Page 27

“They won’t bite. Please, inspect them closely.”

“They’re gorgeous,” Gabi said.

“You think so?”

“Truly.”

“They are,” Aisha said.

Gabi picked up the helix-shaped bracelet and studied it. It would look wonderful against Aisha’s tanned skin. She put it back carefully, her hands trembling. “They’re so delicate.”

“They’re stronger than they look,” Matías said. “Please, take something. A gift.”

Gabi took a pace back. “I can’t.”

“It would be my pleasure,” he said.

“Will you do something else for me?” Gabi asked.

“If I can.”

“Will you show me how you make this?” She pointed to the helix chain.

Matías smiled. “Yes. Come again, a week on Wednesday after the market, after six p.m.”

Gabi pocketed her clammy hands and grinned. “Awesome. Thanks.”

Matías laughed. “Perhaps you can do me a favour in return,” he said.

“Anything,” Gabi said.

“Persuade Aisha to allow me to design her wedding rings.”

Gabi glanced from Matiás to Aisha. She had the sense of movement slowing down and spiralling, the room becoming darker, and the garbled echo of their laughter in the background. Matías’s cheeks were a beacon that reflected his obvious affection for Aisha. Aisha’s eyes sparkled as she laughed. Gabi stood still, speechless. Please don’t let that be true.

“When that time comes, I promise I will come to you,” Aisha said.

Matías picked up the cloth, set it down across the jewellery, and returned the tray. He invited them for apple tea and home-baked biscuits, and they went into his house. The cave was modest, with a living space that included a kitchen area with a small woodburning stove and a sink. The toilet was in a block outside and was shared with the other occupants of the houses in this row, he said. The stone walls inside were cream, warm to the senses, and a single lamp stood proudly in one corner behind a red leather armchair. A filigree gold frame on the wall to the side of the chair held the image of a woman in a green full-length dress and was the only decoration in the room. Gabi had never seen a home as small or as sparsely decorated. She wondered who the woman was and whether Aisha’s house was similar. Matías’s earnest hospitality and effortless kindness gave the place a warm homely feel that the decoration alone couldn’t achieve, and she felt in no hurry to leave.

“Where do you live?” Gabi asked as they headed back to the bus stop.

“Further up the hill.” Aisha pointed to another group of cave dwellings.

“Are you getting married soon?” Gabi asked.

Aisha laughed. “No.”

They walked side by side, their footsteps accompanying the birds’ evening chorus. Gabi didn’t want to ask her next question in case she was getting too personal, but she couldn’t not, could she? “Who’s Conchita?”

“My sister. She’s seventeen and engaged to García, who is also seventeen. They are getting married in a few weeks’ time.”

“That’s young.”

Aisha looked at Gabi and sighed. “We dance young, and we marry young,” she said. “It’s our way.”

Gabi didn’t like the shiver that scooted down her spine. She didn’t feel old enough to marry going on twenty-six, let alone when she’d been seventeen. “At that age, you’re still a kid.”

“Exactly.”