Under One Sky

Chapter 32

32

OCTOBER 2018, TROMS?, NORWAY

That Same Night

‘I’m so glad you could make it!’ Cecilie hugs Grethe carefully, while her baby sleeps curled up and snug in a sling on her chest.

‘Well, what difference does it make at this age? She still doesn’t know night from day yet, and we wouldn’t miss Auntie Cecilie and Uncle Espen’s party for the world!’ Grethe and Cecilie release their embrace and look down at the baby cocooned between them. They laugh. Ahyana’s lips pucker rapidly as if she’s dreaming of her mother’s milk and, like tired Grethe, she doesn’t look all that party ready.

Cecilie on the other hand is glowing. Peacock-green eyeshadow sparkles across her feline lids. Her sweep of platinum-blonde hair is pinned to one cheekbone with a diamanté clip; a sparkling black ear cuff whispers up the elegant curve of her other ear. Gone are the woolly jumper, jeans and clunky DM boots. She wears a long black dress cut deep at the V of her décolletage and, underneath swathes of black silk, Cecilie stands strong in petrol-green heels. Even her hands are elegant, her nails painted a sleek shade of oil slick. Grethe, make-up-free in her patchwork dress and stripy baby sling, looks at her friend in awe and pushes the loose strands of hair back into her crocheted hairband. ‘You look stunning!’

Cecilie isn’t used to being called stunning, so she smiles and blushes.

‘No wonder Andreas looks like the cat who got the cream.’ Grethe nods, aiming her gaze towards Andreas and Abdi, shaking hands stiltedly by the table of devilled eggs, marinated herring and glazed trout.

‘Now I know Espen has been thirty for, like, nine years, but look at you! All grown up!’ Grethe laughs in admiration as she strokes the shoulder of Cecilie’s black dress.

‘Shut up, you’re next,’ says Cecilie, laughing.

‘But, seriously, isn’t this lovely?’ Grethe marvels, almost in surprise, as she looks up at the ceiling. Huge white globes that look like balls of lace light the i-Scand’s party room and soften the dark circles under Grethe’s eyes.

One wall of the room has floor-to-ceiling glass that overlooks the harbour, the bridge and the Arctic cathedral in the distance across the water. A ship sails past so close it gives the illusion of the room moving gently along the harbour the other way.

‘You know Espen, never one to do things by half. But he went to such an effort, I had to get on board. Have you had a drink? Eirik has created a signature cocktail especially, the Double Wiig.’

‘A Double Wiig? Your own cocktail?’ Grethe laughs.

‘You must try it! Can you try it?’ Cecilie nods down to Ahyana.

‘One won’t hurt,’ Grethe says with a wink. ‘Might make her sleep better later. ’

As if on cue, a waitress walks past with a tray full of Martini glasses, filled with a peachy syrupy drink.

‘Ah, Solveig!’ says Grethe, deftly taking a glass from the tray. ‘Any chance I can steal you back? The hours are more sociable at the ice cream parlour.’

The waitress laughs and leans in to look at sleeping Ahyana.

‘She’s beautiful, Grethe. Congratulations,’ she replies diplomatically.

Grethe smiles and Solveig weaves away into the crowd full of friends, family, regulars from the library, the Hjornekafé and the hotel, and Espen’s former flames. Espen and Morten look dashing in his-and-his tuxedos with thick silk bow ties, and Cecilie, happy not to be the centre of attention at her own birthday party, likes the feeling of having wandered into their wedding.

‘So, how’s it going with Andreas?’ Grethe asks excitedly as she raises a Double Wiig to her lips. ‘He looks smitten, Cecilie. You can tell he’s totally not listening to a word Abdi is saying; he keeps looking over here because he can’t take his eyes off you.’

Cecilie plays with the olive in her glass. ‘Oh, it’s OK…’

‘I have a good feeling about him, Cecilie. He has a nice face. He’s super into you. And how amazing he came to your party, all the way up here, all the way from another country. When are you going to Copenhagen?’

Cecilie has had a fun few months – and she’s finally had another lover since her first and last, Mr Lind – but she can’t help wishing another man had crossed borders to be here with her now, at her birthday party. She feels an emptiness in the pit of her stomach. A feeling of doom she knows might sour the party atmosphere later.

‘Oh, it was coincidence. Andreas was here this week for work anyway, he just stayed an extra night. ’

‘Yeah, but clearly he wouldn’t have missed this for the world,’ Grethe gushes, her tired face illuminating a little.

Cecilie sighs. ‘He wants me to go to Copenhagen next weekend, to meet his kids.’

Grethe’s blue eyes widen encouragingly. ‘What do you think?’

Cecilie scrunches up her nose and goes to say something, but the women are distracted by Karin’s chink chink of a glass as she stands at a microphone on a small stage, her back to the twinkling lights of the harbour.