Free Turned to Stone by Jorge Magano

least expected. How did you find me?”
    “I went to the museum. They told me you often eat here.”
    “Only during the week. On Saturdays I usually eat at my mother’s house.”
    “Your mom! How is she?”
    “She’s well. But it’s best if she doesn’t know that we’ve seen each other. What do you want, Jaime?”
    “To tell you something. I don’t want to scare you, but it’s something that affects you directly.”
    When Paloma lifted her gaze Jaime saw that his ex-girlfriend’s eyes were almost as red as he knew his to be.
    “You know what else affects me directly? You running off to Egypt without saying anything. I had to find out from Guillermo González.”
    “Guillermo González! Whatever happened to him? What a brain.”
    “He gave up studying for his doctorate and now he’s helping his dad in the butcher’s shop, if you must know. But I doubt you’ve come to see me after all this time just so you could ask about my mother and our old classmates.”
    Paloma’s defensiveness brought back memories of a tender but draining past, and this dampened Jaime’s spirits. He was too tired to argue. Roberto had driven him straight to the museum, and he hadn’t slept since his arrival in Madrid. The last thing he wanted to do now was relive the kind of endless arguments he’d run away from in the first place. “Look, I’m sorry about what happened—”
    “You’re sorry? For what? Using me for four years and then walking out?”
    “I didn’t use you.”
    “Oh, no? Face it, Jaime: I wanted a relationship, and you wanted someone to study with—and fuck. If I called on the weekend, either you didn’t answer or you said you were busy.” Her eyes filled with tears of anger. “You’d been gone for a month when I learned you’d disappeared to Cairo for a dig.”
    “To Herakleopolis Magna. Many of the findings we made there are now in the National Museum of Archeology.”
    “How lovely. But you couldn’t even call to tell me you were going. Were you scared of something? You were always afraid, weren’t you? And when you got back? I guess you forgot to call then, too.”
    “Look, calm down,” said Jaime.
    “Calm down? But I’m perfectly calm, can’t you see that? You’re the one who always got nervous when you didn’t know how to put me off. Or those times when you told me you couldn’t meet me because you were sick, and then later I’d find out you were really off on one of your adventures. You’re a coward, Jaime. You’ve always been scared of commitment.”
    Jaime raised his hands. “Now that is true,” he admitted. His eyelids were heavy; he wasn’t going to argue.
    Paloma burst into tears.
    Jaime sat staring at her, not knowing what to do. Though the moment he walked into the restaurant he’d known reproaches would be inevitable, he hadn’t expected such a dramatic reaction. He had hurt her, sure, but it had happened so many years ago. He hadn’t expected the wound to still be so raw for her; he felt bad for not feeling the same way. He scooted around the circular couch and clumsily put an arm around her. “Don’t cry.”
    “Why is everything going wrong today?”
    Jaime didn’t know how to answer the question, but he was saved from having to try when Amanda showed up at the table and grabbed her purse. “Sorry, guys.” Despite the dramatic scene unfolding in front of her, she tried to act as though everything was normal. “I have to go. My boss wants to see me right away.”
    To Jaime, whose arm was still around Paloma, this sounded like the lamest excuse he’d heard in his life. Paloma, who also knew her friend was lying, lifted her head and managed a smile. “I’ll call you.”
    “You’d better.”
    Amanda winked—at whom, it wasn’t very clear—and left, swinging her hips. Without warning, Jaime let go of Paloma, scooted back across from her, and got straight to his original point. “I have to talk to you about our second-year piece on baroque