Page 17 of A Christmas Adventure

"Yes, you can, you concentrate and you do it, that's it."

"Sure, how easy," she complains.

"I don't see what the problem is."

"The problem is that you turn me on a lot, Olga, and there's nothing I can do about that," Violeta confesses bluntly.

Olga, feeling a wave of heat rise through her body, immediately turns towards the door, alert in case someone comes in.

"Damn it, Violeta. You turn me on too, but I don't spend the morning undressing you with my eyes."

Her confession leaves Violeta's legs like a jello dessert.

"And how do you do it?"

"I don't know," Olga gets irritated, "self-control, I guess. Look," she says and moves closer to her to whisper, "nothing else can happen between you and me, Violeta. It's not just that I need this job and I can't risk losing it, it's also that I really appreciate your mother and I value her friendship. I don't want to put all that at stake for the hots, okay? You're going to be here a few days and then you'll go back to Madrid, do you think it's possible for both of us to pretend that we simply get along and that's it?"

"Like if we just took a liking to each other?"

"Yes, exactly. Your mother doesn't need to know what happened in Huesca, and after all, you and I really don't know each other beyond..."

Olga stops when she thinks about that room and everything that happened inside.

"Damn..." she says with some turmoil. "It doesn't matter, if she sees us talking she'll just think we've taken a liking to each other and she'll be happy that we get along.We just have to put up with this for a few days, then you leave and this tension ends."

Violeta doesn't know if she feels relief knowing that Olga also desires her or disappointment because she's not willing to explore a little of that sickly attraction they both are starting to feel for each other.

"Okay. I don't want to harm my mother either."

"Perfect, so we agree."

Violeta suddenly feels calmer, at least they have talked about it and she no longer feels so lost. Now she is sure that she only has to focus on treating Olga as what she is, a friend of her mother who can also become a friend of hers if she manages to draw a line and leave that episode parked whenever they are together.

"Well, if we're all clear," says Violeta with a smile, ready to go back behind the counter.

"There's something else," Olga says, leaving her frozen in place.

"What?"

"Your mother has invited me to dinner tonight at your house, I'm telling you because I have the feeling that she hasn't told you anything."

Violeta looks at her with her mouth half open and shakes her head from side to side.

"No, she hasn't told me," she stammers, disconcerted.

She tries to search in her head for that conversation, maybe her mother did mention to her that she had invited her neighbor to have dinner with them on Christmas Eve, in fact, if she thinks about it, it seems like the most logicalthing to her knowing that they get along so well and Olga is alone, but the more she thinks about it, the less she remembers.

"If you think it's too much I can make up an excuse and tell your mother I can't, we have to try to make this easy for everyone," Olga says.

"No, don't tell her anything. My mother really appreciates you and she would be heartbroken, and after how badly she's had it with my father, I'm not going to deny her that."

"Precisely because I care about her, Violeta, the worse she'll have it if she perceives that you are uncomfortable," Olga says very seriously.

"I'll be fine, really. If you are too, of course."

Olga smiles at her in response, and the jolt Violeta feels in the center of her chest leaves her so bewildered, that she needs a few seconds to compose herself before leaving the room.

Chapter 10