Chapter 3
Emelie had packed a small bag, waved goodbye to the girls and now she was halfway to Sardinön and looking for a place to have lunch. She grew more nervous with every mile, thinking about what she would encounter once she got there. The usual burger places and traditional roadside restaurants tried to tempt her along the road, and eventually she picked one of the former and steered off the highway. She ordered, sat down and let her mind run. She had called the 31-year-old hottie – who no one knew whether he was a hottie or not – and he had agreed to meet her by the harbour on Sardinön in approximately three hours. He sounded friendly over the phone and had immediately asked who she was and where she lived. She had asked how he knew Astrid, and he had answered something rather vague about her being like a grandmother to him. Even so, it was apparent, that she wasn’t Andreas’ real grandmother, because in that case, he would have inherited the house and now she had. She wiped her mouth, used the bathroom and continued the journey towards her new home. When she got back in the car, she had to chuckle a bit to herself. It was all so odd, suddenly being the new owner of a house on a west coast island that she had never set foot on before.
Three hours later, she was standing on the ferry from the mainland over to the island and from a distance she could see that someone was standing on the shore, waiting. The summer sun shone from a cloudless sky, and she could feel the heat-rash lurking under her skin. A moment later they arrived at the island, and she drove off the ferry and parked across from the ferry terminal.
Sardinön looked exactly as she had imagined it. Along the pier, the boathouses were leaning into each other, each of them boasting a wooden sign with its name carved into it;Pollux, Grundland, Skagen. There was a narrow, paved road running from the ferry that split itself in half, with each of the roads running in different directions around the island. On the other side of the road were the wooden villas. White and beautiful, with glassed-in porches and intricate carpentry work.
“Hello, are you Emelie?”
She turned around and caught sight of a young man with clear blue eyes who was wearing his blonde hair in a fashionable, thick fringe. Not very old, but definitely no brat either. Emelie smiled hesitantly.
“Yes, exactly. Andreas?”
He smiled and nodded, displaying shiny row of white teeth.
“Such a lovely weather. I guess there’s sunshine all year round on this island, huh? I’m sure it’s always like this?”
Christ, why was she babbling on like that? She shook her head and pulled herself together.
“Of course there is. But why don’t you drive ahead, and then I can follow you to the house?”
“No, this is a car-free island, so we will have to take my ride”, he said, turning around and walking along the pier.
“But my car…?”
He waved dismissively with one hand, and she didn’t have any other choice than to follow him. The only vehicle she could see on the pier was a blue moped with a loading platform, and he jumped on it and kick-started it.
“Let’s go, you can sit here”, he said and nodded towards the platform.
Emelie stopped abruptly. Sure, she had tried riding that kind of moped before, but it was a long time ago and today she had picked a short skirt and tights. It had been a bit of a miscalculation on a beautiful day like this, but when she left Växjö it had been raining, and it had seemed like a tights kind of day. Now she was sweating tremendously and the mere thought of clambering up on a wooden platform that would definitely catch her stockings made her feel nauseous. Especially since she didn’t know this Andreas at all.
“No, actually, I don’t want to, or I simply can’t…”
He turned the gas handle with one hand, making the engine purr. Then he switched into neutral gear, stepped off the moped and walked over to her.
“Do you need help getting up?”
This was even worse! Sweat was running down her spine and she definitely wasn’t going to let this brat play the gentleman.
“No, I’ve got it, thank you very much!”
She took off her backpack and the jacket that she had also picked out back in rainy Växjö. She squeezed the jacket down into the bag and put it back on her back. In the meantime, Andreas had gotten back on his moped.
“You can step on the wheel if you want to,” he said, pointing to the left front wheel.
She nodded and went over to the platform. Luckily, he had found a pillow for her to sit on, but she was still risking catching her stockings. Her best bet was to try and avoid slipping around on the platform, because in that case both her skin and her tights would get destroyed. She had to sit straight on the pillow, stay put the whole way and not move her bum or her legs an inch, no matter how long the road turned out to be. Luckily, the skirt wasn’t super tight and, with one foot on the wheel, she took advantage the few riding classes she had taken when she was ten. She swung herself up on the platform and managed to sit down rather gracefully and almost exactly in the middle of the pillow. As soon as she had put her bum down, Andreas took off and she shrieked with surprise and held on tightly to the sides.
They quickly drove around the island before finally coming to a stop in front of a white wooden building. Her legs were all shaky as she jumped off, concluding that she had definitely caught her stockings. She sighed. Bugger.
“We’re here. This is Astrid’s house,” Andreas told her.
She looked over at the house and could hardly believe what she saw. It was big. Bigger than the ones she had seen in the harbour. Mullioned windows, a glassed-in porch with intricate carpentry work and a tower. A tower!
“It is? This one?”
She pointed to the big house in disbelief, but Andreas just nodded and handed her a key from his pocket. The keychain was a red tassel.
“This is the key to your home”, he said, giving it to her.
