Chapter 13 #2
Inside the cottage, the atmosphere was completely different than what you would have expected from the exterior.
There were no typical, west coast decorations such as glass buoys in nets or the traditional lighthouse or seagull that usually adorned the windowsills of the summer guests.
The house had an industrial, but cosy feel to it.
There was a large, turquoise sofa in velvet and a large cabinet in metal and glass, as well as paintings with vibrant prints and a patchwork carpet on the floor.
“Blimey, it looks amazing here!” Emelie exclaimed.
The girls thanked her and showed her into the small kitchen. The table was set with white ceramic plates with stylishly rough edges. In the middle of the table were three tall glasses filled with bubbly wine, they cheered and Sussi and Stina welcomed her into their home.
When they had finished eating, they sat down in the velvet sofa and Emelie had a million questions for the girls.
She wanted to know how they had ended up on Sardinon and what thoughts they had about their future on the island.
But she didn’t have time to open her mouth before Sussi started bombarding her with questions.
“It’s just so much fun with the Christmas market! We really need more things to do here, especially during the winter months, and getting some townsfolk over will be great for the business,” she said enthusiastically.
“Yes, speaking of that. We need a website to market the event, could you take care of that?”
Sussi’s face lit up.
“But of course! Do you think we should call it ‘Christmas market on Sardinon’ or come up with something else?”
They decided that it was a great, simple name.
They didn’t want to make it more complicated than necessary and, since the idea was to draw both new and old visitors to the market, that’s what they were going to call it.
When Sussi had taken some notes and declared that she was going to start on the website the following day, they started discussing families, Gambian exes and why Stina and Sussi had moved to the island in the first place.
“I’ve always wanted to live like this, and when I started dating Sussi, who was also a freelancer, we started looking into how to realise the dream of a house on the west coast,” Stina said.
She poured more wine from the box, and Emelie nodded and leaned backwards onto the soft sofa cushions.
“It took a couple of years, but then this house popped up. It was a coincidence that it was Sardinon, because we don’t really have a connection to the place or anything”, Sussi added. “But how are you related to Astrid?”
Emelie explained that Astrid had been her grandmother’s sister and that she had just met her once or twice when she was a little girl. They started speculating about the house and why it was so filled with Christmas decorations.
“I only have some vague memories of Astrid, but like I mentioned before, she was always dressed in red”, Sussi said, hesitantly.
“Right, she even dressed in Christmas colours” Emelie said. “Yes, I wonder where the interest came from. Or maybe it was more of a well-established hobby?”
“Considering everything you’ve told us, it sounds like a bad case of hoarding,” Stina laughed. Emelie nodded.
“Yes, it is odd. But enough about that. Not that it’s any of my business, but did I hear you mentioning something about a pregnancy test out on the pier the other day?”
Sussi and Stina smiled, and Sussi grabbed Stina’s hand.
“Yes, no luck this time, but we’ll try again. We are so jealous of your lovely girls. And by the way, maybe we should ask you about this…Your neighbour?”
Emelie took a sip of her wine and looked at them.
“My neighbour? Birgitta?”
The other two burst out laughing.
“No, we were thinking about Andreas. He is young, handsome, seems smart and is a creative. Do you think he would be willing to donate? Or can you even allow yourself to ask…?” Sussi said, looking at Stina who shrugged her shoulders.
Emelie’s head was spinning. She didn’t know if it was from the wine or the question about Andreas’ sperm, but just sitting up straight made her feel dizzy. She swallowed hard and reached for her water glass.
“I don’t know. We have been living here for like, two months, I haven’t really had the time to discuss his sperm with him” she said and couldn’t help laughing even though she instinctively felt that she didn’t want Andreas to give his sperm to Sussi and Stina.
“No, you’re right,” said the others, laughing.
They didn’t discuss the subject any further and Stina started asking Emelie about her love life instead. Each question made her realise how non-existant it really was.
“It’s ages since I dated anyone, and there aren’t exactly any singles my age on the island, so I guess I’ll have to postpone those plans a bit,” she said, sighing.
The girls looked at each other and Sussi raised her wine glass, proposing a toast.
“Well, there’s always Andreas. He might be the solution to all of our problems?”
They cheered and then burst out laughing. One poor guy on the island and he got to be both potential father and boyfriend.
“It would be incredibly practical,” Stina laughed and filled up their glasses.
Emelie laughed and cheered with the others. And she didn’t say anything about her suspicion that Andreas only had eyes for Linn.