“It sounds lovely, but why did you stop arranging it?”
“Oh well…”, Birgitta let her wait for the answer. “I’m not entirely sure, but it was Christer up on the hill who was responsible for the market, he is in charge of the community centre too and…”
Birgitta took a sip of her coffee, looking at Emelie as if she was debating whether she was worthy of sharing in the secrets of the island or not. Emelie smiled at her and raised her coffee cup, as if to propose a toast.
“Come on now…”
“Oh well, I guess it’s been such a long time…”
She leaned closer to Emilie, lowering her voice.
“Christer’s wife met a man from Malmö at the market and ran away with him. The new man loved golf, and I guess he had a house on Mallorca. Ever since that day Christer has hated everything that has anything to do with Christmas markets or people from Scania. Oh, and probably golf as well, but I don’t know that for sure.” Birgitta and Emelie looked at each other and burst out laughing and they continued until Birgitta put her hand over her mouth.
“No, it’s horrid, poor, dear Christer, we mustn’t laugh at it!”
Emilie tried to collect herself but wasn’t able to keep a straight face, and they both started laughing again. Before they had a chance to calm down, the pager in Birgitta’s pocket started beeping.
“Oh, well, that was fun while it lasted. It’s my husband, I have to go.”
“But it was great fun, thanks for the chat”, Emelie said.
Birgitta slowly got to her feet.
“It truly was, it’s been a long time since I laughed that much. But if I were you, I’d go and speak to Christer, maybe it turns out to be the solution to all your problems. If we arrange a new Christmas market you can sell all of Astrid’s old things there. And if you can make this old bag laugh, I’m sure you can convince Christer to forget about the Scanian too. He lives on the first floor in the community centre.”
She slowly walked through the garden and Emilie saw her stop and pick up the pager, turning it off when it beeped again. She turned towards Emilie and waved.
“By the way, Stig used to be Santa at the market. He was an extraordinary Santa, all the children loved him,” she shouted with a dreamy smile on her face.
And so did you, Emilie thought to herself with a heavy heart and waved back. It was obvious that Birgitta was in love with Stig, but it might be an impossible love, considering the situation. She stayed in the garden for a while, enjoying the sunshine. A Christmas market. It wasn’t a bad idea.
She looked at her watch. Linn would be at work for at least another hour and Liv and Linnea were over at Tore’s, she had time to go over to the community centre. But where was it? Before she had the time to think any further, she was interrupted by the sound of Andreas’s moped and she just had time to put down her coffee cup and pull her hands through her hair before he skidded up in front of the house, gravel flying around the wheels. His eyes were glittering as he got off the moped and walked in her direction.
“Are you sitting here all by yourself, having coffee?”
His entire face, the front of his shirt and his underarms were covered in a thin layer of dirt. Emelie couldn’t help but smile back.
“The walking specter has just moved on. From the look of you I guess that you have been digging some flowerbeds today?” she said, squinting.
He looked down at his arms and laughed.
“Christ you’re right, I have a job on the mainland remaking a whole garden. It’s hard work, but it’s looking great and it’s lots of fun.”
“I’m glad you came; I have something to ask you about.”
She told him everything Birgitta had shared with her, and then asked him whether he thought that it was a good idea to start up the old Christmas market, if it was at all possible to talk to Christer about it, and in that case; how to get to the community centre.
“It sounds like a great idea, the Christmas market was lots of fun, there’s lots of people on the island missing it, and I’m sure they would love for it to return. But we will have to talk to Christer because the community centre is definitely the best place for the market. Give me ten minutes, and I’ll give you a ride?”
She nodded and he went over to his. Almost exactly ten minutes later he came back out. His hair was wet and he had a denim shirt tucked into his well-fitting jeans. Emelie thought about Sara and how she asked her over the phone the other day if he was a hottie or not. She hadn’t admitted it then, but there was no use denying it. The messy fringe, the muscular, tanned underarms and the broad grin. Hewasa hottie. Andreas gestured to her to jump up on the platform, but Emelie had something else in mind.
“Can I drive?”
He smiled.
“Of course, have you tried it before?”
“When I was a teenager, but it’s a bit like biking, right?”
