Jess finds a shiny twenty-kroner coin in his wallet and puts it on the table. When he opens the door, he turns and casts a final glance at the two girls. The dark-haired one sits listening patiently, the back of her hand under her chin, while the blond leans so far across the table the little silver heart almost touches the surface.
Not long after that, Jess is standing in front of his apartment building. The intercom is broken; he can hear it scratching and crackling in the speaker. He puts his key in the door, but pulls it out again. He puts his finger on the white button instead.
—Yes? Maria answers a moment later.
Jess presses his scarf to his mouth.
—It’s Markus.
—Who is it?
Jess leans closer to the microphone.
—Markus.
The lock buzzes, and he pushes the door open with his foot.
On his way up he meets his downstairs neighbor.
—Hello, Jess, he says as he passes.
—Hello, Anders, Jess says and squeezes his keys hard.
When he finally reaches the third floor, the door to his apartment is ajar. Jess pushes it open and sees Maria in the kitchen; she turns and smiles.
—Hey, baby.
Jess notices that she’s wearing a new shirt.
It’s a little small, and he can see a strip of her belly. She comes to him, plants a quick kiss on his lips.
—There’s something wrong with the intercom. I couldn’t hear anything.
Jess studies Maria for a long moment. Then he hangs his scarf and his jacket in the entryway, walks into the living room, and sits at the long table. Maria follows him.
—Have you had a good day?
—Yes, thanks.
—Would you like coffee?
—Sure, why not?
Maria goes into the kitchen and puts on the water and returns quickly. She sets two cups on the table along with a little glass pitcher of milk. Then she gets behind him and runs her fingers through his short, bristly hair.
—I didn’t hear you leave this morning. How did you manage not to wake me?
He raises his shoulders and lets them fall.
—You were sleeping soundly.
—I was in fact. It felt great to sleep in.
Maria’s hands continue down to his chest and pry a button on his shirt, and one hand slips underneath. Jess can feel her belly against the back of his head. Then she bends forward and he can feel her breasts. She nips softly at his ear.
—Maybe we should hold off on the coffee for a little while? she says.
—Maybe we should, he says.
Rose
We lay in our beds counting the miles. Lightning flashed and I could see Morten against the far wall. I saw his lips moving and could tell he was counting to himself. Before anything happened, lightning flashed twice. Then came thunder, a whole series, gradually drawing closer, and then an abundance of lightning and the rain drummed against the roof. Morten’s voice sounded weak:
—There are too many. I can’t tell which thunder goes with which lightning.
I could hear in his voice that he was about to cry, and I thought he might start asking a lot of questions. Like where Mom was, almost a week had gone by now, and why didn’t Dad come home, and Grandpa—who was supposed to look after us while Grandma was out searching—where was he?