‘They’ll give up soon enough,’ Sigrid said.

Ninni watched them. ‘I hope so. I’m not in the mood to dig furrows all day. Better they do it.’

Sigrid looked at her. ‘You know, I’m the only one who hasn’t met your Englishman yet.’

‘Oh, for God’s sake. Why does everyone keep saying that? He’s not my Englishman,’ Ninni said.

‘But you’re the one who has the most dealings with him, being his neighbour. Olav said he’s not a farmer. What’s he like?’

Everyone asked her that question. Ninni sighed. ‘He’s nice, I suppose. All I know is that he’s not familiar with the sea or boats, and a bit wary of dogs.’

‘It’s more than a bit strange that he shows up out of the blue like that. You could have knocked me over with a feather. Ole, don’t pull his ears,’ she barked at the boy.

The boy had been hanging over the donkey’s ears. ‘But he likes it,’ he whined.

‘I’ll come over there and pull your ears soon. See how much you like it,’ she said.

Ole let go at once.

Sigrid turned to Ninni again. ‘Is he good-looking? Olav had no idea. He’s so clueless sometimes.’

They were interrupted by the arrival of Jens and Alma, coming up from the beach and carrying a huge basket between them. Alma shook her head when Ninni took the basket from them. ‘I’m getting too old to walk all this way,’ she said.

Jens leaned against the fence, breathing heavily. He took off his hat and ran a hand over his head. ‘Last time it was this hot, you two weren’t even born.’

Ninni smiled at him. ‘Didn’t you take the boat?’

‘Of course we did, but it’s a long way up from the beach.’ Alma looked around. ‘Shouldn’t we be in the field by now?’

‘We’re waiting for Ninni’s Englishman,’ Sigrid said with a grin.

Jens chuckled. ‘I’m looking forward to his opinion on the Old Cheese I gave him.’

‘We all are. You haven’t stopped talking about it since you forced it on him,’ Alma said before handing the basket over to Sigrid. ‘It’s just a few baked goods.’

Ninni leaned closer when Sigrid peered inside. The golden buns smelled of cardamom and vanilla, and Sigrid smiled. ‘Oh, these are going to disappear fast. I’ll hide them in the kitchen for now,’ she said.

‘Wait, wait, wait.’ Ninni grabbed a bun. ‘Sorry, I’m starving,’ she said when Alma gave her a stern look.

‘Let’s go before she eats all of them,’ Sigrid said with a smile.

Alma followed her to make sure everything was taken care of. ‘Are you still using that old wood-burner oven? You do know that there are perfectly good electric ovens to get, some of them really good too,’ she said.

Sigrid smiled. ‘I like the old oven. You will not believe the bread we make in it.’

Alma huffed and muttered something Ninni couldn’t hear. It made her smile, listening to the two of them bickering like that.