“I’m sorry for what happened, Majo,” Carlos said, his eyes cast down. “And for that hellishly long journey still ahead of us.”
María José waved it off.
“A few years ago, I would’ve ripped your head off for this.” She paused for a moment as she rummaged through her bag for her passport. “Now, I just… I can’t seem to get angry. Maybe because this whole situation is so surreal… or maybe because my brain has automatically switched to survival mode. Maybe it’s trying to save me from a nervous breakdown.”
Carlos smiled faintly.
“Deep down, you know you’re perfectly safe with me,” he purred, carefully sliding his arm around María José’s shoulders and leaning closer to her face.
“Don’t even think about it,” the elderly pastry chef snapped, stepping back firmly. “We’re not that close!”
Carlos raised both hands in surrender.
“You’re right, I know… It’s just that… oh, for fuck’s sake!”
María José turned pale, shock and fury flashing across her face.
“How dare you—” she began, her voice breaking, but Carlos suddenly shoved her aside with a sharp, urgent move.
With a trembling finger, he pointed into the distance.
“I swear, I just saw Noud!”
“What?!” María José whipped her head around frantically. “Where?”
“There!” Carlos stammered, pointing with a shaky finger towards the boarding gate for another flight.
“Are you sure?”
“May lightning strike me if it wasn’t that piece of shit!”
“What the hell would he be doing here?” María José couldn’t make sense of it.
“Buying tiger balm and elephant keychains,” Carlos snapped, furious, though just moments earlier he’d been ready to kiss her.
María José’s face went white.
“That’s it—I’ve had enough of you, you arrogant asshole!” she shrieked at the top of her lungs. “Because of you, I’m standing here in a stained shirt, with a stinking face, a churning stomach, and you’re still mocking me?! Really? YOU?! The great detective who can’t figure out a damn thing about anyone?! You’re just jumping around like a monkey with the rest of those old geezers, spying on people?! Go to hell!”
The passengers waiting for the Madrid flight first stared at the elderly “couple” in stunned silence. Then, as the initial shock wore off, quiet whispers began to spread. This time, much to her dismay, María José perfectly understood the Spanish sentences buzzing around her:
“She’s totally lost her mind in her old age…”
“What are they doing this far from home if they can’t handle traveling anymore? They should be looking after their grandkids.”
“What must the poor old man have done for her to speak to him like that?”
“I’d be ashamed if my grandma acted like such a foul-mouthed hag with my grandpa.”
“Look at them, making a scene… wait till they’re on the plane, they’ll probably piss themselves.”