Mature

Helena arrived two hours before the flight. I had bought her perfume to thank her. She had another plan for saying goodbye.

When I crossed the threshold of his office, I knew the crown cost more than smiles and perfect answers. The rector was waiting with a form and a plan.

She arrived two hours before her flight, left her suitcase in the hallway, and before I could react, took off her sweatshirt in front of me.

Thirty candidates, a rector with too much power, and me at thirty-eight with all the experience in the world. I thought I could handle it. I was half right.

I wasn’t a lesbian, and my wedding was six weeks away. But that night in the hotel, Elena showed me everything I had never wanted to admit.

When they went into the club, Camila and Florencia just wanted a good night out. They had no idea it would end in a wager that would leave them with nothing to cover.

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 got up at three in the morning because of moans I couldn’t ignore. My mother’s door was ajar, and I stood frozen in the hallway.

That morning I went into the prison with good news for my client. I came out with a wrinkled blouse, messy hair, and a secret I’d never tell.

Don Ernesto was twenty-seven years older than me, with rough laborer’s hands and a hungry gaze I pretended not to see. That night, I closed the curtains myself.

I was 48, in a stable marriage, and living a perfect lie. Every week I crossed that door and became another woman. One I never knew existed.

Ten years of widowhood and silence. Until one night I saw light under her door and went closer. What I found on the other side changed everything between us.

When Roberto’s car disappeared around the bend, Sofía looked at Raquel. They had three hours, two men waiting, and a plan that seemed foolproof.

I had been fantasizing about her for weeks, but the snowstorm and that couples’ motel finally broke down the barriers between us.

He came to help me with my new television, with his defined arms and that gaze that avoided mine. He was twenty, and I already knew what was going to happen.

Eva asked me to meet her two hours before her flight to Boston. When she arrived, she brought a new perfume—and a very clear idea of how to say goodbye.

I’d been serving coffee at the truck stop for two years when he walked in without saying hello and recognized me from another life. I knew at once I wouldn’t sleep soundly that night.

At two in the morning I got into the pool naked, thinking I was alone. When I heard her steps coming closer, there was nothing left to hide.

Martín arrived with a ladder and a toolbox. Doña Carmen watched him take off his shirt in the sun and knew the job would take a long time.

When I saw her at the bus stop, with her copper hair and that tight blouse, I knew something was going to happen. I had no idea that afternoon would change everything.