Take him!

by Parejo, Sandra

  I watch her and with a sad face she tells me:

  ―” sorry, it was Álvaro, but he had to hang up.”

  I had already guessed it was him, what I didn’t expect it was him to hang up the moment he knew I was here.

  “It doesn’t matter, hon.” I lie and I think that he must be very mad at me and she doesn’t want to speak to me, but of course, he has the company of Angélica.

  I spend the afternoon with my nephew and niece, little Gerard is so cute.

  As we play my phone goes off.

  “Martina, girl… You finally answer the fucking phone, how are you?” Lucía asks.

  “Hi Lucía. Everything is fine!” I’m happy for her call.

  “I’m so happy to hear you, I’m here with Emma. Tell us.”

  Well, no trace of Angélica… but I don’t care. I’m not even going to ask about her, although I imagine who she must be with.

  “I’ll be back to the school next week and I’ll tell you. Don’t worry, I’m at my home village with my niece and my nephew.”

  “Really?” They’re surprised.

  “Yes, things have changed a lot, I’ll tell you some other time. Now I have to leave, I’m with the kids.”

  “Okay… Kisses from both of us.”

  And they hang up.

  I’m happy to receive a call from them, they seemed a bit worried.

  At night, I think on Álvaro a bit and where that bastard Rubén can be.

  The next day, when I leave Gerard in the kindergarten and I go back home, I have a terrible surprise. I find Rubén sat on my sister’s armchair.

  I stand in the middle of the living-room and I don’t know what to do.

  “Hi, sweetie!” The jackass greets me.

  He calls me sweetie just like when we were together, it was the pet name he used with me. I called him champion because he loved it, although it didn’t make much sense.

  And before my immobility, he continues talking.

  !I’ve been watching you these days. I’m glad you’re back. You’re prettier than ever.”

  Suddenly, and with all the strength I get, I jump on him and tell him:

  “Son of a bitch!”

  He grabs me by my two arms and I get paralyzed.

  “I’m also happy to see you.” The disgusting man says.

  “Let me go…” I ask him.

  “Only if you stay still.”

  Then I stop struggling and I feel how he’s not using so much strength.

  The moment he sets me free, I attack him again and I punch him in his left eye with all my strength. He curses and slaps me so hard that makes my lip bleed, I know it by the salty taste in my mouth.

  I attack again but he grabs my hand quickly, so hard that it hurts a lot and I hear a strange noise. I can’t do anything but stop moving and try not to hit him.

  “Martina, I love you so much, I have never stop loving you. You shouldn’t have left me. I didn’t love Maria, I only enjoyed myself with her in bed. I loved you, but you left and I had to be with your sister.“

  I only can think he’s completely insane and he’s worse than I remembered. But finally, I ask him:

  “What do you want? What did you come here for?”

  “You have to be back with me, I have always missed you. Let’s make it for the lost time. Let’s go far from here.”

  “Rubén, I’ll never be back with you and don’t ever go near my sister Maria.”

  “You defend your sister now?” He attacks. “You’re as much of a whore as her.” He tells me losing his cool.

  Suddenly, I hear a noise at the door.

  Scared, he runs off by the kitchen door.

  “Auntie! What happened? Is your lip bleeding?”

  “It’s nothing, hon, I’m fine.” My lip hurts me a lot, I feel how it is swelling, my hand hurts too but above all, my heart hurts.

  “Was it Rubén too?” The question surprises me.

  But as I don’t want to lie, I nod.

  “But what is going on with that guy?” Carla says as she doesn’t understand a thing.

  Let’s go to the bathroom to clean you up.

  I put ice on my hand and the lip and I ask Carla for a thing:

  “Carla, promise me that if you talk to Álvaro again, you won’t tell him anything about this.”

  “Okay.”

  Maybe Álvaro doesn’t care about this, but just in case.

  And I add.

  “Neither to mom, or aunt Maria.”

  “Okay.”

  The next day, I decide to go to the doctor so they can check my hand.

  I told them I had a sprain in that same hand a few months ago. I’m told that they can’t see anything harmed on the radiograph that they make. They bandage the hand and gave me an anti-inflammatory.

  After leaving the doctor’s consultation, I decide to go to the police station to ask them to arrest Rubén once for all, who is still prowling around the village.

  I tell them the visit he made me yesterday and I show them the injuries, which are obvious enough. They ask me if I want to fill a report, I think on the idea but, finally, I decide not to, I prefer that he pays for what he did to my sister.

  After leaving the police station I go to the hospital to see Lara and Maria.

  When they see me walking inside the room, both of them get scared when they see my swelled lip and my bandaged hand.

  I lie and tell them that I fell in the shower at home. It seems they believe me and don’t insist on asking any further.

  I see that Maria seems to be much better and above all, she’s more cheerful.

  Lara tells me ―when we leave the room to get some water― that she can’t stop talking about how happy she is since we buried the hatchet. The truth is that I’m also happy about that, but not for some other things I knew that would happen and happened. I remember my situation with Álvaro and Angélica with sadness.

  On Friday I call the school to tell them that on Monday I’ll be back.

  “Hi, Joaquín! I’m Martina. I wanted to inform you that I’ll be back on Monday. Thank you for your patience.”

  “Martina, I’m so happy to hear from you. I everything fine now?”

  “Yes, most of it.”

  “I was worried about you.”

  “On Monday I’ll tell you what happened.”

  “Alright, I’m happy you’re coming back. Your kids miss you too much.”

  “I miss them too. See you on Monday. Goodbye.”

  On Saturday I try to spend a quiet day with my nephew and niece. And I achieve it until Angélica shows up, with her angelical, worried and good friend face, but she doesn’t fool me.

  “Hello!” She says coming closer to me.

  “Hello” I tell her with little excitement.

  “Why aren’t you answering my calls?” She asks annoyed.

  “I’ve been busy.”

  “What is wrong with you?” She says angry when she notices my indifference to her.

  “Nothing. And with you?” I attack.

  “Nothing at all, I came to see you because you got me worried. Besides, I’ve talked to Álvaro and he told me about your sister.”

  Something inside me gets angry when I hear the name of Álvaro in Angélica’s mouth and not thinking about it, I tell her:

  “And how are things between you two?”

  “What things?” She says playing the fool.

  “Look Angélica, you don’t have to pretend, I saw you.I tell her directly, so she doesn’t try to fool me.”

  “But what are you saying?” She continues with the tale of pretending she doesn’t understand what is going on.

  “Don’t pretend, I know you’re together. I knew it would happen, that he would fail me, what I didn’t know was that it would be with you.”

  “You’re so wrong.” She says angrily.

  “Then tell me about it, let’s see what you have to say.” I challenge her.

  “I guess this is because you must have seen us that Wedn
esday I met him.”

  I nod.

  “Then you should know this is what happened.” She says in a too challenging tone to my taste. When “I left the school I ran into Álvaro. He wanted me to explain him what I knew about your escape from la Vall d’Aran.”

  “Any excuse is good to start, isn’t it?”

  “Martina, but what are you saying? I would never date Álvaro, and he wouldn’t want to. He’s crazy about you, but you insist on not believing him and ruin everything.”

  “Whatever.”

  “No! Things are like that… He looked miserable, he was desperate, that’s why I agreed to go with him to that café, and you know what?”

  She waits for a few seconds and adds:

  “I told him the truth.”

  I look at her with a “what is your problem?” face and she continues:

  “I told him everything… What his cousin and her friend told you. And I told him everything because he wants you back.” He tells me a bit hysterically.

  “What we had is over and he doesn’t want me back, he doesn’t even want to talk to me.” I say as I remember he hung up the phone when Carla wanted me to talk to him.

  “You’re stupid, if he doesn’t want to talk to you it’s because you deserve it. You, and only you, you let him go.”

  I don’t like what she says.

  “When your niece called the school I worried a lot. I talked to him about it… and I saw how in his face the fear when he learnt they couldn’t reach you.”

  I stay in silence.

  “It hurts me that you left because you saw me with him and doubted of me.”

  I know she’s not lying and I must apologize.

  “I’m sorry Angélica. I’m very mistrustful and my week had been very hard, you know that.”

  “You must phone Álvaro, he deserves it.”

  “No, he doesn’t deserve it.”

  “Why do you say so?”

  “He told his cousin and her friend a private conversation. You know, that about me wanting to marry him.”

  “We talked about that too.”

  I don’t care what he had to tell me, he’s a bigmouth and it hurt me.

  “He told me that wasn’t true, they must have heard it when he talked with his sister about your relationship and how he saw it in the future. And he did mention that thing about marriage in the future, because he knew that was important to you.”

  “Ha! And not for him, right?” I attack.

  “Stop complaining. He would marry you, that’s what he was telling his sister, but those witches twisted everything.”

  I think about everything Angélica is telling me.

  “Will you call him now that you know the whole truth?” Angélica tells me almost begging me.

  I think about it and say:

  “I will, but before tell me you forgive me.”

  After a few seconds she answers.

  “I forgive you stubborn.”

  And we hug, the truth is that I’ve missed her a lot.

  Calmer, she asks:

  “What happened to your face? Why is your hand bandaged?”

  I tell her about the visit Rubén made and everything he did to my sister.

  “What a bastard.” She states.

  Once everything is clear, we enjoy the Saturday with my nephew and niece. We go to the park, eat some snacks… Little Gerard is delighted because Carla, Angélica and I look after him. He enjoys our company and we smother him.

  On Sunday I say goodbye to my sisters, niece and nephew and promise to see them the following weekend.

  Week 19

  On Monday I go back to school and I meet my kids again, who hug me so hard that they almost make me fall in the middle of the classroom.

  My lip is still a bit swollen, I still have a bad injury and my hand continues bandaged.

  At lunchtime, the girls want to be with me but, above all, they want to work things out of me.

  While we’re eating, Emma says:

  “We’ve missed you.”

  You’re so sweet, I think.

  “And I’ve missed you too.” I say deeply, well I missed Emma and Lucía, I missed Angélica too but I hate her too much right now.

  “Are you going to tell us where you were?” Lucía says.

  And I tell them everything: my irritation, about the café, the trip to Seville, the fast return because of Carla’s call, how I made peace with my sisters and the visit Rubén made.

  As they hear Álvaro’s part in the story they say:

  “Are you going to call him?”

  “Yes.” I say determined.

  “Thank god, Néstor will be very happy because peace will be back at the office.” Lucía confesses.

  “Lucía!” !he three of us tell her off.

  “What? It’s true, Néstor is always complaining about how unbearable Álvaro gets when he isn’t with you. And look, he knows we’re friends and he whines about it to me, that’s how things are.”

  We finally laugh.

  Lucía won’t ever change.

  In the afternoon I’m exhausted.

  When I get home I decide to call Carla and then Álvaro.

  I want to thank the latter what he did for my sisters and my niece, regardless of what happened between us.

  Also, I want to hear his voice to know how he is. I mean, to know if he’s very angry at me.

  I phone nervously, but he doesn’t pick up the phone.

  Five minutes later I try again, but nothing… he doesn’t answer.

  In case of doubt, on Tuesday I ask Lucía.

  “Do you know if Álvaro is on a trip? I called him twice yesterday afternoon and he didn’t pick up, he didn’t even returned my call.”

  “I don’t know, yesterday Néstor didn’t tell me anything about his work.”

  “It could be that he doesn’t want to talk to me too.”

  “I don’t think so. Don’t worry, I’ll call Néstor and ask.” Lucía tells me to cheer me up.

  At five, we leave the school to go back home and Lucía confirms that she talked to Néstor and told her Álvaro isn’t on a trip.

  Because of that, and because of I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I decide to go to his place.

  When I’m about to get to the building where Álvaro lives, I get nervous, but I decide to make it and I go upstairs.

  I see the doorman, who greets me politely, as usual.

  I climb the stairs until I get to Álvaro’s floor, I still have the keys of his place in my key ring but I can’t use them anymore, what is more, I should give them back if it continues like this.

  I knock on the door and thirty seconds later, it is open.

  Magda is really happy to see me.

  “Miss Martina, I’m so glad to see you. Do you want to come in? Although Álvaro isn’t here…” She warns.

  “Yes, of course I’ll come in.”

  We go to the kitchen where she’s making some dishes to freeze.

  I feel sad to feel like an intruder in that home and I imagine Álvaro moving through here this very morning. Unavoidable, I think about him.

  Magda makes me come back to Earth by telling me:

  “Álvaro told me you had a fight.”

  “We did.” I say honestly.

  “And you can’t fix it? He misses you, you know I know him a lot. He’s wandering like a lost soul. If you saw him…”

  As I don’t want her to torment me anymore with comments about how great Álvaro is, I interrupt her quickly.

  “I came here because i wanted to talk to him. I phoned him yesterday but he didn’t answer and I thought he might be working.”

  “He’s not around much lately and he usually arrives very late. The truth is that he doesn’t have much dinner either because I find the dishes I make for him almost untouched. And it’s a pity to throw away food…” Magda says with her usual spontaneity.

  Hearing her words gives me hope, maybe he does want me back. Perhaps, when I reach him we can talk, I th
ink.

  We continue talking for a while longer and I ask her to tell Álvaro to call me.

  On Wednesday, as I see he has ignored my two phone calls I made on Monday and the thing I told Magda to do, I decide to call him again at six, at seven and at nine at night. He doesn’t answer and he doesn’t call me afterwards.

  On Thursday I insist again, this stubborn won’t leave me hanging.

  I call him and he doesn’t answer, as usual. Right after, I text him.

  <>.

  I decide to sign the text, just in case he doesn’t remember me.

  I don’t receive any answer, I call him one hour later and he doesn’t pick up the phone.

  I’m in the verge of being a bit annoyed.

  On Friday, the girls and I go to eat lunch to a new restaurant that was opened last week in the district and is having a lot of success.

  When we go inside, there’s a big surprise for me, on a table by one of the windows I can see the missing man.

  Álvaro is with several of his colleagues who I know by sight. Just like that, and following my instincts, I go where he is. The girls look at me in shock, but I’m sick of being ignored.

  “Hi! Can we talk for a moment?” I tell him.

  “Not now Martina.” He tells me.

  “Yes, now, Álvaro.”

  “I’ll call you later.” He says attacking me, as it’s the same I told me last time.

  Then, and I don’t know why I do it, throw his glass of water on his trousers.

  “Fuck, Martina!” He says getting up.

  His colleagues have a shocked face very similar to those Emma, Lucía and Angélica have.

  “Now that you are standing, let’s go out!”

  And grabbing him by his hand, I drag him out.

  Feeling him so close after so many days gives me chills.

  When we’re out, we place ourselves a bit apart from the rest to not disturb those who are walking by the street.

  The moment I have him in front of me I tell him:

  “You could answer my calls.”

  “I could” He says.

  “I just wanted to thank you for what you did for my sisters and Carla.”