Page 50 of One Year Ago in Spain
With a sigh, she glanced back at the elevator.
“I’ll be right back. Unfortunately, I need to have a word with Vega.”
—
“Perdón,”Claire saidas she caught up with Vega in the hospital lobby, where she now had no trouble walking on her own.
“¿Sí?” Vega turned around and looked straight at Claire with her huge eyes, mesmerizing even though they were smudged with eyeliner.
“I’m Claire Walker, Matías’s, um…” Suddenly she felt shy claiming him when he had been Vega’s for so much longer.
“No hablo inglés,” Vega said. She pulled out her phone and opened a translation app, turning on the mic and holding it up to Claire.
“I am Claire Walker. Matías’s girlfriend.”
The app said in a slightly robotic voice, “Soy Claire Walker. La novia de Matías.”
“Ah,” Vega said. “Aracely te mencionó.” She stuck out her hand matter-of-factly. “Mucho gusto conocerte, Claire.”
Claire shook Vega’s hand. “I wasn’t expecting that.”
The app translated for her. It was so much better than the basic one Claire had been using since she arrived in Madrid.
Vega shrugged and spoke into her phone, which said, “I may regret my choice to break up with Matías, but I made it. And women do not need to be enemies simply because they love the same man, do they?”
Claire flinched at Vega’s use of the present tense.Love the same man.Claire had hoped that when Matías said the past was the past he’d meant it. But apparently Vega still loved him, even though she had let him put an ocean between them. And Clairehad no idea whether Matías still had feelings for Vega, since he’d never really mentioned her.
But she couldn’t deal with those kinds of thoughts right now. She’d run down the stairs to reach Vega for a reason. And if they had to keep passing a translation app between them in order to achieve that, Claire would deal with it.
“I agree,” Claire said. “Women shouldn’t be enemies because of a man. And that’s actually why I’m here. I was wondering if you could tell me what Matías’s life was like when he was still in Madrid.”
Vega tilted her head. “Sí ¿pero por qué?”Yes, but why?
“I guess I’m just scared of losing him. I’m greedy for the details of his life.”
The real reason was because knowing the places Matías worked and lived—where he bought groceries or liked to grab a bite to eat—might help Claire figure out how to find him again. She couldn’t count on Matías just appearing anymore. She had to be proactive, even if it meant facing another woman he’d loved—and perhaps lovedmore.
But of course she couldn’t tell VegaI’m hunting for Matías’s soul.
Vega sighed heavily, then spoke into the phone. The robot Spanish woman said, “How about if I show you, instead of tell you? I would not mind revisiting my memories of him, either.”
—
The Malasaña neighborhoodappeared to be the artsy part of Madrid. Vega led Claire past Bohemian vintage clothing shops, a used bookstore whose front window display was a collage of old punk zines, small cafés that looked like they were allvenues for live music or open mic poetry readings, and mysterious doors painted in riotous colors that Vega explained were the entrances for clubs with some of the best DJs on the continent.
“That,” Vega said as she pointed across the street at a window full of paintings, “is the art supply store Matías and I like. They have the best paints for him, and clay for me. I am a sculptor.
“Next door,” she said, waving toward a bar that didn’t open till later, “is where I got so drunk as a freshman that Matías had to carry me back to my apartment.”
Common trick of yours?Claire wanted to ask, thinking back to Vega at the hospital.
But there was no reason to be rude when Vega was taking time out of her day to teach Claire about Matías’s past. Plus, they’d agreed that rivalry between them would be…what? Immature? Moot because Vega had broken up with him? Unnecessary because Claire was the one Matías was with now?
Yes to all of the above, and yet Claire couldn’t help feeling insecure in her ponytail, plain T-shirt, and jeans, next to an artist who oozed sex and confidence with every sway of her hips and swish of her skirt.
At that very moment, someone whistled at Vega and shouted, “¡Qué guapa!” How pretty! Claire didn’t need the app to translate that.
Vega just laughed and waved the man off, like this happened to her all the time. But then, it probably did.
