Camila feels her heart skip a beat as she tries to force a casual smile.
“That’s actually my account.”
Valeria’s eyes go wide. “You’re joking!”
Camila shakes her head and takes a longer pull from her cigarette than usual.
“Wow, I’m about to fangirl! I love your videos! You’re so talented!”
Camila laughs, warm pride mixing with embarrassment in her chest. “Well, thank you! I’m glad you enjoy them. It’s always nice to meet someone who appreciates the magic behind restoring art.”
“Magic is right. It’s so cool how you can take something that’s lost its beauty and give it back.”
“I can show you sometime,” Camila says, and Valeria’s face completely lights up.
“Yeah? That would be amazing!”
“Just tell me when and I’ll set something up for us,” Camila says as she takes the last drag of her cigarette.
“Val?” Alejandra says, and they both turn to find a strained look on her face.
“Everything okay?” Valeria asks with a chuckle. “Did you burn dinner again?”
Alejandra shakes her head, jaw tight.
Camila stands, a knot forming in her stomach. Once she’s up, she realizes a woman is standing behind Alejandra, looking rigid and clearly upset.
“Brooke?” Valeria says, almost out of breath.
“Valeria,” the woman returns, voice flat, eyes locked on Camila like she’s the only one in the room.
“Hi, I’m Camila,” she says, probably friendlier than the moment calls for, but the instinct to soften things is strong. The woman’s stare is pure fire. Camila’s never been on the receiving end of one quite like this one, and she doesn’t know what she did to have it trained on her.
The woman scoffs and turns without a word.
“Fuck,” Valeria whispers. “I’m so sorry,” she says before she runs after the woman, calling after her.
Valeria and the woman vanish, and Camila can’t help feeling that she did the wrong thing by introducing herself.
“Did I do something?” Camila asks Alejandra, who gives her a tight-lipped smile and shakes her head.
“Their relationship is ... complicated. Why don’t you come in? Dinner is ready.”
Camila nods, but her eyes are fixed on the last place she saw Valeria, wondering if she’ll come back. When she is finally able to snap out of it, she heads toward the dining table and sits across from Lily and Ella, who are whispering something Camila can’t quite catch.
“I can’t stand her,” Lily says, probably a little louder than she meant to, because she turns toward Camila and apologizes.
Camila can’t help the curiosity, so she asks, “Is that Valeria’s girlfriend?”
“Unfortunately,” Ella replies.
“That bad?”
“Worse,” Alejandra says. “But we’ll let Valeria share.”
Camila nods. She can respect that. Honestly, she would rather hear it from Valeria anyway. Whatever is going on might not be something she wants Camila to know.
They eat, but the mood has soured, and once dinner ends, Camila decides to go. Being here without Valeria feels weird. Something that has less to do with the company and more to do with the millions of questions circling Camila’s head about Valeria and her partner.
