Susanne was glad to see her uncle already inside, going over some order lists behind the counter.

“Morning, Nobby.” Anja walked past her to give him a hug.

Watching them greet each other so warmly was a little weird. No way would she have ever greeted her former boss this way. Susanne couldn’t put her finger on what exactly she was feeling. Part of it might have been envy because she didn’t have that kind of close relationship with her uncle. She remembered what Anja had told her on Friday evening about having a family tree the size of a bonsai. Maybe she didn’t have any uncles, and that was why she and Uncle Norbert were so close.

She walked past them to the back to hang her coat. When she turned, she came face-to-face with Anja, who had her own coat in hand but made no move to hang it.

“Listen,” Anja said quietly, as if not wanting Uncle Norbert to hear. “I know Miriam kind of steamrolled you into agreeing for us to be on a first-name basis. If you’d rather we go back to addressing each other by our last names, that would be fine.”

Did she want to do that? Susanne took the coat from Anja and hung it for her so she’d have a moment to think about it. Her first impulse was to jump at the chance to get back some professional distance, but she had a feeling it was too late for that. She had already seen Anja’s home, had met her best friend, and had found out bits and pieces about how she’d grown up—including that story about kissing a person of unknown gender in the movie theater.

“Hey, you two,” Uncle Norbert called when they didn’t immediately return from the back. “Get a room.”

What the hell? Had he really just said what she thought he’d said? Susanne squeezed past Anja and strode toward the counter. “What did you just say?”

“You two should get a room,” he repeated. “A hotel room. For the fair in Frankfurt.”

“Oh.”

“What did you think I was talking about?” His baby blue eyes looked at her with the most innocent expression, and Susanne couldn’t tell whether it was real or fake.

It occurred to her that she barely knew her uncle. You preferred it that way, remember? She cleared her throat. “Oh, nothing. I was just… Forget it.”

Anja joined them. Was it just Susanne’s imagination, or were her cheeks a little flushed? “I don’t think we’ll find a hotel room this late. At least not one that won’t cost us an arm and a leg. The hotels in Frankfurt are always upping their prices during the big fairs. We can just go there for the day and travel back in the evening.”