Page 95 of Awestruck at Dusk
“So you didn’t try the strawberry cake last year?” William asked with a frown as if it were a crime.
“I did, but I pushed the strawberry pieces to the sides,” I explained, giving his beer back to Tobias. “I’m—sorry?” I laughed again, mostly out of nerves. “I liked everything I tried last year. I mean, I’m not a picky eater at all. I usually like everything new I try. It’s just the texture. The seeds and the acid aftertaste. I don’t know.”
“Dad’s here,” Tobias said, looking out the huge floor-to-ceiling window. He dropped his beer and went outside to greet him.Thank God. That way, we could put the strawberry issue behind us.
William took a deep breath and dropped his beer on the kitchen counter too. He seemed weird—on edge.
I leaned in and dared to ask, “You okay?”
“Ah—yeah,” he replied without looking at me.
“Is your mom coming too?” My guess was that his mother might be coming and that he was stressed because of it.
“No—no, definitely not. She’s—notcoming.”
Guessed wrong. Well, then maybethatwas the stressful part. Perhaps it was the first year of them not spending Midsummer together as a family. I had a few follow-up questions, but I bit my tongue. It wasn’t my place to pry.
Sivert walked into the house, and Tobias followed him, rolling in his suitcase. I stood up and greeted Sivert after William hugged him. His father made a few remarks about William’s facial hair as he made his way to the kitchen and picked a couple of strawberries from the Tupperware.
“Ah, ripe and perfect,” Sivert said after tossing one into his mouth.
Zara and Eric stepped into the house, both red-faced and sweaty from their run.
“Shoes outside,” William warned. “Both of you.” Eric and Zara stopped cold and went back out to kick their sandy tennis shoes off. Tobias frowned at the sight of Zara. It’d been an awkward little scene, the one at the pool yesterday evening. It seemed to me like they hadn’t spoken about it yet. The vibe was still tense between them.
Eric greeted his father with a hug, and Zara said, “Hey! You made it!” Sivert opened his arms in her direction. “I’m all sweaty!”
“I don’t mind. Get in here.” Sivert took Zara in his arms and gave her a warm hug and a kiss on the top of her head. Damn, theyreallygot along, didn’t they? I forgot how she was basically a member of the Sjöberg family. It was annoying to witness.
“Is um—Nathalie coming?” Zara asked Sivert.
“No dear, she’s not,” he replied as William popped the lid back on the strawberry-filled Tupperware and returned it to the fridge.
Eric fled upstairs to take a shower when Sivert said to William, “I spoke to Zane earlier this week. He tells me you’ve been seeing a lot of his daughter Rachel lately. In Cape Town.”
Oy.
Rachel King is the beautiful South African actress William had been casually seeing when filming out there. Zane King is Rachel’s father—an actor too. And now I realized he’s friends with Sivert.
Perfect.
“I have,” William replied with one of his fake, studied smiles. I had to bite the inside of my cheek just to keep my out-of-service robot face in place.
William was about to say something else when Zara interrupted their exchange with a demanding tone, “Will, I need to talk to you.”
Yeah, join the club, sis, and take a number. I’m sure she hated it as much as I did to have confirmation that he was dating another girl.
Tobias shook his head and looked away. Was she going to tell William what happened at the pool too? Tobias seemed to think so.
“Sure,” William said, grabbing his beer. “Let’s go outside.”
I looked at the boiling pot of new potatoes and freaked out. They’d been there for a while. I didn’t want to ruin them.
“What should I do with the potatoes?” I asked William as he walked away.
He looked at his watch and said, “Could you take them out of the water? There’s a strainer in the second drawer below the stove. And try not to set my kitchen on fire while you’re at it.” He winked at me and followed Zara out. “Oh! And if you want to cut those in half and transfer them into a bowl, I wouldn’t mind at all!”
I wished I could’ve thrown a potato at him. He knew I was useless in the kitchen.
