Mature

Twenty years separated Mariana from her teacher, but when that hand stopped at her hip during rehearsal, she knew the look in her eyes had changed.

We’d been writing to each other every morning and every night for a month and a half. When I finally saw her sitting at that table, I knew neither of us would sleep alone.

She’d been greeting her in the lobby for months, barely containing herself. That afternoon the grocery bags slipped from her hands and finally gave me a reason to go upstairs.

I hadn’t felt anything for months. Then she came in behind me in the stall, locked the door, and everything I thought I knew about myself came crashing down.

When I passed the half-open bathroom and saw her naked from behind, I knew that night at my place was not going to end like two old acquaintances having tea.

When she took off her sweat-soaked T-shirt in front of that girl, she knew she was no longer sweating just from the heat of the barn.

We three met on the last Thursday in December, under the pretext of seeing the year out. None of us said aloud what we were really going to do.

Eight years into my career, no patient had ever looked at me like that. That afternoon she put her feet up on my sofa, held my gaze, and everything I thought was solid began to tremble.

When I offered her the job, she smiled and told me it was her turn to ask questions. The first was whether I’d take her to bed after dinner.

Bruno had broken my heart again, but waiting for me in that house on the outskirts wasn’t him, it was his mother, wearing a dress that left nothing to the imagination.

I went looking for advice from the only woman I trusted, never imagining that afternoon at the country house would teach me everything my body didn’t yet know it could feel.

High heels, rebellious hair, and a black dress worth more than my whole wardrobe. I showed up in ripped jeans and military boots. Neither of us had come to chat.

Renata was spreading tanning lotion over my breasts when she asked me whether I’d ever had a lover. I blushed like a little girl. I said no.

I thought I would be guiding her through her first experience, but she was the one who took control and showed me how far my body could go.

She pushed me against the wall with a slow kiss, lowered her voice to a whisper, and told me I’d be a good girl. I never knew her name, but I obeyed her.

She chose her clothes thinking of him, not her husband. That night she would stop being a faithful wife and become, for an entire weekend, another man’s woman.

We’d been in the scene for months, but that night, between the dungeon and the club, I found out how far my wife could go when she truly let herself loose.

When she confessed the favor she wanted to ask me, I thought she was kidding. Her best friend was broken, and Lorena had decided I was the cure.

Diego and I had spent years joking about swapping partners for one night. When Sofía took my hand and led me to her bedroom, it stopped being a joke.

I got in the car thinking only about the trip. Ten minutes later, my boss was on top of me, her sister was twisting around to miss nothing, and her husband was smiling in the rearview mirror.