“How did they meet?”
“This will sound strange, but through bolts and screws.”
I squinted. “So . . . are they mechanics?”
“No,” he replied with a chuckle. “My parents have known each other basically their entire lives. They grew up in the same small town in Swendway. When they were eleven, some guys at school were picking on my dad, throwing his schoolwork in the mud. My mom was even smaller than him at the time, but she went right up and yelled at them and pulled my dad away.
“He was embarrassed, but she was enraged. She forced him into an alliance, and that night they met each other on a back road, ran to each of the three bullies’ houses, and stole the screws out of their bike wheels so they’d have to walk. For weeks after that, any time they saw that one of the bullies had replaced the screws, my mom and dad would go steal them. After a while the bullies gave up and walked.”
“I like your mom,” I said through bites of bread.
“Oh, you guys would get along great. She loves food and music and is on a constant hunt for a good reason to laugh. My dad, on the other hand— Well, if you think I’m shy, you should meet him. He’s much more comfortable with books than people, and it can take him a while to warm up to strangers. Anyway, my parents grew up, and because they were very different people, they ran in different circles. Boy after boy came by for my mother, while my dad was spending weekends in the library.
“When my dad got older, he bought a bike. And one morning he woke up and found the screws for his wheels were missing.”
“No!”
“Yes. And she did this until he wised up and started walking with her to school. And they’ve been walking together everywhere since.”
“That is amazing.”
He nodded. “They married young but waited awhile to start a family. They tell me not to take offense but that they weren’t ready to share each other with anyone else, not even me.”
I shook my head. “I really wish I could meet them.”
“They’d have liked you. Dad might have spent most of the visit hiding in his room, but he’d have liked you all the same.”
Erik uncorked the wine, and we shared fruit and bread and cheese. For a long time we didn’t speak. The silence made everything feel bigger, better. There was no rush to fill the space, and after days and days of sound, the comfortable quiet with Erik was the most soothing thing in my world. It was like being alone without really being alone.
“I have to ask an embarrassing question,” I admitted after a while.
“Oh, no.” He took a deep breath. “All right, I’m ready.”
“What’s your full name?”
He nearly spit out his wine. “I thought I was going to have to confess some dark secret, and that’s it?”
“I feel bad that I’ve kissed you and don’t know your last name.”
He nodded. “It’s Eikko Petteri Koskinen.”
“Eikko Pet . . . Petteri?”
“Koskinen.”
“Koskinen.”
“Perfect.”
“Is it okay if I call you that? Eikko? I like your name.”
He shrugged. “I only changed it because I thought it was too strange.”
“No,” I insisted. “It’s not strange.”
He looked down, toying with the blanket. “What about you? Full name?”
I sighed. “There was some debate over middle names, so it’s Eadlyn Helena Margarete Schreave.”
“That’s a mouthful,” he teased.
“It’s pretentious, too. My name literally means ‘princess shining pearl.’”
He tried to hide his smile. “Your parents named you Princess?”
“Yes. Yes, I am Queen Princess Schreave, thank you.”
“I shouldn’t laugh.”
“And yet you do.” I brushed the crumbs off my dress. “It makes me feel like I was predestined to become a brat.”
He grabbed my hand, forcing me to look at him. “You are not a brat.”
“The first time we really spoke, I corrected your manners.”
He shrugged. “They needed correcting.”
I smiled sadly. “I’m not sure why, but that makes me want to cry.”
“Please don’t. That was a good day for me.”
I questioned him with my eyes, holding on to his hand as he continued. “When you got up onto the float and you were speaking with Henri? After you were done, you looked down to let me know everything was okay. You didn’t have to do that. You were busy and in a rush, and you still acknowledged me. Even after knowing I was the type of person who bit my nails when I was nervous.”
That made me want to cry even more. “Did it start then?”