Page 119 of Playing the Game
This realisation gave Jonas a flash of courage. He was more than Tuva’s equal these days. He would make that work for him.
Anna came bursting through the doors. She was so happy to see him his resolve became strengthened even more.
“Jonas!” she cried as she fell into his arms.
“Hey, kiddo. How are you doing?”
She snuggled into him. “I’m fine. What are you doing here? Hi, Heidi.”
Heidi nodded. She had met Anna a few times and they’d always gotten along.
“Where’s Adam? He said he would come.”
Jonas glanced nervously at Heidi. “Something came up. He says he’ll be here next time.”
It was a lie. Jonas didn’t know if he and Adam would ever do anything together that didn’t involve a football. Still, he hadn’t given up yet.
“I hope you’ve been behaving yourself,” he said.
“No she has not.”
Tuva followed Anna into the room. It had been a while since Jonas had been in the same room as her. She was still a beautiful woman with raven black hair and dark eyes. Today she set that off in a white sweater and pair of light blue jeans.
Anna sighed and settled next to Jonas. Tuva sat stiffly on the opposite couch.
“What’s going on?” Jonas asked.
He glanced at his sister who looked shamefaced.
“This one has been suspended from school,” Tuva announced.
“How come?”
“Tell him.”
“I got caught smoking with one of the boys from my English class.”
Jonas frowned. “Smoking? Anna, you know better than that.”
“Marijuana,” Tuva added. “Drugs.”
“Anna!”
“I only wanted to try it,” she said, quietly. “It’s never happened before.”
“You’ve never been caught before, you mean,” her motherreplied. “The embarrassment at having to go to the school was too much. Of course your father had a dinner or drinks or some bullshit excuse to get out of it.”
Jonas had explicitly told Anna to behave herself when she came home. For a split second he panicked that he wouldn’t be able to handle her.
“And you’ve been suspended?” he asked Anna.
“Just until next week. No big deal.”
Tuva looked fit to explode. “She will be studying the whole time she is at home.”
Anna groaned.
“You can’t argue with that,” Jonas said, feeling uncomfortable at agreeing with Tuva. “Your exams are important, Anna.”
