Page 35 of Tell Me What you Think

Olga laughs softly as they start walking again.

"It'd be the talk of the company for months."

"Don't worry — this stays between you and me," Marina promises, and Olga sighs because she wishes so many more things could stay just between the two of them.

Two hours later, they're on the plane. Marina stayed awake for the first twenty minutes going over the notes Olga took in the meeting, but at some point sleep wins, and when Olga turns to tell her something, she finds her out cold and leaves the sentence unfinished.

Marina's head is tilted slightly toward the aisle, her breathing slow and deep. A strand of hair has come loose from the simple bun she put up for the meeting and falls across her temple, cutting across her face. Olga thinks it's deeply unfair that she looks attractive even asleep, and turns to look out the window instead, because with her luck lately the last thing she needs is her boss opening her eyes and catching her staring like a total creep.

The descent wakes Marina, and she blinks several times, a little disoriented. When she turns to the right and sees Olga's soft smile, her heart does an inexplicable little flip.

"Hey," Olga says.

Marina smiles back instead of answering, because — though she isn't fully aware of it right now — it felt really nice to wake up and find Olga right there beside her.

"Was I snoring?" she asks, her voice mysterious.

Olga laughs and shakes her head.

"Thank God," Marina sighs. "My ex-husband used to say that when I was really tired I snored like a motorboat, though I think he just said it to annoy me."

Olga laughs again, and catches herself thinking she'd love to find out for herself.

Chapter 15

"…and then her mom went straight to the pantry and came back with a whole leg of ham and set it down right in front of me — 'take this with you, you're too skinny.'" Silvia spreads her arms wide to show the size of the thing. "A whole ham. And we were only there a few days — what's she going to give us when we actually get married?" she asks, alarmed, and her friend bursts out laughing.

"You really can't complain. A good ham costs a fortune."

"I know, and on top of that it's amazing. We started it last night. You should come over for dinner one of these days and try some."

"Sure."

"Okay, your turn. How were the holidays with the boss?" Silvia asks.

They're at their usual table in the back of their regular bar, though it's more crowded than usual because it's Saturday afternoon. Olga, a little nervous now that the subject's come up, opens her bag and pulls out a magnet from Lisbon she bought for her.

"Everything was great — here, this is for you."

Silvia reaches over and takes the magnet.

"I love it, thank you so much," she says, tucking it into her bag. Then she narrows her eyes. "Everything was great? That's all you're going to tell me, when you worked almost every day and traveled with her?"

Olga spins her beer glass on the coaster while she decides where to start.

"The trip went fine," she begins, not looking at her. "We worked a lot, and in the last meeting I caught an error in the documents — I think someone tried to slip it past us. Marina congratulated me on it when we were alone." She tells it with a silly little smile. "And the day before, we had dinner just the two of us at a restaurant and talked about some things."

Olga decides not to mention the story behind Marina's scar. It took her a long time to work up the nerve to ask, it's something no one at the company seems to know, and she prefers to think of it as a confidence Marina shared only with her — which makes her chest go warm all at once.

"So romantic," Silvia murmurs, still waiting.

"On the last day we were walking back to the hotel and I slipped, and she grabbed me by the arm and kept her hand there and didn't let go right away."

"Uh-huh." Silvia nods slowly, like she's taking notes. "Define 'didn't let go right away,' please. How long are we talking?"

"I don't know, maybe a few seconds. The danger had passed and her hand was still there." Olga's ears burn remembering the tingling that lingered for minutes in the spot Marina had touched. "It was like when she caught me in the elevator — I don't know if I mentioned that…"

"Only about a hundred times, give or take." Silvia takes a sip without looking away. "Look, all of this is great and we can break it down later if you want, but you're talking way too fast, like you're trying to get through this part quick, and that makes me think you're leaving something out."