The Girl in the Woods. Camilla Lackberg

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СКАЧАТЬ no opportunity for teen angst, no parents to make her roll her eyes.

      She’d met Niklas at the community college. They moved in together when she got her first job. Eventually they had Vendela – and Sanna had to admit the pregnancy had been an accident. The fact their relationship had failed was her fault, not his. Niklas was a good man, but she’d never been able to let him fully into her heart. Loving someone, no matter whether it was a spouse or a daughter, hurt too much. That was something she’d learned early on.

      Sanna put tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions in her trolley and headed for the checkout.

      ‘I suppose you’ve heard the news,’ said Bodil as she began scanning the prices of each item Sanna placed on the conveyor belt.

      ‘No, what’s going on?’ asked Sanna as she picked up a soda bottle and placed it flat on the belt.

      ‘You didn’t hear about the little girl?’

      ‘What little girl?’

      Sanna was listening with only half an ear. She was already regretting her decision to buy Coke for Vendela.

      ‘The one who’s disappeared. From your old farm.’

      Bodil couldn’t keep the excitement out of her voice. Sanna froze, holding the bag of Tex-Mex shredded cheese in her hand.

      ‘Our farm?’ she said, hearing a rushing sound in her ears.

      ‘Yes,’ said Bodil, continuing to scan the items without noticing that Sanna had stopped unloading her trolley. ‘A four-year-old girl disappeared from your old farm. My husband went out to join the search party in the woods. I heard lots of people have turned up to help.’

      Sanna slowly set the bag of cheese on the belt. Then she headed for the door, leaving her groceries behind. Her purse too. Behind her, she heard Bodil calling her name.

      Anna leaned back in her chair and looked at Dan, who was sawing a board in half. Right now, in the worst of the summer heat, he’d decided it was the perfect time to get started on the ‘new deck’ project. They’d been talking about it for three years, but apparently it couldn’t be put off any longer. She guessed his male nesting instincts had come into play. Her own nesting instincts had taken a different form. She’d been going through the clothing in all the wardrobes in the house. The kids had started hiding their favourite clothes, fearing they’d end up among the garments she was planning to give away.

      Anna smiled at Dan as he worked in the heat. She realized that for the first time in ages she was actually enjoying life. Her small decorating business wasn’t exactly ready to be launched on the stock market, but she’d won the trust of many of the discriminating summer visitors, and she was now having to turn away customers because she was too busy. And the baby was growing inside her. They’d decided not to find out the gender, so for now they simply called the child ‘baby’. The other children were eagerly involved in trying to come up with a name, but with suggestions like ‘Buzz Lightyear’, ‘RackarAlex’, and ‘Darth Vader’, they hadn’t been much help. And one night a grumpy Dan had quoted Fredde from the TV show Solsidan: ‘We each made a list of suggested names, and then we took the one at the top of Mickan’s.’ All because she’d dissed his suggestion that, if the baby was a boy, they should call him Bruce after Bruce Springsteen. Dan claimed her choice, Philip, made it sound as if the kid was going to be born wearing a navy pea jacket. So that’s how things stood. The birth was only a month away, and they still hadn’t decided on a single name for a boy or a girl.

      But it’ll all work out, thought Anna as Dan came over to her. He leaned down and kissed her on the lips. He was sweaty and tasted of salt.

      ‘So here you sit, relaxing,’ he said, patting her belly.

      ‘Yup. The kids have all gone out to visit friends,’ she said, taking a sip of her iced coffee.

      She’d heard it said pregnant women shouldn’t drink too much coffee, but she needed some sort of treat for herself now that alcohol and unpasteurized cheese were both forbidden.

      ‘I practically died at lunch today when my sister sat there sipping a big, cold glass of bubbly,’ she moaned. Dan squeezed her shoulder.

      He sat down next to her and leaned back with his eyes closed, enjoying the late afternoon sun.

      ‘Soon, sweetheart,’ he said, stroking her hand.

      ‘I’m going to bathe in wine after the birth,’ she sighed, as she too closed her eyes.

      Then she remembered that pregnancy hormones put her at risk for brown spots. With a muttered curse she opened her eyes and put on her broad-brimmed hat.

      ‘Shit. I can’t even sunbathe,’ she cursed.

      ‘What?’ said Dan drowsily, and she realized he was about to fall asleep in the sun.

      ‘Nothing, sweetheart,’ she said, although she suddenly had an irresistible urge to kick him in the shin, purely for being a man and not having to endure the pains of pregnancy or give up anything.

      It was so fucking unfair. As for those women who sighed dreamily about how wonderful it was to be pregnant and what a gift it was to be the one who brought children into the world – well, she’d like to punch them. Hard.

      ‘People are idiots,’ she muttered.

      ‘What?’ Dan said again, this time sounding even drowsier.

      ‘Nothing,’ she said, pulling the brim of her hat down over her eyes.

      What was she thinking about before Dan came over and interrupted her? Oh, right. How wonderful life was. And it was. In spite of the pregnancy pains and everything else. She was loved. She was surrounded by family.

      She took off the hat and lifted her face to the sun. To hell with brown spots. Life was too short not to enjoy the sun.

      Sam wished he could stay here forever. Ever since he was a kid, he’d loved it here. The heat from the rocks. The gurgling of the water. The screech of the seagulls. Out here he could escape from everything. He could close his eyes and let it all slip away.

      Jessie was lying next to him. He could feel the warmth of her body. A miracle, that’s what she was. The fact she’d come into his life at this particular moment. Marie Wall’s daughter. What an irony of fate.

      ‘Do you love your parents?’

      Sam opened one eye and squinted at her. She was lying on her front with her chin propped on one hand, staring at him.

      ‘Why are you asking?’

      It was an intimate question. Especially since they’d known each other only a short time.

      ‘I’ve never met my father,’ she said, looking away.

      ‘How come?’

      Jessie shrugged.

      ‘I don’t know. I guess my mother didn’t want me to. I’m not sure she even knows who my father is.’

      Sam reached out his hand to touch her arm. She didn’t flinch, so he left it there. Her eyes brightened.

      ‘What СКАЧАТЬ