And frankly, she shouldn’t want to be anyone’s girlfriend either! Hadn’t she learned anything from Wade Doyle? Hadn’t he learned anything from hearing his mother’s desperate, unrequited cries for his father? Love doesn’t work out. Someone always gets hurt. And the only sure way to avoid that hurt was to avoid love.
Opening the door for her, he dropped his arm, letting her hand go.
I know there’s a romantic in there, Erik.
“You’re wrong, Kat. There isn’t.”
As she passed him, she smiled at him in that annoying way girls do when they think they know you better than you know yourself. He heard her singsong voice trail behind her as she passed him. “If you say so, Minste. If you say so.”
***
“So, Erik,” José was asking, trying to engage him yet again. “How’s it going up there in Kalispell?”
“Just fine, Joe. Or José? What do you prefer?” Erik’s tone was just the slightest bit mocking.
“Whatever works for you, Erik.”
“Kalispell’s just fine, José.”
“You have a place to yourself? An apartment?”
Erik turned to Gabrielle, smiling at her warmly. “I do. It’s not much, but I’m making do. My landlord’s a character.”
Katrin turned to him with a bright smile, placing her hand on his. “We have to tell them about Terry!”
We. Again. He glanced at her hand for a moment, realizing it was the third or fourth time she had done that. It was the sort of gesture a girlfriend would make, and it was making him uncomfortable. He picked up his drink with the hand she was touching, leaving hers alone on the table.
Turning to Gabrielle, he said: “Terry’s hopelessly stuck in 1976. He wears these polyester shirts with long, pointy collars, and these flat-front, tight polyester pants. He says things like ‘jive cat’ and ‘stone cold fox.’ There’s always disco music coming out of his apartment. Stuff like ‘Dancing Queen’ and ‘Macho Man.’”
Gabrielle grinned. “He let you borrow his clothes?”
“I tried, Gabrielle, I tried. But, Terry’s pretty particular about who he loans things out to.”
Gabrielle chuckled as José turned to Katrin. “You met Terry yet?”
“No.” She smiled at Erik. “I haven’t seen Erik’s place yet. We have to do that.”
We again. What is that? The hundredth time tonight? “Yeah. You’ll have to come up sometime.”
“So, tell me again how you two know each other? It’s a family connection, right?” José gestured back and forth between them, taking a sip of his wine.
Katrin nodded. “Erik’s sister, Jenny, is married to my cousin, Sam.”
Thanks for answering for me, Kat. “Jenny’s my youngest—um, sibling. We have two older brothers.”
“So, you must know each other pretty well.”
Erik shook his head. “No, not really.”
Katrin turned from José and smiled at Erik like he was making a funny joke, touching his hand again. “We met once at my cousin’s wedding and once at Ingrid’s. But, those were busy days. We’ve gotten to know each other better in the last few weeks.”
We. We. We. He looked at her hand touching his and used it to pick up his scotch and take a long sip. Her eyes lingered on the tumbler, then glanced at him with worry. Of course. Her ex is an alcoholic. The drinking’s bothering her. He pushed the glass away and gave her a thin smile, which she returned. He could see the relief in her eyes.
“That’s weddings! Busy times,” said Gabrielle. “Katrin told me ‘bout your adventure to Wild Horse last weekend. You two seen the falls yet?”
Erik started to answer he had not, but Katrin answered for him. Or rather, for them. “We haven’t. We should go!”
An awful feeling was taking over inside of him. Since when were he and Katrin an established “we”? Since when did she take his hand at the table in front of people, like she was his girlfriend? Since when did she make plans for them as a couple? For that matter, when did they become an official couple in the first place?
He liked her very much, yes. But, he liked her in their own safe little bubble where it was just her and him figuring things out. Where he didn’t have to be on display with the words “My Boyfriend” blinking in neon on his forehead. Where the pressure of being a couple, being in a relationship, didn’t exist.
All of his worries about Midsommardagen were closing in on him, making him feel irritated and uncomfortable. He had started today hoping they could act like friends in front of their families, but with Katrin us-ing and we-ing all over the place in front of her friends; taking his hand at the table, and speaking for them as a unit, it didn’t seem very likely. It seemed like she wanted to go home for Midsommardagen as boyfriend and girlfriend, and with two families in the mix, that was simply not something that Erik was prepared to do.
He didn’t know how, but he had to sort this out with her, sooner rather than later.
Before Midsommardagen.
***
Katrin couldn’t put her finger on what was going on but comparing the rides to and from the restaurant was inevitable. Something was different between her and Erik as they drove south along Flathead Lake back to Skidoo Bay, and she didn’t like it, but she didn’t know what to do about it. Maybe he was just in a bad mood, or maybe something more was going on, but unless he talked to her, she couldn’t figure it out or help him fix it.
It wasn’t just the drive home, either. His mood had soured, bit by bit, as the evening wore on.
