“There’s no point. We are almost ready and then we’ll go back home. So, you just go home and meet us there, okay?”
She realised that he was right, even if it felt strange, him taking care of her daughter. She was so used to dealing with everything concerning the girls on her own that she hardly knew how to share the responsibility. It wasn’t at all unpleasant, now that she thought about it. Not that Andreas would become some sort of bonus father to them, but still.
“Okay, I’ll do that. I’ll see you at home. When do you think you’ll be there?”
“In approximately 45 minutes. We’ll stop by the pharmacy to pick up Liv’s painkillers on the way,” he said, and they hung up.
Sussi gave her a troubled look, and she told her the whole story. Then she dropped down onto a chair in the cloak room. Sussi stroked her back and Emelie managed to get her pulse down a little.
“It’s nice that he was there for Liv”, Sussi said.
“Yes, but I wasn’t, and it feels terrible,” Emelie responded.
“Hey, what is it you say? That it takes a village to raise a child – or rather – an island. You understand that, right? And Andreas seems like he would make a pretty good father,” she said and got a dreamy look in her eyes.
Emelie suddenly remembered the discussion about Andreas donating sperm for a future baby.
“Yes, I suppose it’s a sign of good daddy qualities, if anything,” Emelie said, smiling at Sussi.
Forty minutes later, Andreas came back with his precious cargo and Emelie ran out into the driveway to greet them. Liv was in the backseat of the car with her leg in a cast and her eyelids looked heavy.
“She has gotten some painkillers and is a bit out of it,” Andreas said, lifting her out of the backseat.
“Oh love, how are you feeling?”
“I’m just fine,” Liv said, with a lopsided smile.
“Jesus Christ, the kid is high,” Emelie chuckled silently, and Andreas smiled back at her and nodded.
They carried her inside, putting her on the sofa. Liv wanted to watch ‘The Saddle Club’ and Emelie put on the telly and gave her a glass of cordial and some crackers. Then they sat down at the new kitchen table, having a cup of coffee. They hardly had time to take the first sip before Kajsa, Linn, Linnea and Tore came rushing in.
“How is she?”
“Was it actually broken?”
“Did Liv fall off a giant horse?”
The last question came from Tore, and Emelie hushed them, and they tiptoed over to the sofa where Liv had fallen asleep with her broken leg in a big cast in front of her. They were very impressed with the big cast that covered her skin from the ankle and up to the thigh. Then they silently walked back into the kitchen and Linn found more cookies and cordial and refilled their coffee cups while Andreas told them what had happened.
“It was Liv who told Kajsa’s mum to call me when you didn’t answer,” he said.
“Why didn’t they call me?” Linn asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Perhaps because you don’t have a driver’s license, and because they realised immediately that the leg was broken, even though they didn’t want to say anything to Liv. Not to worry her more than necessary,” Andreas said, smiling and stroking Linn’s arm.
Emelie saw the gesture and immediately something resembling jealousy started bubbling inside her. She cleared her throat and stretched her back.
“I hope it didn’t ruin your day at work. Having to leave like that, in a hurry”, she said sharply.
“No worries at all, I was almost done for the day and Martin closed up, so it was cool,” he said, smiling.
“I’ll give you money for petrol,” she said, chewing on a saffron cookie.
He looked at her in surprise.
“Are you joking? Of course not. It was fine, really. Of course, I’ll help out when I can,” he said, smiling with eyes that were glittering at her.
She felt like she was fourteen again, with uncontrollable feelings rushing all over her. The jealous feelings then became replaced with guilt. She should show gratitude towards this lovely man who had gone out of his way to help her. Like a grown-up. This was the way it was supposed to be, two grown up people, helping each other. But not her and Andreas, she understood that. He was too young, and she was too old. She had too many children and he didn’t have any yet. She got up from the table, looking over at the sofa. Liv was still asleep. She turned towards the people around the table, laughing and chatting. She put a hand on Andreas’ shoulder.
