first floor and let herself in. Albin wasn’t yet home, which was as she’d expected, and his lair of white leather and black granite felt emptily echoey. She wanted to introduce rich, vibrant fabrics to soften the monochrome minimalism but Albin refused to hear of it. It was his family’s apartment so his preference prevailed. They’d actually argued about bathroom towels recently.
Hannah felt as if she was looking down the wrong end of a telescope at the whirlwind romance they’d once shared. In the past few months he’d become distant, even cold. No longer was he the Albin who’d been fascinated by her down-to-earth ordinariness, laughing at her jokes, hungering for her body, sexting during the working day, and who had so wanted to make her happy that he’d made her business possible by signing the lease. She remembered the day; the way she’d thanked him and he’d whispered, ‘It will keep you in Sweden.’
Rob had once asked her whether she’d fallen more for Albin’s lifestyle than the man himself. She’d denied it hotly. She’d have found him attractive without the swanky apartment with use of the gorgeous courtyard where they ate in summer, the restaurant on every corner, the wherewithal to grocery shop at ICA Esplanaden. Hannah might be ambitious but that was about her own achievements. It wasn’t about snaffling a wealthy man. Suits and haircuts were just suits and haircuts, even the expensive kind.
Now she was having to acknowledge that maybe Rob had seen something she’d been unable to see because the painful truth was that Albin had lost interest in her. She could parade around naked without distracting him from a text conversation. It smarted, but it was high time, in Hannah’s opinion, to face the situation. And part of that was that she wasn’t heartbroken. It had only been infatuation all along.
After kicking her boots into the hall cupboard she made steaming hot chocolate and went to luxuriate for half an hour in the main bathroom, which had a spa bath and the ruby red towels she’d hung in here in defiance of the apartment’s colour scheme, making Albin snap, ‘I’ll only accept it because I prefer the en suite shower room so don’t have to look at them.’
She closed her eyes while the hot water roiled about her body. It was like being pummelled by a boxer wearing soft fluffy gloves. She didn’t envy Albin creeping through damp forests to destroy beautiful animals. At least he never insisted she join him on his blokey hunting trips.
Her mind wandered to Nico: first the scruffy, haggard Nico and then the cleaned-up, shaven version who’d paced her shop, observing it through narrowed eyes before changing everything. Her stock had looked so beautiful, so stylish. Mary Poppins would have been proud of the transformation.
Funny, but meeting a Swede in Sweden was making her think vividly of England, of Nico hanging out at their house in Middledip, smiling and good mannered enough to charm Hannah’s parents and grandmother, treating Hannah as a special – if younger – friend, much to the envy of the older girls who hung around the rink.
When Hannah finally emerged from the swirling bathwater she slid into a robe and opened her laptop to FaceTime her parents, Mo and Jeremy Goodbody.
When Mo appeared on the screen she beamed all over her round, good-natured face, as delighted to hear from her as if Hannah hadn’t contacted them for months. ‘Can’t wait for you to come home for the wedding, Han! Port Manor Hotel’s doing Rob and Leesa proud. You’ll be here for the rehearsal on Thursday evening won’t you?’
‘You know I will.’ Hannah laughed. Wedding arrangements had been underway for more than a year. Leesa’s dress was a secret from the groom. The shiny bridesmaids’ outfits were hanging in bags in the home of Leesa’s parents. Hannah’s was a delicate colour of creamy peach. The gown of Jemima, Leesa’s sister, was a shade darker as if to let everyone know she bore the exalted title of maid of honour. Mo had been prepared to battle on Hannah’s behalf over the perceived implication that the sister of the bride was more important than the sister of the groom but Hannah had firmly restrained her. Maybe peachy-cream was more Jemima’s colour than creamy-peach.
The other bridesmaids were Jemima’s daughters Saffi and Raya and Leesa’s best friend Amanda Louise Meller. Hannah knew little about her except she always insisted on being called the full ‘Amanda Louise’. Leesa had whispered to