“Like I said, I don’t give a shit about Don,” Henrik replied.
31
Nora glanced up at the clock as they finished filming for the day. It was already seven thirty.
They had prepared several batches of saffron dough, and Henrik hadn’t criticized her once. In fact they had worked together in total harmony and had a really nice time. Hassan and Emil had closed the café and gone home. Nora had to stay to work on the Lucia buns. It was going to be a long night.
“There’s still a lot to do,” Henrik said, as if he had read her mind. “I’ll stay and help.”
Elnaz gave them a meaningful look as she put on her jacket.
Once the TV team had left, there was an awkward silence between them; they were suddenly very aware that they were alone. The last time that had happened, they had kissed. However, Nora couldn’t forget what Henrik had said earlier.
After a while, Henrik spoke. “Once again, I’m really sorry for what I said about your mother.”
Nora looked at him warily. “What made you change your mind?”
“I didn’t want to be fake or a complete shit any longer.”
“It’s about time.”
“I want to stick to what’s authentic.” He looked at her for a long time. She shivered, but she had no intention of letting him off the hook so easily.
“So you’re done with humiliating and ridiculing people?”
He didn’t answer. Instead he picked up a bag of flour, scattered a generous amount across the baking table, then tipped out a batch of golden-yellow saffron dough. He began to knead by hand, ignoring the mixer, and Nora did the same by his side.
“I realize it’s hard for you to understand all these twists and turns, and I truly apologize for everything I’ve put you through,” he said as he worked. Nora couldn’t take her eyes off his muscular forearms. “But ...” He broke off, looked up at the ceiling. “How can I explain without it sounding totally sick?” he said, mostly to himself. He looked at her, honesty shining from those dark-brown eyes. “This is the way it’s been my entire adult life—a pretense in front of the cameras, while something completely different is going on behind the scenes. I play a role inLet’s Get Baking. Our aim is to get a bit of a rise out of people—although I have to admit we’ve never taken it so far in the past.” He sighed.
“So why did you go along with it this time?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. I don’t really understand it myself ...”
“Is it just because of the ratings?” She was genuinely interested; she wanted to know what drove him to behave the way he did.
“Yes, that’s part of it. But another reason why I’ve accepted Don’s ideas is that my father is trying to blast me out of the water. He’s sold a new show to TV24, which is apparently going to air next fall at the same time asLet’s Get Baking—in the slot we’ve had for almost five years. That’s no excuse for the way I’ve behaved, but it’s the truth.”
Nora nodded slowly. Somewhere deep down she had known that there was something else behind it all. She respected the fact that Henrik wanted to save his show—after all, she was prepared to go to more or less any lengths to save her business—but she had sensed there was more to it.
“Do you really need your father? Do you need the company?” she asked. “It sounds like a toxic relationship you ought to get out of.”
He shrugged, continued kneading. “Baking and my job have always been my passion, and the family business has been a part of that. It’s what puts fire in my belly, what I live for.” He thought for a moment. “Without Eklunds and my family, I wouldn’t be here. It’s my father’s work that’s built my career and made me who I am.”
“I don’t agree. You’ve become who you are thanks to your own TV show. Not Eklunds.”
He remained silent for a long time, considering what she had said.
“Are you okay?” she prompted him eventually.
Then he looked at her. “Thank you for listening. I have to say it’s fantastic to stand here and bake with someone like this. Totalk.”
“Don’t you talk best when you’re kneading dough? I’m sure I’ve heard you say that several times.” She gave him a teasing smile, knowing perfectly well that it was just something he said for TV.
“That’s kind of the Eklund family mantra on TV,” he conceded. “We talk things through over a bubbling boeuf bourguignon,andconversation flows freely when we all crowd into the kitchen for family dinners,andkneading a batch of dough solves every problem.”
“You do realize that’s how everyone thinks of your family? I’ve always assumed that you all hang out together on weekends, trying out new recipes. Baking vanilla and rhubarb buns, then eating them in Hasse and Anita’s lush lilac arbor with homemade raspberry juice.”
“Sometimes we do just that,” he said with a weary smile. “But only for the cameras.”
