Page 38 of One Year Ago in Spain
“Okay, now that I’ve rescued you from the clutches of Elmo’s evil twin, let’s go see what they have at the TDF booth.”
The TDF booth, Claire had explained during their last date, was where they could buy theater tickets for 50 percent off. The catch was that you wouldn’t know what shows were available until the day of the performance, since the tickets were whatever hadn’t previously sold. But Matías had never had a problem with flexibility.
They walked up to a glass pavilion with a red overhang that was a lot bigger than he expected, with twelve ticket windows and people swarming all around it. He and Claire got in line, and she stood on her tiptoes, trying to see to the signs at the front that listed what shows they could buy tickets for. But she was too short, and besides, the signs were too far away to read.
A man joined his partner in line right in front of Matías and Claire. He’d just returned from the sign and started listing off what was available.
“Ooh, they’re all so good,” Claire said. “It’s a hard choice. I don’t know which you’d like most.”
“What are they about?” Matías asked, and Claire and the other couple started rattling off synopses of the plots for him.
“Lion Kingis a classic,” one of the men—Jordan—said. “If this is your first Broadway show, I highly recommend that as an entry point.”
“Personally,” his partner—Riley—said, “I like exploring the newer shows.New York, New Yorkis supposed to be excellent.”
“Or you might likeSweeney ToddorHadestown,” Claire said as the line moved forward. “OrLife of Pi! It’s based on one of my favorite books ever. I think you might enjoy that one, too.”
“Are you a Michael Jackson fan?” Jordan asked.
“Or what about theWizard of Oz?” Riley asked. “Have you seenWicked?”
“Hamiltonis so, so good, too,” Claire said. They were getting closer to the ticket window, and her fingers had started fluttering, something Matías had noticed she did when she was about to have to make a decision. Like on Coney Island, when it was almost their turn to order hot dogs and she hadn’t decided yet which drink she’d wanted. Or in Central Park at the ice cream cart—even though she’d probably known she was going to order vanilla, her fingers still fluttered until she was right up at the register making the actual decision.
He smiled. He didn’t think she was aware how her fingertips betrayed her, but it was helpful for Matías to know when Claire was feeling unsettled, because sometimes he could help.
“Maybe we should look up the reviews,” she was saying, beginning to reach for her phone.
“Hey.” Matías smiled, brought his hands to her shoulders, and turned her toward him, then slid his hands slowly down her arms until her fingers were clasped gently in his. The anxious fluttering stopped.
“It doesn’t matter what we see,” Matías said.
“B-but I want to make sure you love it. And if we look at reviews—”
“They are all new to me, so don’t worry, churri. It will be great.”
“Churri?” Claire looked up at him with wide eyes. “What does that mean?”
Matías felt his cheeks flush.Churriwas a term of endearment meant for serious girlfriends…He hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but things just felt so right with Claire. They were complements in a lot of ways—where she was nervous, he was calm; where he was forgetful, she had mental checklists for everything. They both went out of their way to make sure the other was having a good time on their dates. And most of all, she made him laugh. Claire was, he thought, the kind of woman he could build a life with.
“Churri is like sweetheart or…beloved.” Matías’s cheeks got even hotter.
A soft smile crept across her face. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” Matías said.
She stood up on her tiptoes again, but this time not to look at a Broadway sign. Just at him.
He could fall forever into the depths of her eyes.
“I don’t care what show we see,” he said. “Nothing else matters, as long as I’m with you.”
Claire
Half an hourafter the video appointment with Professor Hong had left Claire in shock, her phone rang.
“Claire, what happened to you?” Aracely said on the phone. “Why didn’t you come back to the hospital after lunch? There was another spike in Matías’s vitals, for much longer than the one last night!”
“Oh, really?” Claire smiled to herself. Maybe her theory was right, that the more time she spent with Matías’s soul, the stronger the real Matías became. That would make sense based on what the professor had said, since Claire was his soul’s connection to life.
