The Sandstone City by Elaine Canning

Author:Elaine Canning [Canning, Elaine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aderyn

Day 18: Woman in White

‘Are you sure about this, hija? I mean, you don’t owe that chica anything.’

Carmina avoids eye contact and continues wrapping the food items on the board in front of her – slices of chorizo, wedges of manchego, a mix of gordal and manzanilla olives, bread sticks, pretzels. Sarah knows Carmina is preparing them for her, that they will be presented to her at the station just before she boards the train. There will be no discussion of whether she should or shouldn’t take them, whether she has room for them, whether she can or cannot take them onto the flight. They are Carmina’s silent gesture, a reminder that she’s still looking out for her, that she’s always there.

‘Carmina is right,’ Paco says, lumbering into the kitchen. His fringe spikes and juts, not yet settled after his night’s sleep. ‘What I said yesterday … you know, you don’t need to do anything.’ He yawns and pours himself a coffee, cups it with his large hands. ‘You don’t have to meet her.’

‘Oh, I know,’ Sarah says, shaking her head as he offers her more coffee. ‘But what have I got to lose? Maybe I’ll actually find something out for once.’

Carmina and Paco exchange an awkward glance that Sarah understands only too well. She knows that both of them will be hoping the other will take on the question neither wants to ask. The silence settles like a thick fog. She can put on a brave face and pretend there’s no risk in turning up to meet the girl who has hated her from day one. The same girl who has been Raúl’s eternal flatmate. The same girl who used to criticise her at every opportunity as soon as Raúl’s back was turned.

The truth is, she has much to lose if she doesn’t manage to hold it together. She doesn’t understand everything that’s propping her up right now – the parts of her grandfather that linger, the strangers and even stranger occurrences – but somehow she must believe that it’s enough to carry her through one conversation with María. That’s all it is – one conversation which might provide something she needs to hear, even if it’s something she doesn’t necessarily want to hear. The truth.

‘Listen,’ she says, fixing her gaze first on Carmina, then Paco, wishing one of them would acknowledge her. ‘I’ve got this. At least, I think I have.’ She imagines the crucifix warming her chest, wills it to banish the gnawing self-doubt. ‘I know what I need to do when I get back next week. Whatever she has to say won’t change that. And besides, she can only have half an hour. I’ve a few things to get before I leave.’

‘You make sure that’s all she gets,’ Carmina says, scratching some of the wrapped parcels in her rough grasp. She thinks better of it and lays them flat again, pats the foil. ‘You’re not missing your train because of one opinionated chica.’

***

María stands under the clock tower facing in the opposite direction.

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