Sussi got up and waved to Stina, who had just finished serving coffee to the last line dancer in the queue.
“Stina, love, our guests love line dance, but they aren’t as impressed with your cookies”, she said.
Andreas grabbed Sussi, pulling her back down.
“Oh, come on…that was unnecessary…Now I feel ashamed.”
“Ah, don’t” Sussi laughed, “Stina hates baking, and she is well aware of the quality of the cookies.
Stina shut the door to the boat house and came over to them with a plastic cup of coffee in one hand and a big thermos in the other. The chatting at the table calmed down and all eyes turned to her. She was even prettier with the sun in her back. She put the thermos on the table with a thud, tilted her head and gave Andreas a mischievous look.
“Maybe I can offer our handsome but grumpy gardener some more of my fabulous coffee?”
Emelie froze with a cream puff half way to her mouth. Was the dark-haired beauty interested in Andreas? She felt sting of jealousy. Andreas laughed and accepted a refill of the coffee and then introduced Stina to everyone around the table. The dark beauty squeezed down next to Sussi and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
“And you, my darling, looked amazing down on the pier as always.”
It was impossible not to notice the chemistry between them and Emelie felt relieved to realise that Sussi and Stina were in fact a couple. Stina smiled at Liv and Linnea and then looked at the others around the table.
“But you are right, the cookies aren’t the best. I am thrilled that we got to borrow the boat house but baking really isn’t my thing. I’m an economist, so the only thing I enjoy about running a café is counting the money,” Stina said with determination.
Everyone around the table started laughing and soon Sussi and Stina had told them that they lived permanently on the island and had done so for the last three years. They were both freelancers working from home; Stina as an economist and Sussi as a journalist specialising in online marketing. Liv and Linnea ran off to play on the pier and Linn turned to Stina.
“But, perhaps I can help you bake and take care of the café next time,” she said.
Stina looked at Linn in surprise, as if it was completely unthinkable that someone would find baking enjoyable.
“Would you really like to?”
“I studied baking at school, and I love baking. And it won’t end well if I have to eat everything I make myself or stuff my family with it, it would be perfect to run a little café.”
She looked at Stina with anticipation and Stina shook her hand.
“It’s a deal! I can make the coffee if you want, come with me to the boat house right now and I’ll give you some money for baking supplies.”
She turned towards Sussi.
“And afterwards I will go and buy a lottery ticket and a pregnancy test, this must be my lucky day. Imagine, I won’t have to bake anymore!”
“Yes, bloody hell, but we would need a miracle for a positive pregnancy test. If the beautiful gardener doesn’t have some genes to share with us, that is?”
She hit Andreas jokingly in the back and he scoffed, shaking his head. It seemed like he had gotten the proposition from the girls before, Emelie thought to herself, feeling rather confused. Were they trying to get pregnant? She didn’t have time to finish her thought before Sussi looked at her watch, got up and clapped her hands.
“Listen up, everyone, coffee break is over, let’s try everything that we have learned in a 30 minute long fabulous grand finale!”
Liv and Linnea danced the whole way home, forcing a couple of cyclists to swerve abruptly when they suddenly stopped and started practicing some new line dance-steps on the road. It was a bright summer night and the flags on the boats flickered slowly in the warm wind. Linn walked between Andreas and Emelie, humming one of the country songs that Sussi had played. She put one arm under Emelie’s and the other under Andreas’, looking from one person to another.
“This is one of the best evenings of my life. The sun, the sea, the dancing, what more can a girl ask for?”
“I guess that would be a decent cookie with the coffee,” Andreas laughed.
“Yep, we were one chocolate cupcake away from the perfect evening,” Emelie added.
She looked at Linn who smiled back at her. It truly was a perfect night. A bit further ahead she saw her two young girls, happy and content, and next to her was Linn, who had adapted so quickly to the life on the island.
“Linnea might be right, mum. Maybe we should stay here a little longer? Don’t you have some money left from the inheritance? I think they would like to keep me on at the shop because there’s a girl there who is going on maternity leave. And if we run out of money, we can always sell a couple of Santas.”
Emelie hadn’t told Linn about the plans for a Christmas market. It had felt like a great idea at the community centre, but it had gotten her thinking once she got back to the Christmas house; How would it all work out if they returned to Växjö? Would she be able to be a member of the market committee from home and come back in December in time for the market? She thought about it for a moment and then shrugged her shoulders.
