Chapter 10
She peeked over her shoulder to make sure they were all following, and so far there were no problems. Emelie looked at Linn, who was standing on her right side, and then at Liv and Linnea, who were on her right. She got a thumbs up from Liv. Sussi continued:
“Then you do two heels to the front and two heels backwards, then you shift between toe and heel, right toe to the front, right heel to the back, right toe front, right heel back. Now let’s put it all together and start with the sun feather and try it with the music.”
“Over with my darling Stina in Pollux, the boathouse, you will find coffee, cordial and plenty of cookies. I’ll meet you here again in half an hour, and then it’s time for the grand finale!”
Everyone gave Sussi a round of applause and started queueing up at Stina’s coffee boathouse.
There was a table in the entrance to the little building and behind the table stood a woman, who Emelie guessed was Stina.
She was dressed in a cowboy shirt, jeans and cowboy boots, just like Sussi, but instead of a cowboy hat she was wearing a white and blue bandana to keep her long, dark hair out of her face.
She was so beautiful that it was hard to look at her.
Olive skin, almond-shaped, green eyes and a big smile.
What was a beauty like her doing here when she should be making the big dough on the catwalk in Paris or New York?
“Welcome everyone, the cookies might not be homemade, but I made the coffee myself”, Stina said in a thick Scanian accent that didn’t quite match her exterior.
The summer guest behind Emelie in line whispered to his friend, that with a face like that, she could have sold cream puffs at baker’s association’s yearly board meeting, and Emilie giggled, agreeing.
She bought some coffee, cordial and cream puffs and sat down by one of the tables on the pier where her kids were already sitting.
It was the same table that they had been sitting by on Midsummer, throwing down punch.
But no one else seemed to think about that, so she shook the uncomfortable feeling and focused on her daughters, who were going on about how much fun it had been to dance.
Sussi was walking around between the tables and eventually got to theirs. She sat down next to Andreas.
“It’s so much fun to see you here! You’ve never been to any of my dance classes before, what did you think?”
“It was actually more fun than I had imagined, and it’s Emelie who brought me here,” Andreas said, smiling warmly at Emilie.
He introduced her and the girls to Sussi and they all promised that they had had a wonderful time and that they would return the following week.
“But you should consider upgrading the cookies”, Andreas laughed, waving a rather dry-looking cream puff that.
Sussi got up and waved to Stina, who had just finished serving coffee to the last line dancer in the queue.
“Stina, love, our guests love line dance, but they aren’t as impressed with your cookies”, she said.
Andreas grabbed Sussi, pulling her back down.
“Oh, come on…that was unnecessary…Now I feel ashamed.”
“Ah, don’t” Sussi laughed, “Stina hates baking, and she is well aware of the quality of the cookies.
Stina shut the door to the boat house and came over to them with a plastic cup of coffee in one hand and a big thermos in the other.
The chatting at the table calmed down and all eyes turned to her.
She was even prettier with the sun in her back.
She put the thermos on the table with a thud, tilted her head and gave Andreas a mischievous look.
“Maybe I can offer our handsome but grumpy gardener some more of my fabulous coffee?”
Emelie froze with a cream puff half way to her mouth.
Was the dark-haired beauty interested in Andreas?
She felt sting of jealousy. Andreas laughed and accepted a refill of the coffee and then introduced Stina to everyone around the table.
The dark beauty squeezed down next to Sussi and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
“And you, my darling, looked amazing down on the pier as always.”
It was impossible not to notice the chemistry between them and Emelie felt relieved to realise that Sussi and Stina were in fact a couple. Stina smiled at Liv and Linnea and then looked at the others around the table.
“But you are right, the cookies aren’t the best. I am thrilled that we got to borrow the boat house but baking really isn’t my thing. I’m an economist, so the only thing I enjoy about running a café is counting the money,” Stina said with determination.
Everyone around the table started laughing and soon Sussi and Stina had told them that they lived permanently on the island and had done so for the last three years.
They were both freelancers working from home; Stina as an economist and Sussi as a journalist specialising in online marketing.
Liv and Linnea ran off to play on the pier and Linn turned to Stina.
“But, perhaps I can help you bake and take care of the café next time,” she said.
Stina looked at Linn in surprise, as if it was completely unthinkable that someone would find baking enjoyable.
“Would you really like to?”
“I studied baking at school, and I love baking. And it won’t end well if I have to eat everything I make myself or stuff my family with it, it would be perfect to run a little café.”
She looked at Stina with anticipation and Stina shook her hand.
“It’s a deal! I can make the coffee if you want, come with me to the boat house right now and I’ll give you some money for baking supplies.”
She turned towards Sussi.
“And afterwards I will go and buy a lottery ticket and a pregnancy test, this must be my lucky day. Imagine, I won’t have to bake anymore!”
“Yes, bloody hell, but we would need a miracle for a positive pregnancy test. If the beautiful gardener doesn’t have some genes to share with us, that is?”
She hit Andreas jokingly in the back and he scoffed, shaking his head.
It seemed like he had gotten the proposition from the girls before, Emelie thought to herself, feeling rather confused.
Were they trying to get pregnant? She didn’t have time to finish her thought before Sussi looked at her watch, got up and clapped her hands.
“Listen up, everyone, coffee break is over, let’s try everything that we have learned in a 30 minute long fabulous grand finale!”
Liv and Linnea danced the whole way home, forcing a couple of cyclists to swerve abruptly when they suddenly stopped and started practicing some new line dance-steps on the road.
It was a bright summer night and the flags on the boats flickered slowly in the warm wind.
Linn walked between Andreas and Emelie, humming one of the country songs that Sussi had played.
She put one arm under Emelie’s and the other under Andreas’, looking from one person to another.
“This is one of the best evenings of my life. The sun, the sea, the dancing, what more can a girl ask for?”
“I guess that would be a decent cookie with the coffee,” Andreas laughed.
“Yep, we were one chocolate cupcake away from the perfect evening,” Emelie added.
She looked at Linn who smiled back at her. It truly was a perfect night. A bit further ahead she saw her two young girls, happy and content, and next to her was Linn, who had adapted so quickly to the life on the island.
“Linnea might be right, mum. Maybe we should stay here a little longer? Don’t you have some money left from the inheritance?
I think they would like to keep me on at the shop because there’s a girl there who is going on maternity leave.
And if we run out of money, we can always sell a couple of Santas. ”
Emelie hadn’t told Linn about the plans for a Christmas market.
It had felt like a great idea at the community centre, but it had gotten her thinking once she got back to the Christmas house; How would it all work out if they returned to V?xjo?
Would she be able to be a member of the market committee from home and come back in December in time for the market?
She thought about it for a moment and then shrugged her shoulders.
“Yes, she might be right, and speaking of selling the Christmas things…”
She looked over at Andreas over Linn’s head, smiling at him.
Then they took turns sharing their plans about the market.
Andreas seemed just as enthusiastic as Emelie, and soon all three of them were walking there, planning the baking, flowers, where the different salespeople would be standing and talking about who had different talents on the island.
Stig would be the Santa and the church choir would sing, Andreas would arrange different Christmas flowers, pine garlands and all other decorations. Linn’s eyes were sparkling.
“Oh, mum, do you think I can be in charge of baking at the market too?”
“I’m sure you can”, Andreas answered. “We’ve already talked to Christer about it.
It used to be Astrid baking for the market, she was a real master at Christmas cookies, and she kept all her recipes in an old, red book with a bookmark in the shape of an angel in.
We just have to find that book. You would love her recipes, Linn! ”
He looked tenderly at her, squeezing her arm. Bloody hell, she had almost managed to forget that Andreas had a crush on her young daughter. She pulled herself away from Linn’s grip and said, a bit too harshly:
“Let’s see what happens, I actually have a house in V?xjo and a job. It wasn’t that much money that Astrid left me that I can quit working.”
Andreas and Linn stared at her in surprise and Linn shook her head.
“Where there’s a will there’s a way”, she said, turning to Andreas. “Where do you think that baking book might be?”
They kept walking, discussing where Astrid could have hidden her precious book.
Emelie fell behind, or maybe she was walking slowly on purpose to put some distance between her and the others.
She looked at the four happy people in front of her.
Three of the people she loved the most in the world, and then Andreas, whom she had grown to care about, but who was also annoying her with his relationship with Linn.
She absolutely didn’t want him for a son in law.
She walked slowly and tried to collect her thoughts.
Sometimes Liv and Linnea would turn around and wave, and then she smiled and waved back.
She didn’t feel like going back to V?xjo and her dull job as a housekeeping manager, and in just a couple of short weeks she had come to love this island and its inhabitants.
She was interrupted by the beeping of her mobile phone.
She picked it up and saw that the message came from the family that was renting their house.
Oh no, was it that the boiler was broken or the house had burnt down?
She took a deep breath before opening the message, mentally preparing herself for the disaster that she was sure was coming.
She read the text message and slowly a smile spread across her face.
She looked up at the four people in front of her.
“Linn, Andreas, wait up!”
They turned around and she walked towards them, holding the phone up in the air. She showed them the screen and Linn read the message out loud:
“Hello there, your tenants here, hope you all are well. The house we were planning on buying here in V?xjo is no longer up for sale, but if you are interested in sub-letting the house until August next year, we would love to extend our contract. Let us know as soon as possible, or we’ll have to look into other opportunities. ”
Linn looked at her mum with anticipation and Emelie smiled at her, leaving her negative thoughts behind.
“Well, this must be a sign, if anything.”