Chapter 22: The Rule Ends

Fabiola left at noon on Saturday with an overnight bag and a speech.

"I'm staying at a friend's," she said. "The friend is a lie. I'll be at the cinema, alone, eating all the popcorn, and I don't want a text."

"Fabiola."

"Rule five is suspended. He doesn't have to carry anything today."

She shut the door behind her, and the flat went quiet.

Rodrigo stood in the middle of the kitchen with his hands at his sides.

He had brought nothing.

He had shaved, and he looked as though he had not slept.

"Sit," Valeria said.

He sat at the orange tablecloth.

She put a mug of coffee in front of him and took the chair across, with her hands around her own tea.

"I'm going to say what I need," she said. "Then you answer."

"Yes."

"I need Sunday lunch at this table, every week. You, me and whoever we invite. And nobody says a cruel thing here, ever."

"Yes."

"I need you to never again let someone insult me and then pass the salt."

"Never again."

"I need you to tell me the truth, even when it's small, even when you think I'll be hurt."

"Yes."

"And I need you to stop trying to earn it."

He stared at her.

"I don't understand."

"You earned it," Valeria said. "On the stairs, in the boardroom, on the microphone. I watched you do it with nothing in your hands."

"It's done. I'm not keeping a ledger anymore. So stop acting like I am."

He put his face in his hands.

His shoulders moved, and for a while neither of them said anything.

When he looked up, his eyes were red.

"Rule four," he said, hoarsely.

"Rule four is over."

She stood up, and she came around the table, and he turned his chair to face her.

She stood between his knees.

His hands hung in the air an inch from her waist, shaking.

"You can touch me," she said.

"Where?"

"Everywhere. I've wanted you to for months. I'm saying it out loud so you know I mean it."

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