But this seemed to have no effect on Even. He had more questions, she could tell. Susanne braced herself.

‘There’s something else as well,’ he said.

Susanne sighed.

‘You know Cecilie. Mari’s mum.’

She swallowed hard.

‘Have you been in touch with her since…’

‘No,’ she replied.

Even frowned. ‘You don’t even know what I was going to ask you.’

‘Of course I haven’t been in touch with her since Mari died. For goodness’ sake, Even, it’s no more than a day since … I’m sure that Cecilie has more than enough on her plate without me…’ Susanne stopped herself again.

‘I wasn’t thinking about now, Mum, I meant after we moved back.’

She took a breath, paused, then said: ‘No.’

‘Why not?’

‘Well,’ she said and hesitated, ‘I just didn’t feel like it.’

‘But weren’t you best friends once upon a time?’

She sighed again. ‘Why are you asking about all this now, Even? Why is it suddenly so important to you?’

‘I just think that it’s a bit strange that the two of you don’t have anything to do with each other anymore,’ Even said. ‘Mari and I talked about it. She found it weird too.’

‘You know what?’ Susanne said. ‘So do I. But it’s not my fault, I can tell you that much. Cecilie stopped talking to me at one point, and there’s a limit to how many times you can be bothered to try, isn’t there? To call, to suggest a coffee or a walk or … something.’ Susanne pulled GP towards her. ‘You might as well get used to it,’ she said and gave the dog an angry look. ‘Friends come and go. There doesn’t need to be any particular reason, it just happens. You drift apart. Then you get new friends, and you forget the old ones. You only ever keep a handful, if that, throughout your life. And that’s if you’re lucky.’

Even seemed to fade away into his own thoughts for a while.

‘Wouldn’t it be good to send her some flowers or something?’ he asked. ‘I mean now? She might need it.’

Susanne sighed. ‘Yeah,’ she said eventually, in a quiet voice. ‘I guess I should do that.’

34

34

Because I’d left my bike at school the day before, I had to walk all the way back there, but I really didn’t mind. It was good to stretch my legs a little, to use my body again. It was as if the fresh air cleansed me somehow, from the inside out.