Emelie smiled and gave her daughter a kiss on the nose.
“It’ll be just fine, love, I’m going to be okay. Why don’t you pack what you need, Malin said that she will come and pick you up in half an hour.”
Andreas came out of his cottage and walked over to where Emelie was sitting with a blanket over her legs, enjoying the late summer night and a good book. He sat down next to her.
“I have some good news and a question, what should I start with?”
Emelie laughed.
“Take the news first.”
“I passed by my aunt’s house on the way home, she was really excited about the idea of making Sardinö-sweaters again. It seems like it was her mum who started the production, and she had all the patterns, lots of yarn and also some sweaters in storage. Now she’s going to put her whole sewing group to work, and they would love to have a table at the market,” Andreas said.
“How exciting, I’ll make a note of it before I forget.”
“Good idea, but I still have my question.”
“Okay?”
“Would you like to have dinner over at my house tonight? It’s my turn to cook, I’ve been over to your house so many times for dinner and coffee and cake, and I have something I would like to discuss with you.”
“Wow, now you really got me curious, but that sounds great, the girls aren’t home tonight, when should I be there?”
Two hours later she had taken a shower and put on a pair of light jeans and a white shirt. She had put up and let out her long, blonde hair at least ten times and in the end decided to keep it loose. Some cc-cream and blush on her cheeks, mascara and a light lip-gloss would have to do. She took a bottle of wine and walked over to Andreas’. She tried to suppress her nervous feelings as she was crossing the lawn. This was the closest they had ever been to a date, or perhaps it wasn’t a date at all? What if he wanted to talk about Linn and his feelings for her? If that was the case, she would have to try and keep cool and make him understand that Linn was too young for him. Andreas met her in the hallway and gave her a big hug. He was wearing a light blue linen shirt tucked down into a pair of jeans and he had a brown leather apron tied around his waist.
“It smells marvelous. What are you making?”
“It’s an Italian stew that I learned to make when I was studying. And you’re right, it smells nice, it’s much easier when you have free access to garlic, tomatoes and fresh herbs,” he said.
She took off the shawl she had carried over her shoulders and stepped into the big room that was both kitchen and living room in one – open-plan in broker language. It wasn’t big, but well-planned and very cosy. Andreas poured them some wine from the bottle she had brought, and they sat down at the dinner table. The food tasted just as great as it smelled, and they chatted about the Christmas market, the nursery, the people on the island and the way her daughters had adapted so quickly to life on the island. Andreas got up and invited her to go relax on the sofa while he made coffee. She leaned back on the soft cushions of the corduroy sofa, looking at him with her eyes half closed. He was handsome and sweet and seemed older thirty-something. He turned around, their eyes met, and as so many times before they looked at each other for a bit too long before he broke the spell by asking if she wanted to have anything with the coffee.
“Over to my question,” he said a while later when they had finished the coffee.
They had refilled their glasses and were sitting, snuggled up into opposite ends of the two-seat sofa, their feet touching, and no one had tried to move them. Bloody hell, Emelie thought, and she could feel the butterflies in her belly again. They were having such a good time, what was he going to say? She sat up, placed both her feet firmly on the floor while Andreas leaned a bit closer to her.
“My nursery, you know. It’s doing great and I will probably have to hire someone to deal with all the practicalities soon. But I really need another greenhouse and I don’t have enough room over by the others. This is a great place, and the conditions would be perfect, the only problem is that part of it would be on my land but the rest would be on yours, along the hill.”
He got quiet and looked at her like a child who had just given his wish list to Santa Claus. Goodness, have I started becoming Christmas-obsessed too, Emelie thought to herself. She felt how all her tensions disappeared and she couldn’t help smiling with relief.
“Sounds good, tell me more about it.”
A couple of hours later they had agreed on the design of the greenhouse and where to put it. She had also gotten a colourful description of everything he wanted to grow there. She leaned back smiling and said:
“And I only have one condition.”
“Okay…”
“If I agree to the greenhouse, you will build me that table that you talked about and…”
He smiled, looking at her with raised eyebrows.
“…Perhaps help me take down that wall in the kitchen too.”
They shook hands
“It’s a deal.”
As she was walking back along the short gravel path between their houses, she didn’t feel one bit nervous anymore, and not even the chilly night air could make her walk any faster. She smiled. They had hugged for a long time as they said goodbye and he had told her that he was thrilled that they had moved in. She froze. Hell, he had said that it was fun that they had moved in, not that SHE had moved in. Maybe he was still thinking about Linn? She angrily kicked a small stone on the path and it bounced back, hitting her on the bounce on the inside of her foot. She grimaced and then quickly walked back home.
