During the coffee break her colleagues were attentive and gentle. They patted her arm and asked if this was her sorrow for Jonni finally coming to the surface. She had nodded and gone along with it, because that could well have been the case. She had stood straight-backed the whole time after his death, boldly facing everyone and everything. She had turned up for work as usual, baked everything for the wake herself and hadn’t let anyone see her shed a tear. But now it felt as if Omar’s sudden disappearance had turned her world upside-down. Maybe she had become too fond of the boy, allowed him to get too close, let him too far into her heart.

She was at the traffic lights opposite Skeifan on her way back home, when she heard her phone ping. She reached across to her handbag on the floor on the passenger side, but then the car behind blew its horn, as the lights had changed to green, so she drove around the roundabout, past Skeifan, over the bridge and onto Miklabraut, but by then she couldn’t wait any longer to check her phone. The message might be from Omar.

She knew it wasn’t allowed, but she swerved off the road and into a lay-by next to a bus shelter, deciding to pretend the car had broken down. She switched on the hazard lights and reached for her bag.

Her fingers shook as she fumbled for her phone. How on Earth had all that junk collected in her bag? There were sweet wrappers, 246pens, receipts, sunglasses, a purse, a book of crosswords, house keys, hair spray … But where was the damned phone? It pinged a second time just as she placed a hand on it, and the vibration sent a shiver of fear and hope through her.

The message was from a long unknown number, clearly foreign. She opened it and felt her heart sink into some indescribable emptiness, such was her relief.

I’m in Canada! the message read. Staying with friend who will help find work. You will come and visit, Mamma? Yes?

Olga laughed out loud as she wiped the tears from her eyes. She put the car in gear and headed back out onto Miklabraut, at the same time indicating to take the next exit. She was going home, to sit by the kitchen table with coffee and a couple of biscuits before answering the message.