Jens waved his arm at the two men still struggling with the machinery. ‘I’m not going over there,’ he declared.

Ninni took a bite of the buttery bun with a satisfied sigh. ‘Better you stay here with me and the kids. It’s a lot safer.’

Jens patted her knee. ‘You’re a good girl. How’s your Englishman?’

Ninni rolled her eyes. ‘He’s not my Englishman.’

‘Well, have you seen him lately?’

‘I saw Jack yesterday. He’d found some old exercise books that Agnar’s mother had written and wanted me to take a look at them. I can’t remember her. Did you know her?’

Jens smiled. ‘Oh, indeed I did. Magni was a scary woman. Tough as nails. Her husband was a fisherman so he was barely at home, and she was in charge of the farm. Ran that farm as if it was a military camp.’

Ninni looked at him. ‘You should tell Jack that. He’d be interested, I’m sure.’

Jens nodded. ‘Perhaps I will. Is your dad coming today?’

‘He left Bergen early and should be here on the next ferry. I told him about Jack and he’s eager to meet him.’

‘Good, good. It must be quite a shock to him as well. Agnar was a close friend,’ Jens said.

Ninni kept an eye on Ole and Anja. They were feeding the donkey carrots and it looked like they had decided to be nicer to him.

***

Jack put the food in a bag and left the house. The sun was shining and, despite the fact that the wellingtons he had found were a tiny bit too big, he felt good.

He had ended up using the second bottle of Britt’s beer in the marinade for the beef. It would be interesting to see how it turned out.

When he got up to the main road he had no idea which direction was south, but assumed it was opposite to where he stood. He followed the road past Ninni’s house and craned his neck to see if she was there. Instead he was surprised to see a man coming out, closing the door behind him.

The man smiled when he spotted Jack. ‘Hei,’ he said in Norwegian, then quickly switched to English. ‘You must be Agnar’s boy.’

Jack wasn’t sure he’d ever get used to that expression. ‘I suppose I am,’ he said.

‘You look so much like him, for a minute there I thought you were him,’ he said.

The man came down to the road, smiling from ear to ear. He carried a tote bag that looked heavy. He held out his hand. ‘I’m Petter Toft, Ninni’s father. Ninni only told me about you yesterday. I couldn’t believe it and so I had to come and see for myself.’

‘Nice to meet you too. I could hardly believe it myself.’ Jack took an instant liking to him.

‘Agnar was my friend. I have known him since I was a kid. And I’ve had a hard time understanding why he never said a word to me about you.’