He had spoken of that house as if it were an award that he could deliver, not to mention that Ana had lived there for twenty-two years and without accepting that legally the name that appeared in the documents was not hers.
“Now is not a time,” he said.
Rita crossed her arms.
“It’s never time for you.
I just got out of the hospital.
“And I’ve been waiting for two years.
The phrase was between them.
Two years.
Teresa looked down, uncomfortable, and decided to return home.
Victor stood in front of the ruins with a woman who had just unintentionally confirmed exactly what Ana had heard behind the green screen.
That afternoon he tried to locate her six times.
Ana responded to the seventh.
“What did you do?” Victor asked.
She took a moment to answer.
I left my house.
You know what I’m talking about.
“Yes.
“The house burned down.
I know.
“And you took your things.
Ana looked at the suitcase by the wall.
I took a suitcase.
“What a coincidence.
Then Ana understood that Victor had chosen an accusation before an apology.
That just cleared something that still hurt to admit.
The man he had given a kidney to was not calling to ask if he was okay after a nephrectomy.
I was calling to find out if I could blame her for a property.
“Teresa saw me leave,” Ana said.
Teresa doesn’t know everything.
“You don’t either.
Victor breathed hard.
“We have to talk.
Ana looked at the envelope of the private clinic she had kept since December.
“Yes. But not today.
He hung up.
Days later, a preliminary report on the fire signaled an electrical failure in an area of the house as the likely source of the fire.
There appeared nothing to support the accusation that Victor had begun to hint at.
Ana received the news without satisfaction.
The house was still destroyed.
His furniture was still lost.
Part of his life was turned into objects he could no longer recover.
But there was an important difference: he would no longer allow Victor to transform that loss into a debt that she had to pay.
When he finally agreed to see him, he chose to meet by day, near the property, where both of them could speak without re-entering what was left of the house.
Victor came alone.
Rita wasn’t with him.
He looked more tired than when Ana had seen him asleep in the hospital.
“She left,” she said before Anne asked.
She understood who she was talking about.
He didn’t answer.
He says I cheated on her.
Ana looked at him.
“You did.
Victor squeezed his lips.
