Chapter 20
Kjell
In the dim light, the expanse of the southern Swedish coast passes by the car window. I lean my head against the glass, feeling the gentle jolting of the car on the uneven road and watching the bright streak that has been appearing on the horizon for the past few minutes.
Before the night ended, we left Stockholm. It was as if not only Sky was fleeing from the world but also me.
Me, who is exactly the danger she's running away from.
Fuck. This isn't fair. I shouldn't have come with her, but I couldn't control myself. It wasn't just the pleading in her expression that touched my heart too deeply, but also what I now know about her.
What suddenly casts the events of the past in a new light.
What might change everything.
"Welcome to Öland," Sky says as she guides the car onto a narrow path, stopping in front of a wide wrought-iron gate.
"So this is the Blohm family estate," I say, looking beyond the gate. However, I can't make out much in the early morning light except for some snow-covered, wild-growing shrubs.
Sky laughs, and it sounds beautiful. "It's less spectacular than you might think." She rolls down the car window and enters a code into the black box, causing the gate to swing open.
To see better, I stretch in the passenger seat. We pass through the entrance, and shortly after, we reach a dark blue wooden house with gray roof shingles and white shutters, all of which are closed.
In fact, it's no larger than a single-family home and far from extravagant.
"It looks very cozy," I comment. "Did you used to come here often?"
Sky stops the car and turns off the ignition. "Not really."
"Why not?" I get out of the seat. The five-hour drive and the short night have left me feeling tired, but as I step out of the car and inhale the clear island air, I instantly feel more awake. Behind the dune grass protruding from the thin layer of snow, the sea is likely hidden. I can hear the gentle lapping of waves from here.
"My father hardly had time for vacations. And my mother... well, she was always busy too," Sky replies with a sigh, which I can't quite decipher.
Is it sadness? Or is it matter-of-fact? There's something behind it that she's not telling me.
"But I often came here with Lil," she adds cheerfully amid my thoughts.
The woman she was talking to on the phone. "Who is Lil?" I walk around the car and open the trunk.
The keychain Sky pulls from her purse jingles loudly. "We've been friends all our lives." A wistful smile crosses her face. "Since she was seventeen, she's been working as an assistant atTouch av lyx."
Thoughtfully, I glance at the travel bags we carefully stacked in the car in Stockholm. Sky spoke the truth. They were friends.It sounds sad, but it fits with what I saw in the darkness of the night in front of the Blohm Villa back then.
"Come on, I'll show you the house," Sky says, suddenly appearing next to me. "We'll get the luggage later."
A thousand questions burn inside me, but I can't ask any of them, and I don't even know why. Maybe because I see the anticipation in Sky's eyes. Maybe because I'm too confused overall to grasp what's happening here.
I close the trunk and follow Sky to the white wooden door that looks like a back entrance. As we enter, cold and darkness surround me. It's only when Sky turns on the light that I realize the ground floor of the house consists mainly of one large room. Together, we remove the sheets covering the furniture and open the wooden shutters on the windows. Finally, Sky pushes the shutters aside, revealing a full-length glass front that frames a view of snow-covered dunes. I see tall tufts of grass swaying gently in the wind and the sea, frozen at the edges. Waves ripple just a few yards out. Where the water meets the sky, the rising sun bathes the scene in orange light.
Sky stands in front of this backdrop. Her sleeves are pulled down to her fingertips in her white down jacket as she gazes out into the infinity.
I'd love to know what she's thinking right now. Is she happy to be here with me? Are memories flooding back to her? Are they sweet? Or more bitter?
Now she comes back to me. A smile graces her lips, and her hair, falling loosely over her shoulders, competes with her eyes in its radiance.
"Do you know how to make a fire?" She nods toward the open fireplace, in front of which a cream-colored sofa and a side table with a modern lamp are positioned.
Uh... did she just ask me something?
