Page 37 of Tell Me What you Think

"Is it Marina?" Silvia asks, craning her neck like a giraffe trying to see the name on the screen.

Olga laughs and pulls the phone away from her friend's curious gaze.

"No, it's Andrea, my lawyer."

"The lawyer you have because of Marina," Silvia adds pointedly.

"Yes." Olga blushes. "She has the property registry extract and she's suggesting lunch on Monday near the office — she has to be in the area for something."

A small line forms between Silvia's brows.

"How thoughtful of your lawyer," she says, her tone dry. "Instead of having you come to her office, she comes to you and takes you out to lunch."

Olga's brain short-circuits.

"Don't be ridiculous. She has to be there anyway for a work thing."

"Does she do lunch with all her clients? I doubt it. Is she a lesbian?"

"What? I don't know — how would I know that?"

"By knowing, Olga. You don't need to know her orientation, but you must have picked up on whether she seems interested in you."

"Don't put weird ideas in my head, God, I've got enough going on with Marina and my cousin without adding another problem on top."

"So you have noticed something…" Silvia points at her, thoroughly enjoying Olga's blush.

"I haven't noticed anything," she says, but she already knows she's going to replay every conversation she's had with that woman from start to finish. "Drop it, please. Lately I feel like I'm walking around like one of those jugglers keeping three balls in the air at once, never letting any of them drop. I'm constantly balancing everything — it's exhausting."

Silvia reaches across the table and finds her hand.

"I know. I'm sorry if I'm being a lot. How are you?" she asks gently.

"Exhausted and scared, and at the same time I've spent the last few weeks feeling more alive than I have in years, and I don't know what to do with any of it. I'm really lost, I swear."

"You don't have to do anything. For now, go to that lunch on Monday and find out what's new with your case, and then tell me everything — obviously. And as for Marina — honestly, I don't know what to tell you. Just do your job and let the kiss go if she's okay with that."

"Yeah. That's probably best."

They drink the next round talking about Silvia's vacation in her boyfriend's hometown and office gossip that has nothing to do with Marina.

By the time Olga gets home and collapses onto the couch like she's just worked fourteen hours straight, she can't stop thinking about what Silvia said — that Marina doesn't seem like a woman who's uncomfortable, but like one who wants to keep things between them intact. Her chest tightens and she doesn't quite know what to do with that, so she rolls toward the back cushions, pulls a pillow against her chest, and closes her eyes.

Chapter 16

Marina has been on edge all morning because of the noise. It's Monday and the office is back at full speed, and after ten days when the only sounds were the ones she and Olga made, she's struggling to readjust to the normal chaos — the ringing phones, the constant voices in the hallway, the footsteps — all of it grates on her, everything except the sounds her assistant makes at the copy machine or when she's talking to someone.

Olga startles when she turns around and finds Marina standing in the doorway, arms crossed, staring out at the hallway.

"God, Marina, you almost gave me a heart attack. Are you okay?" she asks, her eyes taking the chance to linger over Marina once more.

Today she's wearing a white blazer and matching trousers with a pale blue silk blouse, her hair pulled back in a tight bun, long earrings swaying beside her bare neck.

"Yeah, it's just this noise — doesn't it bother you? My head feels like there's a wasp's nest inside it," she admits, visibly rattled. "It's like being in a bar on a Friday night, for God's sake."

"Well," Olga says, amused, "I tune out noise pretty fast, and if it really gets to me, I put on music." She nods toward the headphones on her desk.

"Maybe I should try that," the vice president agrees, and before she turns back to her office, she sees her friend Jordi approaching. He falls into step beside her and follows her in after a quick hello to Olga.