Chapter 1

CARLOS POINT OF VIEW

The white car drove down the narrow road leading to the old villa. The gates were made of iron and painted white to match the walls around the property. We stopped at the entrance and I looked over at the man next to me.

“You don’t have to do this,” David said. He kept his eyes on the gate. “We can turn around and go back to Madrid.”

I shook my head. My hands were in my lap and I kept folding and unfolding them. “I can’t go back. I have to see her.”

The gate opened slowly and David drove up the long driveway. The villa was bigger than I remembered. It had red tiles on the roof and ivy growing up the stone walls. There were flowers everywhere but they didn’t make the place feel warm. It looked cold and empty even with all the colors.

We parked near the front door and I sat still for a moment. David put his hand on my shoulder. “Carlos, she hasn’t spoken to you in three years. She might not want to see you.”

“I know,” I said. I opened the door and got out. “But I have to try. I’ve been trying every way I can think of and this is the last chance I have.”

I walked to the front door and rang the bell. I could hear it echo inside the house. A few seconds later the door opened and a woman stood there. She was tall and thin with grey hair pulled back in a tight bun. She looked at me like she already knew who I was.

“Mr. Montenegro,” she said. Her voice was flat. “Mrs. Montenegro said you would come.”

I felt my chest get tight. “She knew I was coming?”

“Yes sir. She’s in the garden. Follow me.”

The woman led me through the house. The floors were marble and the walls were white. There were no pictures on the walls and no rugs on the floors. Everything looked clean but not lived in. We went out a side door into the garden.

The garden was big and well kept. There were rows of vegetables and fruit trees in the back. In the middle of the lawn there was a table with two chairs. A woman sat at one of them with her back to me. She was wearing a blue dress and her hair was dark and long. She didn’t turn around when we came out.

“Mrs. Montenegro,” the woman said. “Mr. Montenegro is here.”

The woman at the table didn’t move. “Thank you Marta. You can go back inside.”

Marta left and I stood there for a minute. The sun was hot on my back and I could hear birds singing in the trees. Finally the woman turned her head and looked at me. Her eyes were green and they looked just like I remembered.

“Carlos,” she said. Her voice was soft but it didn’t sound happy to see me. “You’re early.”

I walked over and stood next to the empty chair. “Can I sit down?”

She looked at the chair then back at me. “Why not. You always did what you wanted anyway.”

I sat down. The chair was made of metal and it was hot from the sun. We sat there for a minute without saying anything. I looked at her face. She looked the same as the day she left me but also different. She looked harder somehow.

“I got your letter,” she said. “You said you wanted to talk about the divorce.”

“I don’t want a divorce,” I said. “I never wanted one. You left without letting me explain.”

“You had nothing to explain,” she said. She picked up a glass of water from the table and took a sip. “I saw you with her. In the restaurant. You were holding her hand and you looked happy. Happier than you ever looked with me.”

“That wasn’t what it looked like,” I said. “Ana was just a friend. She was going through a hard time and she needed someone to talk to.”

“Everyone is just a friend until they’re not,” she said. She put the glass down. “You know what the worst part was? I wasn’t even surprised. I always knew you would find someone better than me.”

“That’s not true,” I said. I reached across the table and tried to touch her hand but she pulled it away. “There is no one better than you Elena. You know that.”

“Do I?” she said. She stood up and started walking toward the vegetable rows. I stood up and followed her. “When we got married you said you loved me more than anything. You said you would never look at another woman. But then you started working late every night. You stopped coming home for dinner. You stopped talking to me.”

“I was working hard to give us a good life,” I said. I walked next to her. “I wanted us to have a big house and nice things. I wanted you to be happy.”

“I was happy when we lived in the small apartment in Barcelona,” she said. She stopped and picked a tomato from one of the plants. “We had nothing but we had each other. Then you got the job in Madrid and everything changed. You changed.”

“I didn’t change,” I said. “I just had more responsibilities. The company needed me.”

“The company needed you more than your wife needed you,” she said. She turned to look at me. “I tried to talk to you about it. I tried to tell you how I felt but you never had time. So I left. I came here to my grandmother’s old house and I haven’t left since.”

“Why didn’t you tell me where you were going?” I said. “I looked for you everywhere. I called every hotel and every friend we had. I even hired a private detective but he couldn’t find you.”

“I didn’t want to be found,” she said. She started walking again. “I needed to get away from you and from everything we had become. I needed to remember who I was before I was Mrs. Montenegro.”

We walked to the end of the garden and stopped by a small fountain. Water trickled into a stone bowl and made a soft sound. Elena put the tomato in her pocket and looked at the water.

“I still love you,” I said. My voice was quiet but I knew she could hear me. “I never stopped loving you. Every day since you left has been empty. I don’t eat right and I don’t sleep right. All I do is work because when I’m working I don’t have to think about how much I miss you.”

She turned to look at me. There were tears in her eyes but she didn’t let them fall. “You don’t love me Carlos. You love the idea of me. You love having a wife who stays home and waits for you. You love the way I make you look good at parties and business dinners.”

“That’s not true,” I said. I stepped closer to her. “I love the way you sing when you’re cooking. I love the way you laugh at bad movies. I love the way you always leave books open face down because you can’t remember where you put the bookmarks. I love every single thing about you.”

She looked at me for a long time. Then she shook her head. “It’s too late for that. The divorce papers are already ready. I just need you to sign them.”

“I won’t sign them,” I said. I reached out and held her arm. She tried to pull away but I held on tight. “I’m not leaving here until you listen to me. I’m going to stay right here and I’m going to show you that I mean what I say.”

She looked at my hand on her arm then up at my face. “You can’t stay here. There’s no room for you.”

“I’ll sleep in the car if I have to,” I said. “I’ll sleep on the floor. I don’t care. I’m not going anywhere until you give me another chance.”

Elena pulled her arm away and started walking back toward the house. “You’re being ridiculous Carlos. Go back to Madrid. Go back to your company and your friends. Forget about me.”

“I will never forget about you,” I said. I followed her. “I’ll stay here as long as it takes. Even if it takes the rest of my life.”

She didn’t answer. She went inside the house and closed the door behind her. I stood there on the steps for a minute then turned and walked back to David’s car. He was sitting in the driver’s seat looking at me.

“She won’t take me back,” I said. I opened the door and got in. “But I’m not giving up. I’m going to stay here and I’m going to make her love me again.”

David started the car and drove back down the driveway. “What are you going to do? You can’t just camp out in front of her house.”

“I’m not going to camp out,” I said. I looked back at the villa as we drove away. “I’m going to buy the house next door. I’m going to move here and I’m going to show her that I can be the man she married again.”

David looked at me like I was crazy. “You’re serious about this?”

“I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life,” I said. “Elena is my wife. She always will be my wife. And I’m going to win her back no matter what it takes.”