‘Hello?’
‘Fredrik? It’s Ellie.’
‘Ellie! It’s so good to hear from you.’
He sounded relieved to hear her voice. ‘I got your message,’ said Ellie. ‘How’s the pilgrimage?’
‘I’m taking a day off to rest the legs.’
‘Congratulations.’
‘Thanks.’ He paused. ‘How’s the road trip?’
‘OK. Good!’ enthused Ellie.
‘Where did you get to?’
Did it matter if she spoke the truth? Ellie couldn’t see a reason not to. ‘Spain.’
‘Oh wow, you too. I thought you were avoiding me,’ said Fredrik teasingly. ‘You didn’t return my last message.’
‘Oh. It’s not that. Long story.’ The conversation hit a lull and Ellie felt the need to bridge the gap. ‘So you’re off to Norway soon?’
‘In a couple of days.’
Back to normality, thought Ellie, feeling irrationally sad that he was leaving.
‘Hey, you don’t fancy hooking up before I go, do you?’
Her stomach flipped. But of course she couldn’t. It was impossible.
‘Spain’s a big place,’ she said, as an excuse.
‘Depends,’ said Fredrik. ‘Where exactly are you?’
‘North-west,’ said Ellie.
‘Me too,’ said Fredrik. ‘Whereabouts?’
She didn’t want to say. ‘Oh, I don’t know. A small village somewhere.’
She could almost hear Fredrik’s mind turning over and felt bad about what would seem like a brush-off. She liked him, didn’t want him to think she wasn’t keen.
‘Youareavoiding me,’ he said with a smile.
‘Honestly, it’s not that.’
There was an awkward silence.
‘So, have you seen much on your travels?’ asked Fredrik.
‘Some beautiful scenery,’ said Ellie, relieved to change topic. ‘The Camargue was amazing. What was your highlight?’
‘Fixing my fifth puncture in a day.’
Ellie laughed.
‘I’ve run out of patches. I’m at a hostel, waiting for one of the guys here to get back from the nearest village – he offered to get some more for me.’ He paused. ‘I’m kind of at a loose end.’
