“Yes, she might be right, and speaking of selling the Christmas things…”
She looked over at Andreas over Linn’s head, smiling at him. Then they took turns sharing their plans about the market. Andreas seemed just as enthusiastic as Emelie, and soon all three of them were walking there, planning the baking, flowers, where the different salespeople would be standing and talking about who had different talents on the island. Stig would be the Santa and the church choir would sing, Andreas would arrange different Christmas flowers, pine garlands and all other decorations. Linn’s eyes were sparkling.
“Oh, mum, do you think I can be in charge of baking at the market too?”
“I’m sure you can”, Andreas answered. “We’ve already talked to Christer about it. It used to be Astrid baking for the market, she was a real master at Christmas cookies, and she kept all her recipes in an old, red book with a bookmark in the shape of an angel in. We just have to find that book. You would love her recipes, Linn!”
He looked tenderly at her, squeezing her arm. Bloody hell, she had almost managed to forget that Andreas had a crush on her young daughter. She pulled herself away from Linn’s grip and said, a bit too harshly:
“Let’s see what happens, I actually have a house in Växjö and a job. It wasn’t that much money that Astrid left me that I can quit working.”
Andreas and Linn stared at her in surprise and Linn shook her head.
“Where there’s a will there’s a way”, she said, turning to Andreas. “Where do you think that baking book might be?”
They kept walking, discussing where Astrid could have hidden her precious book. Emelie fell behind, or maybe she was walking slowly on purpose to put some distance between her and the others. She looked at the four happy people in front of her. Three of the people she loved the most in the world, and then Andreas, whom she had grown to care about, but who was also annoying her with his relationship with Linn. She absolutely didn’t want him for a son in law. She walked slowly and tried to collect her thoughts. Sometimes Liv and Linnea would turn around and wave, and then she smiled and waved back. She didn’t feel like going back to Växjö and her dull job as a housekeeping manager, and in just a couple of short weeks she had come to love this island and its inhabitants. She was interrupted by the beeping of her mobile phone. She picked it up and saw that the message came from the family that was renting their house. Oh no, was it that the boiler was broken or the house had burnt down? She took a deep breath before opening the message, mentally preparing herself for the disaster that she was sure was coming. She read the text message and slowly a smile spread across her face. She looked up at the four people in front of her.
“Linn, Andreas, wait up!”
They turned around and she walked towards them, holding the phone up in the air. She showed them the screen and Linn read the message out loud:
“Hello there, your tenants here, hope you all are well. The house we were planning on buying here in Växjö is no longer up for sale, but if you are interested in sub-letting the house until August next year, we would love to extend our contract. Let us know as soon as possible, or we’ll have to look into other opportunities.”
Linn looked at her mum with anticipation and Emelie smiled at her, leaving her negative thoughts behind.
“Well, this must be a sign, if anything.”
Chapter 11
Emelie came walking through the door with shopping bags in her hands and a big smile on her face. Last week’s line dance had been so much fun that she had giggled to herself several times during the following week. Dancing was so much fun, plus she felt that she had made two new friends in Sussi and Sara, and that was also lovely. She missed Sara and their wine nights and powerwalks, and even if they often spoke on the phone, it wasn’t the same. To be able to look someone in the eyes and laugh together was incredible. Perhaps she hadn’t realised how much she had missed friends. Over here, she only spent time with her kids and the people involved in the market, Stig, Birgitta and Christer. They were all lovely people, even though they were a tad odd, but they weren’t friendship material in the same way that Stina and Sussi were. So, when Linn declared that they needed to have some people over in order to try out her baked goods, Emelie had pushed her shyness to the side and invited the two girls over.
“I’ve been baking,” Linn shouted from the kitchen.
“I can tell, it smells heavenly,” Emelie said, as she walked into the kitchen “Oh my…”
The worktops were over-filled with oven plates full of rolls and cookies in all shapes and sizes. There was flour all over the kitchen table and the sink was full of dough bowls and whisks. In the middle of the chaos, Linn was standing, her dark hair sprinkled with flour and with a broad grin on her lips.
“Goodness, have you been baking all day?”
Linn nodded enthusiastically, pointing to the oven plates around her.
“Here’s checkerboard cookies and Brussels cookies. Shortbread and caramel biscuits. Cinnamon rolls of course, and I was thinking about trying to make some Danishes. What do you think?”
Emelie started laughing.
“Wonderful darling, but I don’t think that we need any more cookies.”
Linn found a cookie jar with elves on top of a shelf and carefully started filling it with checkerboard cookies.
“I’m going to need more flour…” she mumbled.
“So you’re actually planning on baking more?”
Emelie put butter and milk in the refrigerator and started unpacking cereal and oats, putting them into the larder.
“Yes! For the market and the line dance as well. I thought we could have a tasting today when SoS are coming over,” she said, putting the lid on the jar. Then she found a new one and started filling it with Brussels cookies.
“SoS?”
