She put on her makeup and redid her nails in red varnish. Brushing her hair out, she smiled at her reflection. Grabbing her leather jacket and shoulder bag, she arrived downstairs just as Sally’s mini appeared.
“Off out?” her grandmother asked.
“Just for a bit. I won’t be late.”
“Be careful,” Ingrid told her.
“I will.”
She slid into the passenger seat of the Mini.
“So where do you want to go?” Sally asked.
“I don’t know. It’s not as if I’m used to going out, is it?”
“I suppose so. We could go and have a drink somewhere.”
“Sal, you may be eighteen, but I’m not.”
“”You went out the other night with your brother, what was that then?”
“Okay. We could go to the Barley Mow. It was nice.”
“Okay.”
Sal drove the short distance from Abingdon to Clifton Hampden. She was parking the car when her mobile rang.
Kayla was already out of the car, and Sally was only on the phone a few moments.
“That was Pete,” she said, as she locked the car and they began walking to the pub across the road.
“Oh?”
“He wanted to know what we were doing.”
“You didn’t tell him, did you?”
“Yeah. Sorry.”
“Sal! This is getting too tricky. It’s bad enough at school, but I don’t need him after school as well.”
“He’d find a way.”
“How do I persuade him to bugger off?”
“Don’t you like him?”
“That’s not the point.”
“Yes, Kayla, it is the point. If you don’t like him, then tell him, and he’ll leave you alone.”
“Will he?”
“So, you don’t like him?”
“I never said that, but if I tell him that, will he leave me alone?”
“No, because he’ll be able to tell you don’t mean it!”
“I might do.”
“Kayla, do you really not like him?”
Kayla looked at her friend.
“You know I like him. But, that’s not the point!”
“I’m sorry, girl, but that is the point! If you like him, and he obviously likes you, where’s the harm?”
Kayla stopped walking.
“Sally, normally, there’s no harm at all, but I’m not normal, remember?” Kayla said, quite heatedly.
Sally looked at her friend. She slipped her arm through hers and started walking again.
“Don’t kid yourself, you may not have been normal up until recently, but now, now you’re as normal as me!”
“That doesn’t say much!” Kayla said, grinning in spite of her misgivings.
They crossed the road and entered the pub. It wasn’t such a nice evening as Kayla’s last visit, so they sat inside, both buying white wine spritzers. The barman had nodded at Kayla, aware he’d seen her before, but unsure when.
“So, is Pete coming here?”
“Probably. He’s got some foreign cousins staying, so he’s in charge of entertaining them. His parents are taking their parents out to the Theatre and a nice dinner.”
“Oh shit, they’re not Swedish, are they?”
Sally laughed.
“No, I think his mum’s sister married an American, they’re over here for a short stay.”
“Not Swedish?”
“Not Swedish.”
Kayla looked relieved.
They had almost finished their drinks when a familiar voice hailed them.
“Hi Sally, Kayla!”
Kayla rolled her eyes at Sally.
“Hullo Peter, Nice to see you, ja?”
Pete was leading another tall fair-haired boy, slightly shorter but quite similar. There was a pretty girl with them as well. Her auburn hair was long and she’d pulled it back into a ponytail. She looked to be about their age, but the boy looked slightly older.
“Hi Kayla, It is very good to see you again,” Peter said, sliding onto the bench beside her. “This is Rob and Kelly Rickman, my cousins from Illinois. Guys, this is Kayla Olsen, from Sweden, and Sally Crawford, a friend from school.”
They shook hands, in a rather self-conscious fashion. Kelly was drinking cola, while her brother had a pint of bitter in his hand.
“You like ze English beer, ja?” Kayla asked.
Rob grinned and shrugged.
“I’m not sure. It’s way different to what I’m used to. There’s more flavour and I think it’s a lot stronger.”
Rob felt rather insecure in England. The girls seemed far more confident and rather haughty compared to the American girls he knew. However, his cousin Peter had told him about the Swedish girl, and now he met her he could understand Peter’s interest. The girl was stunning and so friendly. Her smile made him feel welcome, and he warmed to her immediately.
“Where about in Sweden do you come from?” Kelly asked.
“Och kómmer från Nynäshamn, sorry, in English, I forget, I come from Nynäshamn. It is at the southern end of the Stockholm archipelago. Have you been to Sweden?”
“No, this is the first time we’ve been out of the States,” she said.
“Come on, Kelly, we’ve been to Canada and Mexico!” her brother said.
“Okay, but I’ve never been to Europe before.”
“I’ve not been to America,” Kayla said.
Kelly was frowning.
“You don’t know where Sweden is, do you?” Kayla asked.
The American girl smiled and shook her head.
Kayla took a pen from her bag and drew a map of Scandinavia on a paper napkin.
“This is the Norwegian Sea. Norway is down this side of the strip of land. This is the Skagerrak, with Denmark underneath, here. Sweden is all down the Eastern side, with Stockholm here, and Nynäshamn just here. There are two hundred and forty kilometres, or one fifty miles of islands and rocks between Nynäshamn in the south and Arlanda in the north.”
“Hey, does Sweden have weather like Alaska?” Rob asked.
“I suppose up north, above the Arctic circle, yes. But where I come from, it is much like here. Our winters are a little colder, I think.”
Peter was looking at the map she’d drawn.
“How far is Denmark from Sweden?”
“Very close. Helsingør is here, in Denmark, and just over the Sound is Helsingborg in Sweden. It is only three miles apart.”
Sally looked at Kayla with renewed admiration. Not only was she able to keep the accent going, but also she was very knowledgeable about Sweden.
“So where’s a good place to go out?” Pete asked.
“Utö is about 12 miles north of Nynäshamn. There is a good restaurant there. It is called Utö Värdshus. The whole region is good for the sail boats.”
Pete gazed at her with undisguised adoration. Even the way she pronounced these strange sounding names endeared her to him.
“Where in Illinois are you from?” Sally asked Rob.
“Chicago. Dad works for one of the banks there. He’s looking at a job over here, in London. So we’re over taking a look at houses. He hasn’t decided whether to take it or not yet, but Mom would like to live over here for a while. Particularly as her dad is not that well.”
“Grandpa has Parkinson’s disease, so Grandma is finding it hard to look after him all the time,” Kelly said.
“I think my mum has decided that Aunt Carol can come and take her turn looking after the old folks,” added Peter.
“Are you in school, or what?” Sally asked the Americans. Rob answered first.
“I’ve finished school. I’ve been working in a bookstore, just to get enough cash together for college in the fall.”
“I’m still at school,” said Kelly.
“How old are you?” Sally asked.
“Sixteen. Rob’s nineteen.”
They discussed schools, colleges, driving ages and all kinds of things. Kayla found keeping the accent quite difficult, almost slipping up a couple of times.