came along, calling her Nan, it segued somehow into Nan Heather.’
‘She can’t still be fostering?’ Nico’s eyes were half-shut as if he’d drunk a lot more than one modest glass of wine. It gave him a slightly dangerous air.
Hannah shook the thought away. Next she’d be developing a thing for him. Maybe it was just that he was raw, pulsing with life compared to Albin’s glossy urbanity. ‘She’s just had her ninetieth birthday! Mum was born when Nan was thirty. Nan had been married since she was twenty and thought she wouldn’t have any kids so had been fostering for years when Mum came along. Mum grew up with loads of kids around but not a sibling of her own.’
‘Ninety!’ Nico smiled. ‘Good on her.’ Their coffee arrived and his was strong and dark. The fragrance rose up around them.
‘She lives alone and, apart from Dad doing her garden and Mum getting her a weekly food order, lives completely independently. Mum and Dad have recently retired. Dad’s been doing up an old camper van – the proper old VW kind – for years and after the wedding they’re setting off across Europe in it. I thought they’d wait for summer but they want the winter-wonderland experience in Switzerland and Austria. Nan says they should stay away for Christmas if they want because she’ll find plenty to do in the village. She has a partner, Brett, though they don’t live together. He’s only eighty so he’s a toy boy.’
‘Won’t you go to the UK for Christmas?’ Nico’s eyebrows rose.
‘The shop’s only shut on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, like most Swedish shops. I can’t expect Julia to cover for me so I can swan off and, anyway, it’s Hannah Anna Butik’s first festive season. I’ll miss the Middledip festivities but being a business owner means sacrifices.’ And Albin had said he wasn’t going to England this Christmas anyway. Last year, he’d allowed himself to be persuaded but had sat on the fringe of every gathering and watched as if mystified. It had dimmed Hannah’s enjoyment of the family fun.
She was wondering whether she and Albin would even be together this Christmas when Nico glanced at his watch and gave an exclamation. ‘I’m afraid I’ll have to wind this up. I promised Josie I’d FaceTime her before bed. With the time difference, I’ll get back to my hotel room in time if I go now.’ He gestured to the server for the bill and refused point-blank to let Hannah pay her share.
‘But I owe you for helping me to a great day’s trading,’ she protested.
He waved her words away as he paid by card. ‘It was my idea.’ He pulled on his coat.
She followed suit. ‘Well, thank you. I’ll have to buy you a drink at the wedding.’
Politely, he gestured her ahead of him up the stairs. ‘I’m looking forward to seeing your family again. Josie and I are staying at the hotel where the wedding’s taking place.’
‘Port Manor? We’re staying there for the night of the wedding, too. It’s extravagant when Middledip’s two miles away but it’s so comfortable to have your own room and not be hanging about for taxis in the early hours.’ She felt a big smile take charge of her face at the thought of Rob’s wedding bringing her family together. She loved Sweden but she loved going home, too.
He smiled as they stepped out into the dark evening. ‘Sorry to rush.’ He gave her a quick, friendly hug and set off at a jog, throwing ‘See you soon,’ back over his shoulder.
After watching him vanish around a corner, Hannah pulled a jaunty blue knitted hat from her coat pocket. She’d worn her hair up at work but she took the clasp out now and enjoyed the end-of-day feeling of her scalp relaxing before she crammed the hat on. Her breath clouded the frosty air and she headed out of Gamla Stan and over the bridge, the pavements looking as if they’d been sprinkled with diamond dust. Below, the black water reflected a million lights, as if the winter night stars had fallen in.
She set off briskly, the wind grabbing at her hair, hands and feet soon half-numb with the cold, past department stores and parks, black waterways and old buildings, to the broad thoroughfare that was Nybrogatan. At the five-storey honey-coloured apartment block near the metro station she keyed in the door code and, eschewing the lift with its metal concertina door, ran upstairs to the