All my rationality told me to turn around and walk away from the girl who seems like a walking disaster.
It can’t be possible. There must be some mistake. It can’t be her.
If it weren’t for the dance steps at the kitchen entrance, I’d be certain she doesn’t even have enough motor skills to stand up straight.
She’s not just clumsy. She’s afirecracker.
I’ve never been close to someone who seems to radiate fireworks from every cell of their body—and here you have to consider that I’m the older brother of Martina, a girl who was born with ants in her pants.
Olívia’s big, blue eyes stand out on her delicate face, giving her the appearance of a porcelain doll—a miniatureporcelain doll, because the top of her head barely reaches my chest.
As she moves around the counter, I observe her with crossed arms, sitting at the table she indicated. Despite apparently knowing what she’s doing, from where I’m sitting, I’ve seen her knock over two dish towels and a spoon and forget to close the refrigerator.
I’m amazed that someone like her has managed to reach adulthood alive. In fact, she doesn’t even seem like an adult but rather a girl just out of adolescence, although I know she’s of legal age.
Soon enough, I’ll know almost everything about her too. At least as much as the detective can find out. The complete report should be in my hands by the end of the week. What was in Layla’s papers wasn’t enough for me to be sure what kind of person the girl is.
I look around the worn-out-looking restaurant.The café follows the pattern of several others on the poor side of town, just a little more rundown. They stay open twenty-four hours a day—according to the sign outside—and I wonder if Olívia also works the night shift.
“Olívia, what are your shifts?” I inquire from where I’m seated.
She stops what she’s doing, furrows her brow as if deciding whether to answer or not, but then shrugs. “I open the store every day and stay until two, but once a week I also work on Friday or Saturday night. The manager asked, and I agreed because the tips are good.”
“This area isn’t safe.”
“Really? I had no idea,” she says cheekily, but then she seems to remember that she’s talking to a customer and changes her tone, adding, “sir.”
“Don’t be sarcastic.”
“Sorry, I guess it’s some sort of reverse quality.”
“Do you need the night shift tips so much that you’re willing to risk it?”
She had started to open a cabinet but pauses again and looks at me. “You’ve already asked me a bunch of questions, so I think I have the right to ask at least one. Why did you come to a place like this?”
There’s no way to answer without lying, but I try to skirt around the issue. “I didn’t have time to have breakfast at home,” I say, and in a way, it’s true, since Nina didn’t sleep well last night because of the two upper teeth that are coming out. When she finally managed to rest, I dozed off too and woke up late.
For weeks I’ve been postponing coming to see Olívia in person, and I don’t like to think of myself as a procrastinator. So, even with a busy day ahead, I decided to check on her once and for all.
“And you chose to comehere?” She seems incredulous.
The girl is not dumb.
“It’s the first time I’ve visited this part of town. I had business to attend to in the area,” I say, releasing another half-truth. To stop the questions I can’t answer right now, I turn the conversation back to her. “Do you study?”
“In college? I wish. Have you seen how much a university course costs? I’d have to sell a kidney, and I’m quite attached to all my organs.” She doesn’t seem at all resentful when she says that. On the contrary, she’s smiling.
“What would you do if you could study?”
“Are you some kind of inspector? Is that why you asked if I work at night? If so, don’t worry, because I’m already twenty-three years old. I didn’t run away from home or anything like that. Don’t be fooled by my height.” She tilts her head to the side, analyzing. “I think your clothes are too expensive for you to be a government employee, but I’m not very knowledgeableabout brands. Maybe you bought them on sale. You never know.”
As with the first time she rattled off several sentences at once, I’m a little confused by her excitement, but then I realize it’s a result of the nerves she must be feeling. “I’m not an inspector.”
“And your clothes aren’t from a sale?”
“No.”
“I have no idea why you’re interested, but if I could go back to studying, which I plan to do someday, I would become a pastry chef, so if I could, I’d study gastronomy.”
