Page 82 of Tell Me What You Want, Or Leave Me

“Happy birthday, my darling,” she whispers to him.

With laughter and good vibes, we wait for those still not here. Jurgen sits between Laila and me, and we talk about the race. I’m excited. I can’t wait to jump and race my bike. Eric doesn’t say anything; he only listens. When I write down where the race will be on a piece of paper, Jurgen smiles.

Frida, Andrés, and an unaccompanied Björn finally arrive. I notice a certain discomfort when he sees Laila, but he greets her as if she’s just someone he doesn’t know well. Then he sits as far as he can from her. That makes me think. Laila is a very cute girl, and it’s odd for Björn, the great predator, to move away in such a situation. Something happened, and I have to figure out what.

One by one, they give Eric their gifts, and he smiles gratefully. How happy my guy is on his thirty-third birthday. When I put candles on the cake and make him blow them out, I know he wants to kill me! I laugh and sing “Happy Birthday.” Finally, he smiles and keeps on smiling.

“I think you have something to tell me, don’t you?” Frida whispers in my ear.

When I see her face, I know exactly what she’s talking about.

“If you mean where we ended up the night of Oktoberfest, I’ll just tell you it was hot!”

Frida smiles and nods.

“Björn told me you had a great time.”

I nod.

“Diana is tremendous, right?”

I nod again.

“And how are those two?” she asks, looking over at Graciela and Dexter. “Have you played with them yet?”

“To answer your first question, from what I sense, they’re fine. And in reference to your second, no, we haven’t played with them yet.”

Half an hour later, Sonia gets a call from her current boyfriend. Marta and Arthur offer to give her a ride and leave. Laila is talking to Jurgen.

“What do you think of Laila?” I ask.

“She’s very nice. She was Hannah’s best friend.” When she sees me frown, she asks, “What is it that really worries you about her?”

I don’t want to reveal what I heard from Simona and the perception that Björn doesn’t want anything to do with her. “Has she ever played with Eric or you?”

“Never. I think our thing is not her thing. Why do you ask?”

I’m glad to know Eric hasn’t lied to me. That calms me down.

“Just curious.”

14

Two days later, Sonia and Marta invite us to their graduation from parachuting school.

Eric goes, but reluctantly. Since I’m forcing the issue, in the end he doesn’t have much choice but to be present and support his sister and mother. During graduation, he tries to keep his composure in spite of how nervous he is. But when his sister and mother and the other students disappear into the plane and it ascends into the sky, he leans my way.

“I can’t look.”

“What do you mean you can’t look?”

“I said I can’t look. Just let me know when they’re back on terra firma, OK?”

I feel for the guy. He’s making herculean efforts to try and understand us all.

Excited by the feats his grandmother and aunt are about to perform, Flyn applauds wildly. And when one of the monitors tells me the two dropping to the right are Sonia and Marta, I tell him, and the little boy cries out with Arthur, who has him perched on his shoulders.

“Amazing! They’re one on top of the other!”

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