“Okay then, I’ll take care of it. Now we must go, girls. I’m invited to have some wine over at Stina and Sussi’s tonight, you see,” she told Christer.
“They are good townsfolk, they just need some able-bodied men in the house”, he said.
“But, uncle Christer, Sussi and Stina are dating each other” Liv said, giggling.
Christer’s eyes grew wider, and he gave Emelie a puzzled look. She hurried up and chased her gossiping girls down the staircase.
“Bye, I’ll be back soon”, she shouted on the way out.
After making dinner, making sure the both younger girls had taken showers and leaving Linn in charge, Emelie put on some mascara and lip-gloss, put a bag-in-box under her arm and walked over to Stina and Sussi’s. The evening was warm, making little drops of sweat form along her hairline. It was hard to believe that autumn was on its way. It felt nice, she liked the heat.
That was the main reason she had decided to go to Gambia many years ago, even though her parents and several of her friends thought that it was an absurd idea to go all the way to Africa when you were just 18 years old. But Emelie wanted to see something new and to be certain of getting to enjoy warm weather, so she had convinced her best friend, Anna, to come along. That’s how she had first med Ousman. One night they were sitting at a bar along the beach, and he came walking by. Tall and handsome, and with a body and a smile that were irresistible. They had been a couple since that night, and when it was time for Emelie to go back home, they had decided that he would follow her. A couple of months later, Emelie has realised that she was pregnant, and Ousman had taken the trip across the earth earlier than planned. She sighed. They had been so happy when Linn was born. Ousman quickly picked up Swedish, got a job as a carpenter and everything seemed to work out for the best. She waved to Birgitta who poked her head out, asking where she was going. She couldn’t lie and say that she was just going for a walk, since she had the box of wine under her arm.
“I’m off to Sussi and Stina’s!” she shouted, speeding up her steps so as not to risk Birgitta would inviting herself to come along again. But something was calling for her attention inside the house, and she waved and disappeared. Sussi and Stina lived in a house close to the pier where they used to practice dancing. It was uneven and lopsided and red with white corners. And when Sussi opened the door, it made a concerning, squeaking sound.
“Never mind that, I’ll fix it, any day now,” she said, bundling Emelie into the hallway.
Inside the cottage, the atmosphere was completely different than what you would have expected from the exterior. There were no typical, west coast decorations such as glass buoys in nets or the traditional lighthouse or seagull that usually adorned the windowsills of the summer guests. The house had an industrial, but cosy feel to it. There was a large, turquoise sofa in velvet and a large cabinet in metal and glass, as well as paintings with vibrant prints and a patchwork carpet on the floor.
“Blimey, it looks amazing here!” Emelie exclaimed.
The girls thanked her and showed her into the small kitchen. The table was set with white ceramic plates with stylishly rough edges. In the middle of the table were three tall glasses filled with bubbly wine, they cheered and Sussi and Stina welcomed her into their home.
When they had finished eating, they sat down in the velvet sofa and Emelie had a million questions for the girls. She wanted to know how they had ended up on Sardinön and what thoughts they had about their future on the island. But she didn’t have time to open her mouth before Sussi started bombardingherwith questions.
“It’s just so much fun with the Christmas market! We really need more things to do here, especially during the winter months, and getting some townsfolk over will be great for the business,” she said enthusiastically.
“Yes, speaking of that. We need a website to market the event, could you take care of that?”
Sussi’s face lit up.
“But of course! Do you think we should call it ‘Christmas market on Sardinön’ or come up with something else?”
They decided that it was a great, simple name. They didn’t want to make it more complicated than necessary and, since the idea was to draw both new and old visitors to the market, that’s what they were going to call it. When Sussi had taken some notes and declared that she was going to start on the website the following day, they started discussing families, Gambian exes and why Stina and Sussi had moved to the island in the first place.
“I’ve always wanted to live like this, and when I started dating Sussi, who was also a freelancer, we started looking into how to realise the dream of a house on the west coast,” Stina said.
She poured more wine from the box, and Emelie nodded and leaned backwards onto the soft sofa cushions.
“It took a couple of years, but then this house popped up. It was a coincidence that it was Sardinön, because we don’t really have a connection to the place or anything”, Sussi added. “But how are you related to Astrid?”
Emelie explained that Astrid had been her grandmother’s sister and that she had just met her once or twice when she was a little girl. They started speculating about the house and why it was so filled with Christmas decorations.
“I only have some vague memories of Astrid, but like I mentioned before, she was always dressed in red”, Sussi said, hesitantly.
“Right, she even dressed in Christmas colours” Emelie said. “Yes, I wonder where the interest came from. Or maybe it was more of a well-established hobby?”
“Considering everything you’ve told us, it sounds like a bad case of hoarding,” Stina laughed. Emelie nodded.
“Yes, it is odd. But enough about that. Not that it’s any of my business, but did I hear you mentioning something about a pregnancy test out on the pier the other day?”
Sussi and Stina smiled, and Sussi grabbed Stina’s hand.
“Yes, no luck this time, but we’ll try again. We are so jealous of your lovely girls. And by the way, maybe we should ask you about this…Your neighbour?”
Emelie took a sip of her wine and looked at them.
“My neighbour? Birgitta?”
