"Of course. I will walk out with you," I answered.
"Nonsense," she argued. "You should stay and eat. I have already cooked all this food. That way, neither of you would have dinner alone tonight."
“I don’t want to intrude,” I say, spinning around to face Alexander, “if it would be getting in the way of anything.”
The room was silent for a beat as he looked between Asta and me. His face was cold and unmoving, giving no hint of his thinking. And then, my stomach growled, breaking the silence. He chuckled, closing his eyes and shaking his head before he finally said -
“I guess that answers that question. It is no inconvenience to have dinner with you, Agotia. I would appreciate it if you stayed.”
“Wonderful,” Asta said, clapping her hands together. "With that settled, I will grab my bag and be off. If you are still here when I return, we can decide on a time for the flower market. If not, I will call you tomorrow; there is also a needlepoint presentation for traditional Norwegian clothing at the end of this week."
She kissed me on both cheeks and dashed out of the room, leaving me feeling like I was just tossed about in a storm. My cheeks were still hot and red from the unladylike noise my stomach gurgled, and I hesitated to face Alexander just yet.
“The plates are already on the table!” Asta called to us before I heard the front door open and promptly closed behind her.
I still had not moved when Alexander cleared his throat.
“I don’t bite, you know.” His voice was low and teasing but still set me on edge.
I turned back to face him, and whatever words I had been about to say were stolen from me as his smile dazzled me.
“Shall we?”
Nodding slowly at his question, I walked towards the table as he gestured. He followed closely behind me, and when I got to the table, he reached around my waist and pulled out the chair. He was close enough that the warmth from his body radiated off him, penetrating through my sweater. It was going to be a long meal.
“Two sisters? I bet it was always a fun house trying to wrangle them,” I joked.
We had gotten through the salad and the first glass of wine before the conversation grew comfortable, and now we spoke freely.
“That is one way to put it,” he quipped, a playful grin on his face.
“My middle sister, Agneita, is as stubborn as a mule. She has been known to get herself into more than one difficult situation. We used to be closed before she got married."
"Do you not like her husband?" I asked, curious about the resigned sadness in his gaze as he spoke of her.
He sighed and cocked his head at me before pushing pieces of the creamy pasta around his plate. Eventually, he set his fork down and steepled his fingers under his chin.
"It is not that I do not like him," he explained. "It is that I think she deserved better. She outworks him every day of the week while single-handedly taking care of their four-year-old son, Ashton. I tried to help by giving Sam a job, but he cost us major clients and millions of dollars. I had to fire him. It is safe to say that I am not her favorite person right now."
"It could be challenging to mix family and work. It is hard to get people to understand that what happens in a business is nothing personal, and if you make it personal, you risk ruining the relationship and the business."
“Exactly. I tried to explain that to her, but she was not ready to hear it. Especially since it is technically a family business, and they are all involved in one way or another. He is just her blind spot.”
“Tell me about your other sister,” I suggested, trying to distract him from what was obviously a difficult topic.
"Nori," he sighed with a smile. "She was the unplanned baby my mother cherished and spoiled, although I can't blame her. Nori brings a certain kind of balance to the family. She is currently in Peru on an archeology dig as an intern. When she has good phone reception, we talk mostly about the recent skeleton discovered at the archeology site and why it is significant, which I don't get at all…"
I laughed then, getting a clear image of the kind of spunky young woman his sister was. I envied his affection for his siblings, and I told him so.
"As an only child, I always dreamed of having a sibling. I thought it would be fun to have someone besides my father or the goats with whom to play. Now more than ever, I wish I had more family."
I couldn’t hide the wistful longing in my voice, and he caught on to it.
“Don’t you have any relatives left? Asta mentioned that your father passed not too long ago. I can only imagine how difficult it has been to go through that alone.”
I blinked back the tears gathered at his soft words and took another sip of wine before answering.
"It's just me now. My mother died when I was a baby and my father never remarried. He always said I was enough for him, but I think he couldn't stand the thought of finding someone else. He was also an only child, so when my grandparents passed, the two of us left. Now it is just me. But I have not been alone. I have a handful of unwaveringly loyal farm workers and friends, like Asta, who help wherever possible. There are just some things that friends can't do that a family can."
