One Out of Two Read Online Free Page B

flesh the moment her aunt approached to try to coax her out, lead her enthusiastically over to the heart of the wedding party: the young newlyweds mingling, the toasts, the Cheers! Where everyone was milling. Where shoulders were rubbed and introductions made …
    That opportunity, that moment, aah … Gloria closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. Inside, in her mind, there was a series of reversals, furtive exchanges, evocative stencils of bodies in full abandon. Then, as things unfolded, improbable shapes arose out of somewhere: soft and gentle nakedness …
    Untethered, floating, alone and bewildered. Then the couplings: in a blue space, Gloria kissing an otherworldly man, surrendering fully to the initiative his hands and tongue were taking, while her twin staggered around with mouth agape, unable to get anywhere near no matter how hard she tried. Yes, then a sequel with a smoky hue, a pursuit, and proximity: melting into an illusive silhouette of passion and desire: hence, only a tiny taste of satisfaction. Insinuations of such vast pleasure! How unattainable, though, for both of them!
    /
    Welcome to the wedding … What a lovely dress! Why didn’t the other one come? Yes, I understand, now you’ll have a better chance of finding a man. Best thing to do is just smile, at everybody …
    /
    Handshakes fade. Dance steps and glasses breaking. Swirls of laughter and dropped words. It smells like alcohol, meat, a little bit of a lot of things … Swoons, faces, blurry figures, and her aunt keeping an eagle eye out … from the shadows, at a certain distance, because that’s how it should be done …
    /
    It all started up again the morning her sister bustled into Ocampo: her hair down and her silhouette suddenly framed in the doorway of the shop. Gloria, to avoid an effusive greeting, pretended not to see her, sat steadfastly at her machine, the pedal going below, focused on the next stitch and the one after that; she probably had a good excuse, or—how to put it?—was formulating one.
    She had the habit, as did the other, of keeping her eyes on her work except when a customer spoke to her; a quirk like that can be advantageous, and that goes for both of them, because losing one’s concentration under those circumstances could even cause an accident. Knowing this, her sister didn’t say a word, preferring to approach quietly, so she removed her high-heeled shoes and left her bag where it was. Once in front of the other, she uttered her best sentence ever:
    “I danced all night with a slender man of interesting age.”
    At that, the loser, both incredulous and wary, looked up. Eyes meet by way of divination, and embarrassment: eyes no longer identical: not now: then a tremulous lapse that seemed to last too long; the one sitting down now more tentative, and the one with her hair down, racier. But Gloria laughed as if the dance didn’t matter at all, for according to her, it was nothing but a trap, though in fact: a spiteful and invidious guffaw, that then ended: when:
    “He’s coming to the shop next Sunday; I gave him this address. The plan is to go for a stroll. I think I’ll take him to the walnut grove at the edge of town.”
    For a brief instant Gloria wanted to remind her of their agreement, about how what was yours was mine and vice versa, but then she thought it better to listen, knowing that one had to be astute when it came to affairs of the heart: or, as ranchers say, sneaky as a snake. The other, in the meantime, was excited, and with her sister’s implicit permission told the whole story from beginning to end. The encounter, the wedding as setting.
    A bold exchange of glances that insinuates restiveness and invites approach, sweet words in short supply: from one to the other and back again in a move to tantalize, to kiss: why not? Though in this case: wait! for Constitución, based on her aunt’s advice, it was important to first learn something about the man’s background and social