Page 204 of These Tears

She pushes in, taking a single step further to settle the container on the table.

‘We’re a little late,’ she says brightly.

I blink rapidly to banish the haze of petty, irrational jealousy that rises the moment she steps into the house like she belongs here.

‘Late for what?’ I try as I push the door closed.

‘Hey, hey!’ Elias shoulders in with two more cloth-wrapped boxes balanced against his chest, snow clinging to his jacket and beard. Anders follows right behind him, cheeks red, carrying another stack and grinning as though this was all expected. ‘We brought too much, I think,’ he announces, unnecessarily – because the kitchen is already filling with the savoury scent coming from different containers.

Elias doesn’t look at me as he passes, but his arm brushes mine anyway. It’s a brief contact, but charged enough to make my fingers twitch around the towel I haven’t realised I’m still holding.

Then the two men start moving around each other, opening the fridge and clearing the shelves before stacking containers inside.

Inga unwraps the one at the table, holding some sort of chocolate cake, humming under her breath, while I remain by the door watching them take possession of the kitchen.

‘Am I missing something?’ I say. ‘I feel like we should have baked something too.’

Inga is at my side in a second, coiling her arm around my shoulders.

Don’t squirm, I coach myself.

She pulls me closer to the table and drags out a chair. ‘You just sit down. It’s your day.’

My brain blanks out.

I aim my gaze at Elias, who is still avoiding meeting mine.

‘My day…’ I reiterate.

‘Yes! You don’t celebrate birthdays?’ Inga asks, unhelpfully.

My gaze falls to the cloth clutched between my fingers.

Is it my birthday already?

I’ve been here almost a full month.

The cloth twists tighter.

‘We still need to step by Olle’s place,’ Anders says as he straightens. ‘I’m bringing more ammunition to him. There have been quite a few sightings around here. Have you set the traps?’

‘Not yet. Was planning to do it tomorrow,’ Elias admits as he turns to Inga. ‘Anyone else coming?’

She gives an incline of her head. ‘My brothers and their wives. Aunt Hilde. They’ll be here around four when we return.’ Then she turns to me with a broader smile. ‘You get your present later, okay?’

‘You didn’t really need to get me anything. This is more than enough.’

‘Nonsense,’ Anders chuckles behind me as he approaches, fixing his hat in place as he begins to tug on his gloves again. ‘We love celebrations, and the birthday of my nephew’s future wife is no exception.’

Nephew.

The words hook into my ribcage.

But that means that Inga is—

My gaze finds her as she closes the door to the fridge.

All that history between them. All that familiarity I’d been stupid enough to resent.