“So why were you late?” Hasse caught up with him as he was walking down the stairs.
“I was in Västervik filming the Christmas special.”
“You like your little towns, don’t you?” Hasse chortled, but Henrik merely glared at him. “I believe there’s been some buzz about your show,” Hasse went on. “Even before the premiere.”
Henrik simply nodded.
“Smart move, setting up a romance with the owner.” Hasse was grinning now.
“We do what we have to, don’t we? It will make good TV,” Henrik replied dryly. “Just like we all pretend to love each other when we’re filmingChristmas with the Eklunds.”
“Absolutely.” Hasse was still smiling. “I admire you, I really do—not many people would go that far to save a show.”
“Just like you’ve pretended to care about your kids all our lives, purely to satisfy a TV audience.” Henrik no longer gave a fuck about what he said. He was so sick of his father’s power games, of being so dependent on him. He didn’t want to do this any longer.
When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Hasse patted Henrik on the shoulder. “Believe what you want, but I’ve given my children everything.” He paused, looked at Henrik. “And never forget that the three of you need me. I’m the one who’s made the company what it is today, and I’m the one who makes the decisions.”
Henrik walked away without a word and hailed a cab. As if the day couldn’t get any worse, he saw that he had a missed call from Don at TV24. There was also a text message.
I’ve looked through what’s been filmed so far and I’ve never seen anything more boring. What’s happened? When I was there and the girl broke down, I thought we had something. But the romance thread is putting me to SLEEP. I’m dying of boredom here. I’ve spoken to Elnaz and Ted. Call me. You need to fix this.
30
Tuesday was a glorious winter’s day. The snow that had fallen over the weekend sparkled in the sunshine.
Nora sensed the muted atmosphere as soon as she arrived for filming. Ted and Elnaz were involved in a quiet discussion, and Henrik only glanced at her. There was something evasive in his expression. He smiled, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes.
She smiled back anyway. “Hi.”
“Hi.”
What was going on?
“How did the meeting go?” she asked as they walked over to the makeup corner.
“Not great, I’m afraid.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
He simply shrugged in response. A second later Elnaz came over and led him into the bakery, talking in a low voice. Nora felt a knot in her stomach; she didn’t like this. She had finally felt as if they were all on the same side, and now everything seemed to have gone sideways.
When Henrik and Elnaz reappeared, Ted went through the day’s schedule. They were going to discuss the selection of baked goods that Nora sold in the run-up to Christmas. When everyone was ready, she and Henrik took their places by the display counter.
“Okay, so today we’re going to take a look at your product range in the lead-up to Christmas,” Henrik began. “And I understand you’vesecured a large order from a local company for Lucia buns, so we have a lot to do.”
“Exactly. It’s the first Sunday in Advent this weekend, so people are going to want Lucia buns starting in a couple of days. I need to do as much preparation as I can.”
“So ...” Henrik set off toward one of the tables, and Nora followed him. “What do you usually bake for Christmas?” He pulled out a chair and sat down. “What does your December assortment look like?”
Nora sat down opposite him and opened up her big black recipe notebook. She flicked through yellowing pages spattered with years of cake batter and the odd greasy butter stain. It had been her great-grandmother’s book originally; she had used it when she first got a job here at Nymans, and the family had continued to collect recipes in it over the years. “The first Sunday in Advent is one of our busiest days, and I usually bake quite an assortment. Wafer rolls, doughnuts, almond pastries, chocolate cookies, gingerbread cookies of course, toffee cookies ...”
“I get it—lots of cookies.” Henrik’s expression was grim, but Nora smiled at him. Nothing could upset her when it came to baking for Christmas.
“Exactly. And lots of other things, of course.”
“I see. I know how many different cakes and cookies you usually have on offer, this is going to be something of a cookie explosion. Sounds like you’re planning to fill the shelves with even more products?”
She didn’t like his tone or his cold and impersonal demeanor. There was no sign of the warmth that had sprung up between them. What was going on?
