‘You are lucky, sweetie. You don’t have to make decisions like this.’

Ninni pulled out the mobile and looked at it. Two messages from Jack. Please call.

She couldn’t postpone it for much longer, and decided to call him.

‘Hi,’ he said, answering at once. ‘How are you doing?’

‘I’m fine. I’m actually on the sofa with a blanket and Frikk. How did it go?’

He laughed, sounding so happy and carefree. ‘They offered me the same conditions as before. I told them it’s a full partnership or nothing, and said I’m returning to Norway the day after tomorrow.’

‘That’s good. Are they going to give it to you, do you think?’ Ninni wasn’t sure what to think of it. It was obvious that he wanted to go home to London, of course he did.

‘We’ll see. I’m not taking anything for granted. I’m heading out to my dad’s house now. I’ll talk to you later, okay?’

‘Sure. Later.’

Ninni put down the mobile. Perhaps that was the solution, she thought. Jack returned to London, none the wiser, and she did whatever she decided to do. Which she had no idea about yet.

She lay down on the sofa and closed her eyes. A bleep from the mobile made her look at it. From Karl. She almost dropped the mobile on the floor.

‘Just what I needed. Not,’ she muttered. ‘If you wanted me to call back, you shouldn’t have left your name, you twat.’

She read the text. He wanted to talk to her. Please.

‘Please my arse,’ she said, wondering if she should respond or not. In the end she texted back. Don’t ever contact me again. Then she blocked his new number too.

That would show him, she thought. She put the phone on silent and closed her eyes.

She was exhausted. All she wanted now was a long nap.

Chapter 18

Ninni spent the next day in her boat, pretending to fish but mostly staring into the distance. Frikk kept close, much closer than normal, and she knew he felt something was wrong.

The sun was glaring from an intense blue sky and she could hear people laughing and shouting on the beach. There were plenty of other boats moored on the water, and the beach was full of people in holiday mood. She could smell the smoke from disposable barbecues. She wasn’t on “beach duty” – Tobben was in charge this week.

She spotted him walking towards the barbecues, talking to people. She knew exactly what he was telling them. Mostly people were good about it. This was the hottest summer anyone could remember. Olav and Sigrid were happy for the hay, but worried about the potatoes.

Ninni considered having a bath, but she wasn’t in the mood. Her thoughts kept churning over and over.

She knew that keeping the baby meant she couldn’t involve Jack. It wasn’t his baby and whatever the relationship was, it wasn’t ready for a situation like this. But that was hardly a reason to abort a baby, she thought.