27: That Tattoo

Mario watched Marta with fascination. And she had barely registered that she was probably taking rather too many liberties with someone else's swimming pool.
She could hear the easy conversation her father was having with Felisa and the agent, and they were getting closer.
He grew worried and went out to join her in the garden.
"Marta — do you think you should be doing that?"
She turned to look at him. She was surprised.
"I'm sorry?"
"We're viewing a house that isn't ours — what possessed you to put your feet in the pool?"
Marta realised too late the obvious point Mario had just made. She smiled with embarrassment and tried to get up — clumsily — and didn't manage it.
In her attempt to stand, she ended up sitting back down, but this time her shirt had come untucked from her skirt and ridden up slightly, leaving a sliver of her lower back visible.
"What's that?" Mario's voice had dropped, and he was almost whispering it.
Marta was startled by what his voice gave away. She put one hand on her back and offered him the other.
"A souvenir from my teenage years." Marta shrugged it off. "Just a tribal — everyone was getting them back then. Help me up?"
Mario approached slowly, careful not to show too much enthusiasm at the discovery.
"Is it mad that I find that tattoo so incredibly sexy, having already seen you completely undressed?" Mario whispered it in such a low tone it came out almost guttural.
Marta was watching his lips and his throat as she pulled her ankles out of the water — and didn't notice that she herself was equally unsettled.
"Mad, I don't know — but untimely, very much so." She managed to reply once she was on her feet.
A surprised estate agent stepped through the porch doorway into the garden, blocking Manuel's view of the scene.
"Joaquín — are they in the garden?"
"Yes, Don Manuel — your wife likes the pool."
Marta, caught in a compromising position, had to produce her shoes so that the "sentence" might be lighter.
"Marta?" Manuel appeared from behind the agent, Joaquín.
Mario took a step forward towards the three of them approaching, putting himself in between so she could tuck her shirt back in.
"Thank you," Marta whispered to Mario, her hand briefly on his back — and then, once she had straightened her shirt and put her shoes on, she looked around his shoulder to address the others in a more normal tone. "I was just missing my childhood — going to the reservoir with my parents."
"Would you like a pool?" The enthusiasm with which Manuel asked made the question sound almost absurd.
"Hmm?" Marta looked puzzled. "If there's no second house in the garden, it's not for me."
"I was hoping we might all be able to live together." Manuel showed his hand.
Felisa stumbled over a laugh with the misfortune of it coming out like a raspberry.
"Sorry!" Felisa gave Manuel a couple of pats on the shoulder. He looked at her, bewildered. "You're banging your head against a wall, my friend."
The poor man had suggested his intentions again, and now didn't understand the comment directed at him.
"Are you comparing me to a mouse?"
Felisa smiled with every tooth showing, eyes narrowed almost shut.
"Something like that. I was thinking more of a dwarf hamster, actually."
The estate agent observed the four adults the way a predator eyes its prey, waiting for the right moment to continue showing the house.
"Manuel, none of the viewings were for properties with a separate annexe."
"Then I'm not interested." Marta cut in before her husband could speak.
"You heard her." Manuel shrugged.
"There is one — but the asking price is quite steep."
"You really know how to sell it!" Mario said drily.
"I'll try to arrange a viewing for tomorrow and keep you informed."
"Let's head to ADAN then — I need to pick up some documents from the merger that we still haven't signed." Manuel returned to his easy, relaxed tone. "It's a minor thing to do with the name, nothing serious."
"What's the issue with the name?" Marta tensed.
"We can't go to market until we've settled on the initials for the new company, and I was planning to sort it out after the move." Manuel mentioned it as though it were trivial.
Everyone headed towards the door to leave. Mario touched Marta's shoulder to hold her back.
"The flat wasn't the only reckless thing I did on Monday."
Marta turned to Mario, holding her breath.
"What else is there?"
"Mario! Marta!" Manuel called. "Shall we go, please?"
They couldn't continue the conversation, and left the house with that thread still hanging.
Both Mercedes pulled out of the estate behind the agent's car.
While the gold vehicle carried two men with the same woman on their minds — though only one of them was returned — the ash-grey car carried two women in silence, with one certainty sitting on their shoulders: love is difficult to hide.
On arriving at the building in the Vallecas neighbourhood, Felisa could hold it no longer and cornered Marta.
"What happened at the pool?"
"Mario brought me back to earth — that's all."
Felisa was surprised by the answer and asked for more.
"So now the lad turns out to be more mature than you."
"Don't laugh, Felisa — it's true."
"Fine, explain."
"I took my shoes off to feel the grass under my feet."
"You were at the edge of the pool, Marta — what does the grass have to do with anything?"
"Oh, right, sorry!" Marta called the lift. "He just came over to remind me I shouldn't have my feet in the pool."
"Marta, that's unhygienic and you know perfectly well."
"But that's what happened — that's all."
"I know you, Marta. Is there something else?"
They stepped into the lift.
"He saw the little tribal tattoo I have on my lower back." Marta brought her hand to her chin with an innocent smile.
"Hadn't he seen it when you were... intimate?"
"Apparently not."
"And does he think it's attractive, or tacky like my brother used to say?" Felisa eyed her friend with suspicion.
Marta reached her front door and unlocked it. With a broad smile, she looked at Felisa with mischief and answered in a single word:
"Sexy."