“Who are you, and what have you done with the real Ruthie who hates paperwork?” Wade asked with a smirk.
“Anna literally just brought a whole bunch of stuff from the bakery. Why do you need more?” Jack asked her.
“It’s not for me. It’s for the baby,” she replied to her husband, rubbing her belly. “Maybe you should go with him so you can help him carry the extra bags of goodies.”
“Dear Lord, woman…How many do you need?” Jack asked her.
“More importantly, it’s good to know there is a way to bribe you into finishing our paperwork,” Vince chimed in.
“Oh no you don’t,” Ruthie said, pointing her finger at him. “This is a onetime deal because the baby is demanding more cinnamon rolls. Tomorrow it will likely be something different.”
They were right, though. Ruthie despised paperwork and had started to find creative ways to make sure we did it in the timespan she required. Last week, she’d hidden Diego’s car keys until he turned in his completed paperwork. Even her husband was not immune to her talent for trickery. He claimed she “cut off his supply” for a week. I still wasn’t sure what that meant, but when I asked Ruthie, she told me I didn’t want to know.
I trusted her, especially after seeing how grumpy Jack was.
Fragrant aromas of cinnamon,cardamom, and fresh fruits were all around me.
The minute I walked through the door, the smell of home hit me, even though I had never been here before. It smelled like heaven and powdered sugar.
I scanned the items behind the glass counter, and my mouth salivated. What I wouldn’t give to have akanelbullein my mouth. To taste ajordgubbstårtaon my tongue would be divine. Those were some of my favorite homemade dishes.
“Damn, this place smells amazing,” Jack said from beside me.
He had decided to come along with me, mostly at the request—I mean demand—of Ruthie. Archer also thought it was a goodidea so that we could divide and conquer, with me talking to Stella and Jack talking to some of her coworkers.
“Welcome to Scandinavian Sweets. What can I get you?” a woman asked from behind the counter.
I looked up to see a smiling young woman about average height, with light-brown hair that was pulled into a clip at the back of her head.
“That isLussekatter, yes?” I pointed at the saffron bun on the top shelf.
My mouth watered just looking at it, having not had one in so long.
“Oh yes,” she said, reaching under the counter to grab something. “I forgot to put the sign out. I’m sorry.”
The woman took a small ceramic sign and placed it in front of the buns.
“Stella just finished making them, so I hadn’t had a chance to put the sign out,” the woman spoke again.
Stella. The woman who owned Scandinavian Sweet, and also who we needed to speak with.
“Is it possible to talk with her? Stella?” I asked.
The woman behind the counter said nothing in return, but just stared, trying to assess me. Maybe I needed to buy something in order to talk to her.
“I’ll take twoLussekatterand onekanelbulleplease,” I told her, remembering to add a cinnamon roll for Ruthie.
I knew Jack was here to get her items, but I still wanted to make sure I got her my own so I didn’t have to complete my paperwork.
The woman behind the counter typed things into her computer but again said nothing about Stella. “That will be seventeen dollars and thirty cents.”
It occurred to me that I may need to tell her why I wanted to speak with Stella.
“My name is Axel. This is Jack,” I said, pointing next to me. “We are friends of Anna Papadopoulos. She asked us to talk to Stella.”
The woman’s eyes got bigger. “Oh, do you work with her husband?” she asked, and I nodded in response.
“Go ahead and make your payment there, and I’ll get Stella for you,” she said, a smile returning to her face as she pointed at the screen in front of me.
Perfect. It had worked. Yes, I needed to talk to Stella about this person who was sending her threats, but that was only part of it. I was excited to meet this woman. I knew nothing about her, but the mere thought of connecting with someone from my home country had me energized.
This country had its perks, but I also missed home. And people who were from there understood what that was like.
The woman from the counter came back with another woman, and the second woman was stunning. The original woman behind the counter was pretty, but she was nothing compared to the new woman standing next to her. She had hazel eyes and blonde hair, though she had some brown hair mixed in, too. She had a tiny diamond piercing in her nose, which brought attention to some of the freckles around that area. Her tall height was rather impressive too, though she was still a good head shorter than my nearly six-and-a-half-foot frame.
“Hi, I’m Stella,” she said to me in a friendly voice.“Can I help you guys?”
Obviously, she didn’t know I was Swedish and likely assumed I was a standard American customer like Jack, so she spoke English. But I wanted her to know she didn’t have to fake it with me, so I launched into speaking our native tongue, greeting her and asking her for a few moments of her time. Though, instead of responding, she just stared at me and blinked.
Well, this wasn’t going well.
