Page 55 of A Copenhagen Snowmance
She spends a long time savouring the roast beef sandwich with its layers of thinly cut, perfect pink roast beef, topped with yellowremoulade, fried onions, strings of grated horseradish and pickled cucumber. It’s an exquisite feat of layering and flavours and it makes her eyelids flutter. Yes, thesnapsmight also be taking its toll, but by now, as soon as one table startsskåling, everyone else does, too. Anna can feel by the loosening of her limbs and eyes, and the fuzziness of her head, this is going to be messy.
Eventually, after much chat, singing and copious laughter, Katrine and Anna find they are the last at their table, the others being more sensible, and in a couple of cases having something else to go on to.
“Now,” slurs Katrine, “I want to hear more about your housemate.”
Anna feels the smile spread across her face, even though she’d planned to be more poker-faced.
“Look at you,” Katrine laughs, and pours them each anothersnaps. “You’re all swoony.”
“I am not,” Anna tries, but it doesn’t sound convincing even to herself. “It doesn’t matter, anyway,” she adds slightly crossly, then clinks Katrine’s glass and downs the shot. “Like I said the other day, I’ll be leaving, and he’ll be my tenant again, and so.”
Katrine rolls her eyes. It takes her an extra moment to re-synchronise them. “That’s not what it looks like in the photos. It’s not how I remember stargazing. I’m sure there is a telescopic gag here somewhere.”
“Trine, behave!”
She leans further in, conspiratorially, but with zero subtlety. “Did you think about the ‘Once-and-Done’ idea?” she whispers loudly.
“No!” says Anna.
She has.
A lot.
“Though he has suggested a ‘Happy For Now’ scenario.”
Katrine’s face lights up. “There you go, then!” she says, as if their similar suggestion is some kind of sealed deal.
“Am I the only one being sensible here? It wouldn’t be smart, Trine. Or kind. I don’t want him getting hurt.”
“What about you? Are you not at risk of being hurt?”
“Yes, well. Of course, there’s always that, too,” she concedes. She doesn’t really want to examine how much she likes him. How she looks forward to seeing him in the living room when she surfaces for breakfast each day; how she hopes he’ll ask if she wants to do more jigsaw, sitting side by side, close but not quite touching, focusing on a shared thing, crowing at each other when they place a piece and the other doesn’t; hearing him be professional on the phone; his scent, which lingers around his coat and which she may hang around longer than necessary when putting on her own; how they have a teamwork thing going with the cooking and washing up, moving around the kitchen in smooth synchronisation, each busy with tasks without having to check on the other and both finishing at the same time to a completely tidy kitchen; how he seems happy to see her when she surfaces for breakfast (though that could just be because she’s beelining for the coffee and offering him a refill); how he sings badly in the shower and seemingly has no idea at all that he can be heard outside the bathroom; the feel of his arms around her when he holds her tight and the way it makes her feel grounded.
“I’m keeping it light,” Anna says.
“Mmm-hmm,” says Katrine, in a “bullshit” tone. Well yes, there are a shit-ton of internet photos against her statement, Anna sees that.
The thing with having worked together for many years now, on various jobs even before theRomancityguides, is Katrine understands how to handle Anna. Not just editing her words, but how best to challenge her or soothe her to get the best out of her.
“Here’s what I think,” she says, and Anna is tempted to point out she hasn’t been asked what she thinks, but Katrine is already in motion. “I think you might be holding back regarding someone you like, because of what happened with Carl.” She does not wait for Anna to respond to this. “I think you’re frightened, and so even this, which could be a safe little spate of fun, feels scary to you. When, in reality, it could be a brilliant, short moment with a hot guy, who you clearly like. And yes, it might have an end date, but that could be a good thing as the two of you can go into it with your eyes open and make the best of every moment.”
Granted, that could make sense, Anna supposes.
“And you never know Anna, he might even follow you back to London.”
That douses her feelings a bit. “Not going to happen,” Anna says, vigorously shaking her head. “He can’t leave Copenhagen.”
“Why?” Katrine looks curious.
“OK, it’s not that he can’t. But he has reasons to stay here.” Tipsy as she is, Anna doesn’t want to tell her about Nikoline. It’s not her story to tell and she doesn’t want Jamie’s story to be gossip. “He’s only been in his job– his dream job– for a short while, so.” She hopes that’s enough to move Katrine on.
“Then maybe it might be something to draw you back here,” proposes Katrine and Anna sees by the delight in her eyes this is where her thinking has been heading all along.
“Also not going to happen, Trine. It’s been interesting coming back to visit, but you know…”
“No, not really,” Katrine says, a little more gently. “I understand why you left, you needed a change of scene, especially given what happened, but it’s been a year and a half, and you still have a home here. And we miss you.”
Anna can’t think what to say, to explain how the humiliation feels like it is around every corner. Meeting Morten proved that.
