She looks like she’s about to say something but changes her mind. “Let’s take this one step at a time. First, the clothes. Then, I’ll take you on a tour of the hotel and explain the basics. Sound good?”
“Yes, that’s fine. Thank you.”
Chapter 13
“So, what did you think of the shopping spree?”
After spending the whole morning together, any bad impression I had of Melissa evaporated.
Now that I can think calmly, since I left home yesterday, I’ve been abnormally suspicious. I usually err on the side of being too trusting, but there have been so many new things happening in my life all at once that I think it put me on high alert somehow.
The only person I remember feeling uncomfortable around from the start was Thomas, especially during the night shift when it was just the two of us. I would keep my eyes wide open and even left without my coat sometimes just to escape the café before the last customer left.
And time only proved my intuition right.
As for Guillermo, so far he hasn’t given me any reason not to believe him, although I still find it totally unreal that such a rich man came to my house and, to complete the madness, offered me a job simply because he liked my coffee.
After two hours in a shopping marathon, I have to confess that I’m starting to understand Melissa. I think her bluntness when we first met was more due to curiosity than malice. Slowly, I managed to relax and even laughed at some of the silly things she said.
I like people. To be honest, it’s quite difficult to find someone I don’t get along with, and keeping my guard up all the time isn’t something I’m used to. So I can’t deny that I’m relieved she turned out to be a down-to-earth woman, not a snob.
“Do you want to have a big lunch, or is a sandwich okay?”
“I should choose a salad,” I say, smiling.
“Why?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
“Not really.”
“Melissa, all the dresses were tight in the wrong places.”
“I disagree. You looked really hot in them.”
I widen my eyes because I wasn’t expecting such informality after the way we started.
“You can relax; I’m into guys,” she continues.
I chuckle, finally noticing that beneath the sophisticated woman façade, there’s a girl as silly as me.
“Now seriously, Olívia. There’s nothing wrong with your body. I’d kill to have a butt like yours.”
“Your body is beautiful, Melissa.”
“Because I starve myself. Not everyone is lucky enough to be—” She stops talking suddenly and looks everywhere but at me.
“Lucky enough to be what?”
“Forget it. I shouldn’t say these things anyway. There’s no point in speaking ill of the dead.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Forget it, please. You must have noticed by now that I blabber without thinking, right? I only needed five seconds for you to consider me a bitch.”
“I didn’t think you were a bitch, just blunt.”
She shrugs. “It was out of curiosity. I have no intention of hurting you, Olívia.”
