Page 56 of Just For Her

She didn’t recall leaving the kitchen light on though. Nor did she know who could be rummaging through the cupboards and cracking open a beer… especially since Tove had not brought beer to Hood River.

“Wait here.” She left Kayla on the bottom step and tiptoed to the kitchen entrance. A large, masculine shadow moved across the stainless-steel fridge. The only reason Tove didn’t grab the tennis racket left in the hall closet was because she instinctively knew who in her family moved like that, even if she didn’t remember his name right away.

Oskar saw her before she recognized him.

“There she is!” A piece of toast fell from his mouth as he clapped his hands. At the head of the table was a woman Tove did not recognize. A can of beer was about to touch her lips when she saw Tove in her bathrobe. “The family’s gold medalist in the freak Olympics.”

“What the hell!” Tove cried, marching up to the other end of the kitchen table. She couldn’t decide what to ask first.

So she stuck with the most obvious question.

“What areyoudoing here? I’ve reserved the whole house until Thursday!”

Oskar bit his toast before plopping another can of beer onto the table. “Guess I read the wrong date on the Google Calendar.”

“Google Calendar?” Kayla asked.

“By the way.” Oskar gestured to the young woman sitting beside him. She wore a Cannon Beach sweatshirt paired with faded jeans, but she was cute, and that was what mattered to Oskar when he brought a new girlfriend to the house. “Shea’s got supersonic hearing.”

The woman blushed. “I swear I wasn’t listening on purpose.”

“Oh, my God,” Tove gasped.

Kayla stood behind one of the empty chairs. “Does that mean you guys…”

“Every minute of you screaming, kid,” Oskar said with the nonchalance of a man who had heard it all before. “Damn, Tove. Didn’t know you were such a lady killer. I get what I’m doing wrong now.” He winked at Shea, who claimed she had forgotten something in the car.

“What are you doing here?” Tove snapped at her cousin. “It should have said on the calendar that I have this place for the next few days. Didn’t see youanywhereon there.”

Oskar flung his arm over the back of his chair, the table creaking as he tossed the tab of his beer can into the decorative glass vase separating him from Tove. “Relaaax,” he said. “I’m only here for tonight. Was passing through town with Shea and thought I’d show her the local sights on our way up to Seattle.”

“You could have warned me!”

“I did.” Oskar tipped his beer can up to his lips. “You should check your texts.”

While the color drained from her face, Tove fished her phone out of her robe pocket and realized there was an old notification labeled OSK. FRED. It was timestamped an hour ago.

“We were busy,” she spat.

“Yeah, we know.” No matter how much he tried, Oskar struggled to contain the sputtering laughter about to break his face in two. “First thing we heard when we got in here was some wild screaming upstairs. Whew. Honestly, didn’t know you had it in you, Tove.” He held his beer up to her. “Cheers. Great-Grandma Maja will beproud.”

Kayla marched out of the kitchen. Tove was more incensed than embarrassed. “What can I say? We thought we had the place to ourselves tonight. You should have come by last night when we slept the whole time.”

Oskar shook his head. “I would have missed the show.”

“For fuck’s sake, I’m your cousin!” Oskar had his moments of hopeless perversion, but this was ridiculous.We grew up together, dillweed.A man like him should look at Tove and see nothing but a family member. It was bad enough Tove knew what the boy who once called her “Toe Fungus” got up to whenhebrought women here.

“Only by blood,” Oskar said.

“Good. Lord.” Tove opened the fridge and hid her shame among the drinks and butter left by whoever was there last. “I’m telling Aunt Kiersten.”

“Oooh. Scared.”

The door closed again, a puff of icy air chilling Tove’s cheeks. “She should know you’re sneaking in here when other people are borrowing the house.”

“Please, I double-checked the schedule. You’re the only one on there. I texted you. I was already in the area. Why would I rent a room when I could get a bed for free here? There are like five bedrooms in this stupid house, Tove. You won’t even know we’re here. We’re out early the next morning. Besides…” He tapped his half-empty can against the table. “Aunt Kiersten knows I swing by when necessary. She doesn’t need details. Like Shea.”

“Yes. Like Shea. Who is she, huh? A girl you picked up in Madras on your way up?”

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