Читать книгу Shadows of Sören - Nicola Stöhr - Страница 10

Sören arrived at his office right in the city centre and switched off all thoughts about Clarice. His office in Kalmar was a Clarice free zone, physically, since she had never actually been there and mentally because here he concentrated only on his work.

The client was already waiting for him and turned out to be a very attractive blond woman in her late thirties called Anna. They shook hands and promptly retreated to his office to go over her business plan together.

“Who buys all this stuff?” Sören thought again when she presented him with a list of her product range. The thought was a hypothetical one though, since he already knew what sort of customer group was attracted to ecological clothing. His market research team had already looked into that matter and written up an extensive report including impressive looking diagrams and statistical charts.

During the course of their meeting Anna flashed her legs at him several times and touched her knees to his more often than was absolutely necessary. And why not? Sören thought. He was single and free and in contrast to Clarice, Anna was not immune to his charmes and his looks, even though she herself was skinnier than he generally preferred. But she was still quite attractive and entertaining.

So after their meeting he invited her to dinner at one of the few really good restaurants the town had to offer. The restaurant was in walking distance from his office. When they passed the harbour Anna pointed to one of the bigger yachts anchored there and said, “Oh look at that boat. Isn´t it big and shiny?”

Sören nodded. It was big and shiny, what could he say?

He had noticed that although she was a successful business woman a lot of her statements were naiv and almost childlike. Maybe it was an act she put on when she was attracted to a man. Many men felt insecure around succesful women. Sören wasn´t one of them but he knew men who were.

The restaurant was furnished with glass sculptures, vases and multiple other decorative elements made out of glass. Even the candelabras were made entirely out of glass.

Öland belonged to the province of Småland and Kalmar was its capital. Småland was most famous for its traditional glass manufacturers and the restaurant was decorated with products of the most prominent glass factories, like Kosta Boda or Orrefors, although they were mostly owned by Danish investors nowadays. The Danish were taking over many things.

They gave the waitress their order of beef in mustard and savory sauce for Sören and mango, avocado and pear salad for Anna.

No wonder she´s so thin, Sören thought again. He leaned back in his chair and took a sip of his red wine. Anna was drinking mineral water.

“So Anna, tell me about yourself. Where are you from, what do you like? I´m all ears.”

And she gave him a rather extended account of her past, her likes and dislikes, which were plentiful , her ambitions and her plans for the future. So here at least was a woman who wasn´t afraid or reluctant to discuss her life with him. That made a nice change, Sören thought. Or did it? Why was he comparing Anna to Clarice all the time? Why couldn´t he just relax and enjoy this woman´s company without thinking about her all the time? He was actually annoyed with himself. He tried to concentrate solely on Anna and their conversation, which she seemed to enjoy so much that she switched over from mineral water to wine. In fact she emptied most of the bottle of red that Sören had ordered , since Sören was driving and had to watch his alcohol level. The drink-drive-limit was zero percent in Sweden and Sören was already over the limit with only one glass of wine and he had only recently paid a hefty fine for being well over the limit. He had almost lost his licence when the police had stopped him just short of the Ölandbridge. So he was being careful.

Sören looked at his watch,” Wow, that late already. Where are you staying, Anna? Is it close by?”

“Well actually I haven´t booked into a hotel yet. I was planning to do that after our meeting. But then I didn´t know you´d invite me to dinner. You wouldn´t have a place for me to stay over night, would you Sören?”

She looked at him adoringly out of big, bright eyes.

Sören didn´t really need a more obvious invitation than that. “You know Anna, you needn´t bother with a hotel. I have loads of room at my place. Why don´t I pay the bill and we can leave?”

“Sounds good to me.” On the way to Öland he regretted inviting her home to Rettinge. What if Clarice was still up and saw him arrive with Anna? But she had been without a hotel room and it was late. He couldn´t let her sleep on the street, could he? Why did he actually care what Clarice thought? And why was he justifying bringing a woman home to his house and his bed? He was free and single and not involved in any way with a red headed, single-minded, sarcastic theoretical physicist, was he? Sören didn´t think she´d care anyway, so why should he feel guilty? Except he did.