Page 22 of A Christmas Adventure

"Violeta, what are you doing?" asks Maite nervously, but she gets the door slam her daughter makes when she leaves as her only response.

Maite, overwhelmed, gets up ready to follow her, but Olga stops her.

"Don't let your husband ruin this night with your daughter too, Maite," her neighbor tells her and Maite drops into the chair defeated.

"And now what do I do?"

"Nothing. I'll go out, she just needs to clear her head a bit, I'll keep her company for a while and we'll come right back in."

"Okay, thanks, Olga. I'll put the shrimp in the oven."

Olga goes out, opening the door carefully. She finds Violeta pressed against the wall, with her arms over her chest while the steam escapes from her mouth. Her neighbor, feeling the cold piercing her bones, stands right next to her, so close to her that their arms brush.

"Do you need to talk?" asks Olga trying to contain the shivering that is about to come over her.

"There's not much to say," replies Violeta with her gaze fixed straight ahead.

"There's always something to say."

That solemn statement makes Violeta turn and look at Olga waiting for her to finish her speech.

"What your father has done to your mother is shitty, but he's still your father and it's normal for you to have conflicting feelings. You shouldn't feel bad about missing him, or about wanting to talk to him or wish him a Merry Christmas."

Violeta's lip trembles as she nods at her words, moved. And she doesn't know if it trembles from the cold or because she feels like crying.

"Yeah, but my mother..."

Olga turns towards her until they are so close that one breathes the steam that comes out of the other's mouth.

"Talking to your father doesn't mean you don't support your mother or that you applaud what he's done, just that you love him, nothing else. Maite hasn't asked you at any point to stop talking to him, Violeta, in fact, she's worried about you. So, if you feel like talking to him, my advice is to call him and not keep that inside," Olga puts a hand on her chest at the same time as she takes Violeta's phone out of her pocket - which she picked up before leaving - and offers it to her with her other hand.

Violeta smiles at her and their fingers brush when she takes it from her hands as she nods her head.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. I'll leave you alone to call him, but don't take too long if you don't want to die frozen."

Olga makes an attempt to move, but fails to do so even an inch because Violeta's hand closes around her waist and her lips catch hers with a demanding kiss from which Olga cannot and does not want to escape. She clings to her neck with her two cold hands, but not even the start Violeta gives when feeling the cold of her fingers separates them, what does is the noise of Maite's footsteps on the other side of the door, worried about the delay of both of them.

Violeta presses her back against the wall and Olga takes a step back trying to regain her composure just as the door opens. Maite doesn't have time to open her mouth, because her neighbor, troubled by the kiss that has her whole body burning, practically runs over her and pushes her back inside.

"Give her a second, she's going to make a call and she'll be right in," she says and closes the door behind her back, as if she were leaving a serial killer outside.

"Is everything all right? Did she tell you anything?" Maite worries.

"She was just a little worried about whether you'd feel bad if she called him, but it's all worked out now. Can you pour me a glass of wine? I'm freezing."

"Of course," says Maite solicitously and happy that her daughter is finally talking to her father.

Maite goes to the kitchen, Olga still needs a few seconds to follow her because her legs don't respond.

Chapter 12

Violeta returns a few minutes later. Her face is pale, contrasting with rosy cheeks flushed from the cold. She rubs her hands as she enters and kisses her mother on the cheek, dispelling the tension between them.

"Sit down, I'll serve the dishes," Maite orders.

Her daughter sits next to Olga and the two exchange a glance that takes their breath away. Maite, oblivious to everything, sits across from them and starts a conversation that manages to distract them from that electrifying tension between them for a while.