Those baby gnashers always seem so tiny and delicate looking, and I worry they’ll be yanked clean out of his mouth if I’m too rough. This had unnerved me in those first few weeks of getting to know Barney too. I know those teeth aren’t going anywhere, but still, I try to calm Toivo, throwing the monkey a few feet away.
To my amazement he tumbles after his toy and retrieves it, laying it by my hand again and leaning in close to me for a congratulatory pat on the head. Either he’s super smart or someone’s started his puppy training early. Or maybe he just wants to please me?
I seem to remember reading somewhere about huskies having a strong prey drive which they redirect into their work as sled dogs; all they want is the attention and approval of the head of the pack, who I’m guessing in Toivo’s case is Stellan.
‘I can relate,’ I tell him.
I throw his toy for him umpteen times and each time he obediently returns it to me. After a while, and as I’m realising I should probably go before one of Stellan’s staff arrives and finds me sniffing huskies, Toivo’s keen eyes begin to grow droopy. He’s tired out already. So, I scoop him up again and he immediately falls asleep on my lap.
‘Oh, Toivo, I’m going home in the morning and I’m going to miss you so much. I didn’t think Icouldlove another dog after Barney, but here we are. Has anyone ever told you that they love you? Has Stellan, I wonder? Hmm? Well,minä rakastan sinua, little Toivo.Ilove you.’ He snores almost imperceptibly and I watch his round belly moving. ‘The last guy I said that to made a run for it, all the way from Manchester to Lapland. But you wouldn’t do that, would you?’
I lean over his fuzzy, wrinkly head and plant a kiss between his ears, and something in me breaks, and I suddenly want to sob my heart out. Saying goodbye to this little guy is harder than I thought it would be.
I shouldn’t have come here today. Why put myself through another heartrending goodbye? I’ve had enough of those to last a lifetime.
Just as I’m searching my snowsuit pockets for a tissue, I hear someone clear their throat behind me, and I wilt a little more, because I know who it is.
‘How long have you been standing there?’ I say, as I turn around to look at Stellan. My jaw drops open and I take a few bewildered moments to recover myself. ‘Wow!What are you wearing?’
I’m looking at head to toe dark red velvet, white furry cuffs, curly-toed reindeer hide boots, and a fur-trimmed hat with a pompom hanging down by Stellan’s grinning face.
‘I told you I had a special job to do on the resort this morning.’
‘You’reSanta Claus?’
My eyes must be as round as saucers because Stellan’s like none of the moth-eaten department store Santas I ever saw as a kid. He is high-end, deluxe Mr Christmas. His tunic is embroidered with patterned Scandinavian ribbons of colourful thread and he’s wearing a thick green sash around his trim waist. There isn’t so much as a hint of dodgy cotton wool sideburns or an unconvincing elasticated beard, thank goodness. All I’m seeing is the sleek blond ends of Stellan’s hair squashed down under the hat, a smoothly shaven jaw and killer cheekbones.
The effect is hypnotic, and I grin back at him because that smile he’s giving me means my Christmas day is most definitely looking up. I purposefully don’t give voice to any of the inappropriately smutty remarks about sitting on his lap or asking what he might have in his sack for me – even though they’re queuing up on the tip of my tongue ready to be blurted out. The strain is almost too much to bear.
‘So, have you been a good girl this year, Sylvie Magnusson?’ he asks with a devilish wink.
‘Oh,thank Godsomeone said it!’
And we’re off again, laughing like we did yesterday and his eyes are sparkling in the harsh strip lights above us.
‘I’m sorry about last night,’ he says.
‘It’s all right, you had work to do. I understand. Listen, you took a day and a half off from the resort for me. I’m happy with that.’ I try to give a carefree shrug, but he knows I’m faking it. He comes to sit beside me and gives the sleeping Toivo a scratch on the head.
‘Youdon’tunderstand. One of the enclosure fences was pushed over by a snowdrift. Usually I’m around to clear the snow, but yesterday I wasn’t.’
‘I’m sorry about that. You neglected your work because of me, and I shouldn’t have let you.’
‘Are you kidding? I was having the time of my life yesterday. I wouldn’t have left for all the world, only the fence came down and some of the dogs got loose and one of the pregnant bitches got frightened and ran off into the forest. If she’d whelped out there there’s no way the puppies would have survived the night.’
I raise a hand to my mouth.
‘That’s why my phone was ringing yesterday after I’d told the staff not to disturb us, but they knew, in her frightened state, she’d only respond to my calls, and so one of the husky team drove over to your cabin hoping to find me there, and I just panicked and flew out the door. I’m sorry.’
‘It’s OK, I’d have done the same thing. Did you find her?’
‘Yes, thank God, after a long search. She was hiding, terrified, under a bridge about a kilometre away. But by the time we’d got her settled again, and rounded up the others,andrepaired the fence, I was worried it was too late for me to come back to your cabin.’
‘You should have come, I was hoping you would. I saved you some cookies.’
‘You did?’
‘For an hour I did. Then they got eaten.’
