Valentina Ferrer

It started as a secret I whispered in his ear while he was fucking me. It ended with him sitting a meter away, watching another man make me lose my mind.

The parish priest asked me to stay after the church was empty. What happened in his office became my Sunday secret, and I don’t want it to end.

That night I left my children asleep, dressed like a secretary, and went down to the parking lot trembling. I was going to stand on a corner and wait for customers.

In front of the bedroom mirror, she discovered her body still knew how to ask. What she did not expect was for someone to be willing to listen that very night.

I never imagined that agreeing to partner swapping would end up revealing a secret my husband had kept since school.

I knew exactly what would happen when I entered that room with him. I knew it, and still I closed the door. My husband was away, and there was too much tequila in my veins.

When I came out of the shower, she was there in black lingerie with that smile I hadn’t seen in years. That night she had a plan for me I would never have imagined asking for.

When she leaned in front of me at the leg press, I knew that Monday at quarter to seven wouldn’t be a normal workout.

When I saw Yésica go up the stairs behind him that first night, I knew none of the women serving drinks at that stop would come out of that summer unchanged.

I’d bought her perfume and a pendant as a farewell gift. She brought me something else. I was eighteen and had never touched anyone in my life.

I was waiting for him at the terminal in the red dress he hated seeing me wear without a bra. I had my period and a desire that nothing would calm except him.

The first time she told me, I thought she was joking. The second time, her hand was already on the back of my neck, pushing me toward where she wanted me to go.

That afternoon beside the pool, she took off her bikini top, and everything between them changed. The tension they had ignored for days could no longer be undone.

I was nineteen, with a half-finished history assignment, when Rodrigo first stared at my cleavage. I never imagined it would take a decade to collect.

When he offered to drive me to the supermarket in his car, I thought I was saving my husband time. It was the last time I thought about him that night.

Romina walked into that party with a confidence few women have. The next day, when she took me to pick up her daughter, I realized the night before had only been the beginning.

Valeria walked into the bathroom with her backpack and came out in a white blazer with that smile she never lost. What followed, I never forgot.

What that SUV carried after that trip could never be itemized on an upholstery bill. But someone would have to pay for it, and it wasn’t going to be him.

When he got there first, she was already looking at the shelves with a book she wasn’t reading. They were the only two. And neither pretended to be surprised.

When Valeria came back to class after several days, I saw the flash of pain when she sat down. I knew the “flu” was an excuse.