..."
The lawyer frowns.
"I don't understand you."
"Cut the act, Maria, we know each other. I told you not to get involved with employees to avoid more conflicts in here and you go and get involved with a partner," she snaps with a snort.
"We're not involved," Maria defends herself.
"No?" Ursula's incredulous tone doesn't sit well with Maria.
"No, we don't have anything, damn it," she says so annoyed that her boss's eyebrows arch with curiosity.
"You feel something for her, don't you?" Ursula concludes surprised.
"What?"
Maria's heart speeds up so much that she just wants to scream.
"How could I feel something?" she asks agitated before Ursula's astonished gaze, unaccustomed to seeing her like this, "I remind you that woman is hiding something. She's weird as hell, you know? And she has cameras in her office, can you believe it?"
Maria stands up and starts pacing around the office to release the nerves that are ravaging her.
"And that Benjamin, always stuck to her like he's her shadow," she says and points at Ursula like a madwoman. "You're a millionaire too and your security is much more discreet."
Ursula sits cross-legged with her hands on her lap, thinking that a bag of candy would be perfect to continue watching the show.
"She's cold, damn it," Maria continues shaking her head, "and very disconcerting. You see her talking to Lili and she seems like a lovely woman, and then, she's with me and she's..."
Maria presses her lips, she doesn't even know how to describe her.
"I don't know what she is," she finally says and puts her hands on her hips, "damn, I need a cigarette."
Ursula opens a drawer in her desk and takes out a pack she usually keeps there.
"Open the window and blow the smoke outside," she says while throwing her the pack.
Maria opens the window and lights a cigarette with shaking hands and stays leaning there, turned toward her friend while smoking to try to calm down.
"In conclusion," Ursula summarizes seriously, "you do feel something for Trinidad."
Maria looks at her without blinking for a few moments while considering her response, until she decides to be honest with herself.
"Yes, I feel something and I'm going to go crazy," she denies with a sigh and takes another deep drag. "She's the one in control, you know? Things happen when she decides and she either fucks me or ignores me."
Ursula can't contain a laugh when she hears her.
"I don't find it funny, Ursula."
"Of course not, she's doing to you what you've been doing to everyone lately, it's called karma."
"Go to hell."
Ursula laughs again.
"Okay, fine. I'll stop. How much do you like her?"
"I don't know," Maria responds. "She's such a mysterious woman... At first I thought she was hiding something dark, but when we were in London I noticed something different about her and I'm starting to think that what she's hiding is simply something sad."
"I'm with you, I never had the feeling there was anything bad about her and, despite that facade of a strong and overwhelming woman, from the beginning I think all I've seen in her has been fear. I told you she reminded me of someone and now I know who it is."
Maria looks at her expectantly.
"Who?"
"Mildred, she has the same scared look that she had when I met her."
"Maybe," Maria nods, "but that doesn't give her the right to treat me like this."
Ursula arches an eyebrow.
"And you do have the right to treat others like that?"
"You're supposed to be my friend and support me," Maria protests putting out the cigarette.
"I'm also your boss, so get to work."