Chapter 13
August arrived with warm late summer weather, and the last couple of days before the girls were to start at the Sardine School, the family spent on the beach.
Sometimes Andreas would stop by, sometimes it was Birgitta or Stig, but the most fun was when Stina and Sussi came along – like today.
Emelie really enjoyed the girls’ company and they had become her best friends on the island.
They were laying on beach towels, Emelie’s was white with happy elves dancing around the edge of the towel.
Stina had just asked about the girls’ father, and Emelie told her, that he was probably back in Gambia and that he had left them an autumn day almost three years ago.
“But did he just take off?” Sussi asked, squinting towards the sun.
“Mm, he left a letter on the table. That was it,” Emelie said.
Stina turned toward her, pushing her sunglasses down onto her nose.
“A letter? If you leave your wife and three kids behind, you don’t leave a bloody letter! What a cowardly bastard,” she said, laying back down on her towel.
“We weren’t actually married, but yes, I guess that’s the same conclusion that I’ve come to. That he’s a coward and a bastard, that is” Emelie said.
“I’m so jealous of your lovely girls,” Sussi said.
“Some days I feel like donating them to the closest charity,” Emelie said, smiling.
Sussi laughed.
“Of course, but still, they’re just so sweet, just look at them!”
The girls were playing on the shore together with two other kids; Kajsa, who was Liv’s best friend and her little sister who was only three years old. The older girls were nice to her, letting her play along. Emelie nodded. Sussi was right, they were lovely girls.
While Emelie was spending time on the beach, Linn was struggling with the baking at home. She was still trying to make the perfect rolls, but she hadn’t quite succeeded. Today, she had tried making a chocolate cake and, at lunch time, Andreas came by to have a taste.
“Hmm, it isn’t quite as moist as Astrid’s”, he concluded.
Linn was stomping back and forth in the kitchen, letting out annoyed little grunts.
“Bloody Astrid. I’m going to go mad! Nothing is as good as hers! What was her magic ingredient?”
Andreas held up his hands in surrender.
“I have no clue, but perhaps it is in that book”, he said.
Linn stopped by at the table and dropped down into a chair. She supported her head in her hands and muttered:
“We have looked everywhere, it’s nowhere to be found. I’m starting to believe that it never existed. Otherwise we would have found it.”
“It did exist once, I’m sure of it, but now I have to get back to the nursery. See you around!”
Linn followed him with her eyes as he walked towards his moped. Broad-shouldered and handsome. He was quite some guy. She sighed to herself, took a roll from the oven tray and had a bite. Nope, they weren’t any good. A bit dry and boring. Andreas was right. She picked up her phone and called Oskar.
“Hi there, it’s Linn, are you busy?”
“No, no, at least I don’t think so…”
“Can you come over with some more eggs and butter?”
“Even more?”
“Yes, I’ve used it all up, and you can have a taste if you come over”, she said flirtatiously.
“Okay, I’ll be there.”
Half an hour later, Oskar was there with three kilos of butter and two cartons of eggs. He carried in the shopping, sat down at the table and helped himself to both the cinnamon rolls and the chocolate cake.
“Wow, these are incredible”, he said, wiping his fingers on a dark blue napkin with a snow-covered cottage.
“What? You really think so?”
Linn looked at him in distrust.
“Yes, bloody amazing,” he said, reaching for another one of the rolls.
“So, the rolls aren’t dry and boring?”
She shook his head with his mouth full of cinnamon roll and gave her a thumbs up. Linn sat down on the other side of the table.
“But have you ever tried Astrid’s cinnamon rolls?”
“Who’s Astrid?”
Just as she had suspected, he hadn’t tried Astrid’s rolls, and so of course he thought hers were good. She sighed. She just had to find that bloody baking book.
After the beach, Emelie brought Liv and Linnea over to Christer’s to check on him. They knocked on the door, shouted “Hello!” and heard him responding “come on in” from the bedroom upstairs.
“Hello there girls! How nice to have some visitors!” he said happily.
He looked more awake today and his crossword puzzle had been replaced with a Sudoku book.
“You have to stay busy somehow” he said, nodding in the direction of the book.
“Are you bored, uncle Christer?” Liv asked.
He nodded.
“Oh yes, it’s no fun just laying here, but it’s all right,” he sighed. What can I do for you today?”
Emelie found her phone and her notes about what to ask Christer. She had been given strict orders from Stig not to mention Christer’s ex-wife and the fact that she eloped with a town man who had visited the Christmas market – and she intended to keep that promise.
“Yes, I was wondering if you used to offer any other activities for children, except from dancing around the tree I mean?”
Christer’s face lit up.
“We used to have a quiz!”
Liv and Linnea looked excited, exclaiming that quizzes were lots of fun. Emelie took notes in her phone.
“How about marketing? How did you go about that?” Emelie asked and looked at Christer, who gave her a blank expression.
She continued:
“I mean, did you have an ad in the paper on the mainland or something of the sort? So that people knew that there was going to be a market.”
Christer’s eyes became dark, and he pulled up the duvet, tucking it in around his waist with jerky motions.
“Townsfolk. Do they have to come? I hate townsfolk” he scoffed between his teeth, and he refused to look at Emelie.
“We can’t have a market that is only for islanders, otherwise we won’t sell anything, and the salesmen will be disappointed and won’t want to come back next year,” Emelie said.
Come back? Christ, what was she saying, she didn’t even know whether she would be here next Christmas.
Christer made a sudden movement with his head and frowned.
“Bloody hell, be still with the head, doctor’s orders”, he muttered to himself while staring so intensely at Emelie that she took a step back.
“There was a town bloke at the last Christmas market, he ate at least ten of Astrid’s Lucia buns and then took off with my wife. I hate townsfolk” he said with determination, and then continued to stare out the window
“But we can’t have a market completely free from townsfolk, you must understand that?” Emelie said softly.
“Of course, I understand, but I still don’t like it!”
Emelie put a hand on his arm, smiling at him where he lay with his swollen head and his broken heart. It couldn’t be easy.
“Speaking of ads…what do you think about a website? I can ask Sussi to make one”, she said.
He smiled again and his eyes became friendlier.
“That sounds nice. You are handling this much better than me”, he said, stroking her hand.
“Okay then, I’ll take care of it. Now we must go, girls. I’m invited to have some wine over at Stina and Sussi’s tonight, you see,” she told Christer.
“They are good townsfolk, they just need some able-bodied men in the house”, he said.
“But, uncle Christer, Sussi and Stina are dating each other” Liv said, giggling.
Christer’s eyes grew wider, and he gave Emelie a puzzled look. She hurried up and chased her gossiping girls down the staircase.
“Bye, I’ll be back soon”, she shouted on the way out.
After making dinner, making sure the both younger girls had taken showers and leaving Linn in charge, Emelie put on some mascara and lip-gloss, put a bag-in-box under her arm and walked over to Stina and Sussi’s.
The evening was warm, making little drops of sweat form along her hairline.
It was hard to believe that autumn was on its way. It felt nice, she liked the heat.
That was the main reason she had decided to go to Gambia many years ago, even though her parents and several of her friends thought that it was an absurd idea to go all the way to Africa when you were just 18 years old.
But Emelie wanted to see something new and to be certain of getting to enjoy warm weather, so she had convinced her best friend, Anna, to come along.
That’s how she had first med Ousman. One night they were sitting at a bar along the beach, and he came walking by.
Tall and handsome, and with a body and a smile that were irresistible.
They had been a couple since that night, and when it was time for Emelie to go back home, they had decided that he would follow her.
A couple of months later, Emelie has realised that she was pregnant, and Ousman had taken the trip across the earth earlier than planned.
She sighed. They had been so happy when Linn was born.
Ousman quickly picked up Swedish, got a job as a carpenter and everything seemed to work out for the best. She waved to Birgitta who poked her head out, asking where she was going.
She couldn’t lie and say that she was just going for a walk, since she had the box of wine under her arm.
“I’m off to Sussi and Stina’s!” she shouted, speeding up her steps so as not to risk Birgitta would inviting herself to come along again.
But something was calling for her attention inside the house, and she waved and disappeared.
Sussi and Stina lived in a house close to the pier where they used to practice dancing.
It was uneven and lopsided and red with white corners.
And when Sussi opened the door, it made a concerning, squeaking sound.
“Never mind that, I’ll fix it, any day now,” she said, bundling Emelie into the hallway.