Christmas Island Page 5

  Problem was, she had been so disciplined for so many years, studying and working towards a goal that now, just as her life as a doctor was starting, the whole thing could be ripped away from her because of Brian. And she couldn’t stand it. Especially because she had nobody to blame but her own stupid self.

  Holly frowned. What on earth would she make of herself if she couldn’t be a doctor? She had no idea. There had never really been an alternative for her.

  There was nothing else she wanted to do.

  ‘I could retrain to be a veterinarian,’ she said, but she couldn’t quite picture herself with pets or farm animals. Maybe if there were cats like Frøy it wouldn’t be so bad, she thought.

  Her mind shifted to Tor. Alma had called him a hermit, even to the point of arranging groceries to be delivered. Why would he do that? He looked scruffy, like someone who didn’t care anymore. Depression, perhaps? He had that haunted look on his face, hidden behind that beard, anyway. And also, isolating himself with only a cat for company wasn’t healthy. He had been there for weeks, Alma had said.

  No wonder he seemed so unwilling to help when he found her.

  Tor glared at the computer screen where his friend and partner talked without ever catching his breath.

  ‘So, you see, Tor, you have to come home for a bit,’ Henrik finally said, smiling at him.

  ‘No, I’m not leaving this place. You can do this on your own, Henrik. All you have to do is take the meeting, show them the plans and sign the dotted line. You could talk the fur off a polar bear, for God’s sake.’

  Henrik scowled at him. ‘You really should show up at the office once in a while, you know. It’s not good form for one of the partners to be hiding in a cave.’

  ‘It’s not a cave and I’m not hiding. Besides, I saw you three weeks ago. Do the meet and greet, and let me know how it goes. And if they’re still miserable, let’s have a digital meeting.’

  Henrik sighed. ‘Fine. You’re bloody lucky you’re such a talented bastard.’

  ‘Yes, and I’m lucky you’re such a social bastard. How are the kids and Kari?’

  ‘They’re doing just fine, as you would know if you ever checked your social media accounts. Kids are trying so hard to behave for Christmas, it’s giving them stress levels higher than mine. Kari sends her love and told me to tell you that the beard has to go. You’re too old to be a hipster.’

  Tor frowned. ‘No, I’m not and tell her I happen to like the beard.’

  A blonde woman popped up behind Henrik’s shoulder. ‘You look like a barbarian. Please, shave it off. Even the cat must be fed up with it by now,’ she said, smiling at him.

  ‘Frøy likes my beard. He thinks it makes me part of his pride,’ Tor said, smiling back.

  ‘That’s probably because mice are nesting in there. When are you coming home? You’ve been out there for ages. I never figured you for a nature boy.’

  ‘I’m not in nature, I stay inside. Except when I’m out fishing.’ Tor grinned at her when she rolled her eyes. ‘I’m happy here, Kari.’

  ‘Fine. But you look miserable, not happy, and I don’t like it when you’re so alone. It’s not healthy, you know. Soon you’ll be muttering to the cat, forgetting to take a shower and not eating anything but the food Frøy throws on the floor.’

  She had a point with the cat and the showers.

  ‘Thank you for the fortune cookie advice, which is not at all helpful. I’m not that isolated actually. Frøy and I saved a woman yesterday.’ Tor could have bit his tongue as soon as the words left his lips.

  He shouldn’t have told them that. Kari’s face lit up. ‘Oh? Tell us all about it. How did you save her?’

  Tor tried to backtrack. ‘It wasn’t a big deal. Frøy found her. She had taken the wrong turn from the ferry and couldn’t find her house in the dark.’

  ‘How old is she? Is she staying on the island? Will you see her again? What’s her name? Is she attractive?’

  The barrage of questions had him laughing. ‘Would you please stop? I’m not going to see her again. She’s a guest of someone on the island. Someone I don’t know and have never spoken to, and never will.’

  He thought that would make her shut up, but he should have realised nothing could.

  ‘What’s her name?’ Kari had a deep frown on her forehead.

  ‘I… don’t remember,’ Tor said.

  ‘Ha, you do so know her name. Come on, tell us.’

  Tor gave in. ‘Her name is Holly. She’s from London and her brother lives here on the island.’

  ‘She’s visiting him for Christmas? How lovely,’ Kari said.

  ‘I’m sure it is, but it has nothing to do with me.’

  Tor could see Henrik rolling his eyes and Kari getting ready for more questions. He raised his hand before either of them could get another word in.

  ‘You’ve had your fun. I’m not likely to meet her again, so you don’t have to bother with it. Goodbye.’

  Kari tried to protest, but he waved at them and shut down the computer.

  Not bloody likely, he thought.

  He looked at Frøy who lounged on the edge of the desk, taking up more than half the space. His fluffy tale wafted at the computer.

  ‘You agree with me, don’t you?’

  Frøy ignored him.

  Tor stood to go downstairs. He hadn’t cleared away the bedsheets from the lounge yet. Frøy looked up, then decided that perhaps something interesting was going on.

  He followed Tor into the lounge and immediately flopped down in front of the heater.

  Tor gathered the bedsheets together and brought them into the laundry room.

  She wore perfume, he could smell that. Then he felt funny about smelling her bedsheets, and chucked them into the washing machine. He turned it on and looked at it for a long time.

  He was going bonkers, no doubt about it.

  Chapter Six

  Holly woke up and almost fell out of bed. She couldn’t remember where she was for a second, then spotted the toy aeroplanes dangling from the ceiling.

  Her head was pounding. ‘Urgh,’ she muttered.

  She climbed out of bed and opened her eyes wide. One bottle of wine had quickly turned into the second one she had found in the lounge, only it was red, and then she had devoured most of the snacks. A really bad idea. She felt bloated, hung-over and miserable.

  The shower was hot and the water plentiful, and she stood there until her head cleared.

  When she came downstairs, the sun was shining. Holly put on the kettle for tea, and looked out the window.

  Tufts of brownish grass covered most of the ground as far as she could see. From the window, she could see the ocean. It was as blue as the sky, and glittering from the sunshine falling on it.

  ‘Lovely,’ she said and couldn’t help smiling.

  It was time to explore the island, to see what all the fuss was. To discover why on earth Jack had fallen in love with this place.

  She dressed quickly, adding a woollen sweater and a thick down jacket from the hallway. Holly looked at the row of boots and tried a few, eventually settling for a pair that were a bit too large, but an extra pair of socks solved the problem. She was not about to fall on her arse, hiking alone. A woollen bobble hat completed the look.

  ‘I’m the abominable snowman,’ she said to no one, and ventured outside.

  Good thing Jack and Ninni will be back before Christmas, she thought. I’ll go barmy if I have to keep talking to myself.

  Outside, she stopped and looked around. The sun was shining, but it wasn’t warming anything. Instead the wind chill made her pull up the zipper on the down jacket.

  A walk would do wonders. And maybe a trip to the store wouldn’t be amiss. Some more fizzy drinks would be great, and maybe they would have more of those buns or Christmas cakes. Perhaps they even had some wine.

  She stuffed her hands in her pockets and walked towards the pier. On the way, she stopped to look at the few houses close to the beach.

>   Jack’s farm, she thought. It looked small from up the road. It was weird to think that her big brother owned the place. Not only did he own it, he loved it. She knew that tiny farm was the best things that had happened to him. She could only wish something as exciting as that would happen to her. Fat chance, she thought.

  He had left the key, she knew that, and so she would take a look later, if only to satisfy her curiosity. And those sheep. She had to see the sheep for herself.

  The thought made her smile. Their dad kept pretending he was convinced they were goats. It annoyed Jack, and it always made him happy to annoy his children. Dads, she thought, shaking her head.

  The wind was harsh. She decided to do the shop later, and walked the other way instead. When she got closer to another cluster of small, white houses she spotted a set of swings in a yard.

  A playground. It was filled with kids playing in the few patches of snow. They yelled at each other and tried to make snowballs. It was almost impossible with the slushy snow. Didn’t stop them, though. They had a full-on war happening over there.

  It looked like they were having fun and Holly couldn’t help stopping to look at them.

  A woman came out of the building and clapped her hands.

  The teacher, Holly guessed. She was a friend of Ninni’s. Jack had talked about the people living on the island, but she had their names all jumbled up.

  The teacher noticed her and waved. The snow fight stopped and every kid turned and stared at her. Some of the little ones also waved.

  Holly didn’t have any choice but to wave back, feeling like a proper idiot. After, she burrowed her hands in her pockets as she realised the teacher was coming towards the fence.

  ‘Hi! You must be Jack’s sister,’ she said in English.

  Holly nodded. ‘I guess I must be.’

  Behind them the snow fight started again. So did all the yelling. The teacher ignored it. She smiled at Holly.

  ‘Alma said you arrived. I’m the local school teacher, beer brewer, and general annoyance.’

  Holly couldn’t help smile back at her. ‘Nice to meet you. And yes, they have mentioned you and everyone else.’

  ‘Yes, and I’m guessing you have no idea who any one of us is.’

  Holly nodded, slightly embarrassed. ‘Guilty,’ she said.

  ‘I’m Britt and these munchkins are my kids. They are not half as bad as they look, and sometimes they’re even half human. And now they’re showing off for you.’

  She called something in Norwegian and the kids slowed down. Not much, but enough for Britt to turn to her again.

  One of the kids came up to Britt, leaning against her hip and gawking at Holly. His woollen hat was askew and he looked pretty snotty. He said something to Britt.

  ‘This is Ole. He wants to know your name,’ Britt said.

  ‘Hi Ole. I’m Holly.’

  Ole giggled and ran away. Britt shook her head. ‘Kids are so weird,’ she said.

  It made Holly laugh. ‘You’re a teacher.’

  ‘That only makes me extremely qualified to say just that,’ Britt said.

  Holly smiled. ‘I’ll be getting on. I’m out for some fresh air, and you’re working.’

  ‘That I am.’

  One of the kids threw a snowball and hit one of the others right in the face. He went down with an impressive scream.

  Britt turned around immediately. ‘Oh, shit,’ she said.

  Holly didn’t hesitate. She jumped the fence and ran towards the screaming boy. He was clutching his face.

  Britt reached him at the same time as Holly. She was talking a mile a minute. The other kids formed a half circle around them.

  Holly sat on the other side of the kid. He was clutching his hand to the side of his head and drawing breath for another scream.

  ‘Let me look at it, sweetie. I’m a doctor,’ Holly said.

  The boy looked at Britt who said something to him. He turned his head towards her.

  ‘What’s your name, sweetie?’ Holly waited as Britt translated for him.

  He swallowed. ‘Emil.’

  He looked about ten years old, and he slowly took his hand away. Holly smiled at him and held up her hand. ‘Can I touch your face, Emil?’

  He pulled away and Britt talked to him again.

  ‘Go ahead,’ Britt said.

  She took his other hand.

  A quick exam showed nothing was broken. Holly smiled. ‘You’ll probably have quite the shiner, Emil, but that’s about it.’

  Britt looked at her. ‘Are you sure we don’t have to get him to the hospital in town for an X-ray, or something?’

  ‘Of course. That’s up to the parents, and you should tell them that I’m not licensed to be a doctor in Norway. From what I could feel, nothing is broken. The snowball looks like it hit the outer edge of his eye. Put some ice on it and give him an over-the-counter painkiller. If the swelling or the pain gets worse, then they should take him to the hospital. They will know that by tomorrow, anyway.’

  Britt talked to Emil, who nodded slowly. He grabbed a handful of the snow with his mittens, and pressed it against his head.

  ‘Or he can use snow,’ Holly said, trying not to smile.

  She stood and watched while Britt sent the other kids inside. An older boy took Emil with him to sit on the steps.

  Britt turned to Holly. ‘Thank you. That helped a lot.’

  ‘I’m sure you would have managed just fine,’ Holly said.

  ‘Yeah, but I would have been a lot more worried for him. I’ll call his dad and have him come get him.’ She shook her head. ‘They get hurt all the time, thankfully only bruises and minor cuts, but it freaks me out when it happens.’

  Holly nodded. ‘Happy to help. Uhm, I’ll be on my way now.’

  Britt followed her to the fence. ‘Listen, if you need something or you’re bored, I live here, next to the school. Feel free to come by any time. Also, I feel I should warn you. People will come and say hi to you.’

  ‘Why will they do that?’

  ‘For one thing, you helped Emil. So his parents will want to say thank you. And also because you’re Jack’s sister. That makes you practically family. Don’t worry, you can tell people to bugger off if you prefer to be alone.’

  ‘Right,’ Holly said, not believing she could to that for a moment.

  Britt looked back at the two boys, then leaned over the fence. ‘Alma said you know our local hermit,’ she said.

  It wasn’t really a question, more of a statement. Holly couldn’t believe she was part of the local gossip already. She frowned. ‘I don’t know him. He helped me when I arrived, that’s all.’

  ‘The kids think he’s a warlock,’ Britt said.

  ‘Why would they think that?’ Holly couldn’t hide her surprise.

  ‘Because he has a beard and that giant cat of his. It’s because Frøy’s black and they have seen too much TV about witches, I’m afraid.’

  ‘Frøy’s a gentle giant.’

  ‘We know. Frøy comes by on his own to say hello to us once in a while. Don’t you think it’s weird when a cat is more social than his human?’

  Holly couldn’t help nodding. ‘Yes, a bit. He was all over me when I met them.’

  ‘I’m guessing you’re not talking about the hermit when you say that? We respect privacy here, but he’s on an extreme level, that boy.’ Britt realised that all the kids had come outside again. ‘Time for class, I’m afraid. I’ll catch up with you later, Holly. Lovely to meet you and thanks again for your help.’

  She turned around, heading for the school house.

  Holly waved at the kids who waved back with enthusiasm. They were adorable, all of them.

  Chapter Seven

  Holly followed the road past the school, and didn’t really worry where she ended up. It was daylight and she was on an island, so how lost could she get?

  The cold wind cleared her head. She felt better looking at the views and understood more about why Jack loved it so much. Althoug
h to settle here for good was taking it too far, in her opinion.

  She came to a dry stack that seemed to go on forever, consisting of layers of uneven stones. On the other side, there were fields, with spots of rock sticking up from the earth. It reminded her of Scotland. Even the dry stacks looked the same.

  At the top of the road, she stopped to admire the ocean. The sky was clear and so blue it almost hurt. She filled her lungs with the fresh, cool air and instantly got a coughing fit, coughing so hard her eyes filled with tears. She bent over and tried to catch her breath.

  When something hit her leg, she screamed and almost fell over. Frøy rubbed against her legs, then sat in front of her, watching her with those yellow eyes as if he wondered what on earth she was up to.

  ‘You are like a ghost, you silly cat,’ she said, crouching down to pet him. ‘If you weren’t so gorgeous, I’m not sure I would be able to forgive you.’

  Frøy rubbed his head against her hand, purring loudly. ‘Charmer,’ Holly muttered.

  She looked around to see if Tor was with him, but she couldn’t see him. ‘Are you roaming the island alone today? What are you doing? Catching birds or mice?’

  Frøy flicked his ears.

  Tor felt like a massive idiot, hiding behind the drystack. He knew someone was coming when Frøy bolted out into the road. It was stupid, he knew, but he couldn’t pop up out of nowhere now, could he? She would think him a prat if he suddenly stood from his hiding place.

  And she’d think he was an even bigger prat if she found him hiding. He couldn’t make up his mind. Instead he watched her through a crack in the drystack.

  She was sitting on her knees, petting Frøy, who obviously was enjoying himself.

  ‘Traitor,’ Tor muttered.

  She was the first stranger he had talked to for more than five minutes since the news. And he couldn’t help liking her. She was very good-looking, but it was more than that. She seemed… real, somehow.