Chapter 2

CARLOS POINT OF VIEW 

Two weeks later I was standing in the living room of the house next to Elena’s. It was smaller than her villa but it was nice. The walls were yellow and there were wooden floors. There was a big fireplace in the living room and a small kitchen off to the side. David was standing next to me with a stack of boxes.

“You really bought this place sight unseen?” he said. He put the boxes down on the floor. “What if it had termites? Or a leaky roof?”

“I didn’t care about the house,” I said. I walked to the window and looked out at Elena’s garden. I could see her sitting at the same table as before. She was reading a book and drinking coffee. “I just cared about being close to her.”

David walked over and stood next to me. “She hasn’t talked to you since you got here. Every time you go over there Marta tells you she’s not home even though you can see her through the window.”

“I know,” I said. “But she’s looking at me. Every time I look over there she’s looking back. She just won’t admit it.”

“I think you’re seeing things,” David said. “She’s probably just checking to see what you’re doing. She doesn’t want you causing trouble.”

“I’m not causing trouble,” I said. I turned away from the window. “I’m trying to show her that I’m serious. I quit my job at the company in Madrid. I’m going to start working here. There’s a small business center in the next town.”

David looked at me like I had lost my mind. “You quit your job? The job you worked ten years to get? For a woman who won’t even talk to you?”

“It wasn’t just a job,” I said. “It was the reason she left me. I spent all my time there and none of it with her. If I want her back I have to show her that things are different now.”

We started unpacking the boxes. Most of what I brought was books and clothes. I didn’t bring much else because I didn’t want to make the house feel too full. I wanted it to feel like a home that Elena could come to if she ever decided to forgive me.

After we finished unpacking David had to leave. He had to get back to Madrid to take care of some things at the company. I walked him to his car and he put his hand on my shoulder.

“Just be careful Carlos,” he said. “Obsession can make people do crazy things. You don’t want to push her too far.”

“I’m not obsessed,” I said. “I’m in love. There’s a difference.”

David shook his head. “Sometimes there isn’t. Just remember that she left for a reason. You can’t just change things overnight.”

“I know,” I said. “But I have to try.”

David drove away and I went back inside the house. I made myself a sandwich and sat at the kitchen table. I could see Elena’s house from the kitchen window. She was still sitting at the table in the garden but she wasn’t reading anymore. She was looking right at my house.

I finished my sandwich and decided to go for a walk. I walked down the road to the small town nearby. It was called San Pedro and it had a main street with a few shops and a restaurant. I went into the grocery store and bought some food for the week. When I came out I saw Elena walking down the street.

She was with a man. He was tall and blonde and he was holding her arm. They were walking together and talking and he was smiling at her. I felt my stomach get tight and my hands clenched into fists. I started walking toward them without thinking.

“Elena,” I said. She looked up and her face went pale. The man next to her stopped walking and looked at me. “Who is this?”

“This is Carlos,” Elena said. She pulled her arm away from the man. “Carlos this is Miguel. He’s a friend from town.”

Miguel held out his hand. “Nice to meet you. Elena has told me a lot about you.”

I didn’t shake his hand. “Has she? Has she told you how she’s still my wife? How we’re not divorced yet?”

Elena stepped between us. “Carlos stop it. Miguel is just a friend. We were just walking to the restaurant for lunch.”

“Is that all he is?” I said. I looked at Miguel. He was wearing nice clothes and he had a nice smile. He looked like the kind of man who had time for the people he cared about. “Because he looks like more than a friend to me.”

“Carlos please,” Elena said. Her voice was quiet but firm. “Go home. We can talk later if you want to talk like a normal person.”

“I am talking like a normal person,” I said. “I’m just asking about the man who’s holding my wife’s arm.”

“I’m not your wife anymore,” she said. “Not really. We’ve been separated for three years. I can see whoever I want to see.”

“That’s not true,” I said. “We’re still married. Until we sign the papers you’re still my wife and I have a right to know who you’re spending time with.”

Miguel stepped forward. “Look man. Elena is a grown woman. She can make her own decisions. If she wants to have lunch with me then that’s her business.”

“It’s my business too,” I said. I took a step toward him. “She’s my wife.”

“Carlos don’t,” Elena said. She put her hand on my chest and pushed me back. “If you do something stupid right now I will never talk to you again. Do you understand me?”

I looked at her hand on my chest then up at her face. She looked angry and scared at the same time. I didn’t want to scare her. I never wanted to scare her.

“I’m sorry,” I said. I stepped back. “I just… I don’t like seeing you with other men.”

“I know you don’t,” she said. She took her hand away. “But you don’t get to decide who I see or what I do. Not anymore.”

She turned and started walking with Miguel again. I stood there and watched them go. They went into the restaurant and sat down at a table by the window. Elena looked back at me once before she turned away.

I walked back to my house and went inside. I sat on the couch and put my head in my hands. David was right. I was being crazy. I was letting my feelings for Elena make me act like a man I didn’t want to be.

I needed to find a way to show her that I had changed. That I wasn’t the same man who put work before her. I needed to find a way to make her trust me again.

The next morning I woke up early. I made coffee and then I went outside. I walked over to Elena’s house and rang the bell. Marta opened the door and looked at me like she was tired of seeing my face.

“Is Elena home?” I said.

“She’s in the garden,” Marta said. She stepped aside to let me in. “She said you could come in this time.”

I walked through the house and out into the garden. Elena was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee. She looked up when I came out but she didn’t smile.

“I’m sorry about yesterday,” I said. I stood by the table. “I shouldn’t have acted that way. Miguel seems like a nice man.”

“He is a nice man,” she said. “He’s been helping me fix up the house. He’s a carpenter.”

“That’s good,” I said. “I’m glad you have someone to help you.”

She looked at me for a minute. “Why did you really come over here Carlos? It’s not just to apologize.”

“I want to help you too,” I said. “I know you’ve been working on the garden. I used to help my mother with her garden when I was a kid. I know what I’m doing.”

Elena looked at the garden then back at me. “You want to help me with the garden?”

“Yes,” I said. “I thought it might be a good way for us to talk. We can work together and maybe… maybe we can start to be civil with each other.”

She thought about it for a minute. Then she nodded. “Okay. But if you start acting crazy again you have to leave.”

“I promise,” I said. “I’ll be on my best behavior.”

She stood up and walked to the shed at the end of the garden. She came back with two pairs of gloves and a small shovel. She handed them to me.

“We need to plant the new tomato plants over there,” she said. She pointed to an empty spot in the garden. “And we need to pull the weeds around the peppers.”

I put on the gloves and took the shovel. We walked over to the empty spot and started working. We didn’t talk much at first. We just worked in silence. But after a while Elena started talking about the garden. She told me what she was planning to plant next and which vegetables grew best in the soil here.

I listened to her talk. I loved the sound of her voice. I missed hearing her talk about the things she cared about. We worked for hours and by the time we were done the sun was high in the sky and we were both covered in dirt.

“Thank you for your help,” she said. She took off her gloves and wiped her hands on her dress. “The garden looks a lot better now.”

“You’re welcome,” I said. I took off my gloves too. “I had fun. I haven’t done anything like this in a long time.”

Elena looked at me for a minute. There was something different in her eyes. Something softer than before. “Would you like some lunch? Marta made soup.”

I felt my heart jump. “I would love some.”

We went inside and sat at the kitchen table. Marta brought out a pot of soup and some bread. We ate in silence for a few minutes. Then Elena looked up at me.

“Why did you really quit your job Carlos?” she said. “You loved working at the company. You talked about it all the time.”

“I did love it,” I said. “But I loved you more. And I realized that I was letting the job take everything from me. I lost you because of it. I wasn’t going to let it take anything else.”

She nodded slowly. “I heard you bought the house next door.”

“I did,” I said. “I wanted to be close to you. I wanted to show you that I was serious about making things right.”

Elena took a sip of soup. “You can’t just buy a house and think everything will go back to the way it was.”

“I know that,” I said. “I don’t want things to go back to the way they were. I want things to be better. I want us to be better.”

We finished lunch and I helped Marta clear the table. When I was done I looked at Elena. “Can I come back tomorrow? To help with the garden some more?”

She thought about it for a second. “Okay. But only if you promise to be on time. I start working at eight in the morning.”

“I’ll be here at seven thirty,” I said. I smiled. “I’ll even bring coffee.”

Elena smiled a little bit. It was the first time I had seen her smile in three years. “Okay. Coffee would be nice.”

I walked back to my house feeling better than I had in a long time. Maybe things were starting to change. Maybe there was a chance for us after all.