Page 21 of A Christmas Adventure

"Which door is it?" asks Olga, looking towards the hallway.

"I'll go with you," Violeta replies before her mother can.

Olga turns around and finds her behind her back. When they look at each other, the electric current crosses the room like a flash and Olga understands that it's going to be a very difficult night.

"Aren't you going to give me two kisses?" Violeta shoots, stopping as soon as they reach the bedroom door.

When she turns around ready to let her pass into the room, Olga cuts off her path by leaning her hand on the wall.

"This is not what we agreed on," she says in a very low voice, her gaze fixed on Violeta's bright eyes.

"Neither was you coming here with those clothes and that perfume."

"What's wrong with my perfume?" asks Olga, holding her breath.

"You know very well, you put it on purpose. You smell just like that night," she says, staring at her lips.

Olga feels an overwhelming heat rising up her legs, forcing her to close them.

"You're right, and I was wrong," Olga admits to Violeta's surprise. "It was also a bad idea to come, if I'm supposed to be the more mature one of the two, I can't control myself, I can't expect you to either."

"Are you calling me immature?" Violeta takes offense.

"I'm not calling you anything, I'm just saying this isn't going to end well."

"Why not? This morning you were convinced it would," Violeta provokes her with a mocking half-smile.

Olga takes off her jacket and throws it on the bed before raising her gaze and bringing her lips to Violeta's left ear.

"It's very difficult for it to end well if since I crossed the door of your house all I can think about is fucking you."

Her words fall on Violeta with a devastating force that leaves her legs shaking and her body undone with desire. She is so shocked that she doesn't have time to respond anything before Olga leaves her there alone and returns to the kitchen with her mother, who is waiting for them with three glasses of sparkling wine accompanied by plates with chunks of cheese, ham and potatoes.

When Violeta returns a few seconds later, she has no choice but to sit next to Olga, who looks at her out of the corner of her eye while taking a breath and letting it out slowly before focusing on Maite and thus stop thinking about her daughter. Violeta does the same and raises her glass when her mother proposes a toast to the three of them. Then there is an awkward silence and Maite is absorbed when Violeta's phone starts ringing and the screen indicates that it is her father who is calling her.

Violeta loses her smile at once and freezes, suddenly she becomes tense and her face darkens in such an obvious way that Olga doesn't miss it.

"Aren't you going to answer it?" asks her mother with a trembling voice.

Her daughter shakes her head without taking her eyes off the phone until it stops ringing.

"Do you think he'll be okay?" Maite asks suddenly, referring to her husband.

Violeta shrugs as if she doesn't care, although there is something in her expression that tells Olga the opposite.

"I'm sure he is," replies the neighbor, trying to get mother and daughter back to normal.

Maite has already told her a couple of times about her concern for Violeta on this matter, that she doesn't comment on how it affects her what has happened with her father, but Olga, despite the intimacy they shared, doesn't have the confidence to ask her.

"This is the first Christmas we're spending apart," Maite continues to say sadly.

"Don't worry," Olga gets up and goes around the table to stand next to her, "I'm sure he's perfectly fine and is just calling Violeta to wish her happy holidays."

Olga gives Maite a kiss on the cheek and looks sideways at Violeta, who has her gaze fixed on the table.

"You should answer the phone, Violeta, it's your father," says Maite very seriously.

Violeta looks at her without saying anything, and after drinking half a glass of wine in one gulp, she gets up and heads for the door.