I meet Jörn’s wife; smörgås in family drama

“Hon är så liten! Du kan lägga henne i din väska som en liten hund,” she says when she sees me walk in

Lisa —at his place—when I come in after a long day with the construction people at the penthouse; mostly incomprehensible discussions about floor plans and phone calls with warehouses for more fixtures that lead to mostly being put on hold for collective hours of my life

my least favorite way to spend a day

But I don’t have a clue what she has just said only that it makes Jörn irritated

“What?” I look over at Jörn as I put down my bag by the door and walk into the living room where everyone is standing around drinking wine

but I am still thinking about the construction progress back at the penthouse and if/when I should mention to Jörn that it is safe for me to return

I try to quickly size up his wife as her eyes sweep me over. She has her arm woven through another dark man (I find out later he is her Italian photographer boyfriend) and her other through Andreas.

I cannot read her —except to say she has a strangely familiar face and her eyes lock onto me

Jörn seems disconcerted by whatever she said and Jörn’s mother bursts out laughing

“Mamma....!” Andreas pulls himself free of her

She is very tall and she wears her platinum hair lank, pulled to one side. She wears solid black, head to foot; a clingy jersey halter with palazzo trousers, spiked heels and dramatic red lipstick

She walks right over and goes to shake my hand, her grip sends sparks of pain through my fingers and I have to hold back a cry,

“Hello, I’m Lisa,” she says

“Hej,” I say and return the handshake

“Your hands!” she exclaims

“Ohhh,” I attempt to disengage self-consciously

“They are so small and so soft! What do you do to keep them so smooth? Certainly Jörn has not got you doing his washing up!”

“Lisa....” Jörn says this softly like a warning

I look up at him and meet his eyes but he shakes his head and steps between us; he takes my hand from her and replaces it with his.

“Hanna!” Jörn waves to the tall girl who steps from the washroom now

I had expected someone who looked like a fashion model because she has just signed a contract with a top modeling agency but the girl I see who walks over is dressed more like someone from a rock band wearing a white torn t-shirt with something spray painted on it over a leather mini skirt

When she comes over she is nearly a foot taller than me with an interesting piercing through her ear.

She looks like Jörn, more than Andreas does who resembles his grandfather more —it makes me stare

Jörn introduces us

“Can I call you ‘Duvan’?” she asks me and smiles taking me off guard and because I don’t know how to reply, she says, “my father calls you by that name and now I see why. You are not what I expected!”

“No?” I ask and look up at Jörn but he’s looking at what she is wearing and he doesn’t seem pleased

“What is this tattoo?” he asks her taking hold of her arm

“It’s my band’s logo,” she says and adds more in Swedish that sounds something like, “snälla sluta,” then glances at me as if for help

I look at the tattoo because it’s unusual; it’s a weird purple creature that looks like an alien cartoon character with a smug expression

“Does your agency know you have this on you?” Jörn asks in a kind of reprimand

“Jörn,” I say looking at him and make a sound in my throat so that he meets my eyes. I shake my head but say, “do you know how many fashion models I see walking past me every day down fifth avenue with tattoos?” I look back at Hanna and she smiles at me but I ask, “so, you are in a band?”

I hear Jörn make a disapproving sound when I say this but this only makes Hanna’s eyes flash with rebellion and she swings her long ash blonde hair back

“Yes, in fact we just finished our first demo,” she smiles

“So you are another musician,” I say

Hanna says,
“would you like to hear one of our songs?” but she doesn’t wait for me to reply but takes a firm grip of my wrist and begins to pull me across the way and towards the room that is usually Andreas’

I’ve only ever seen in from a crack of his doorway

She has me suddenly in her custody and I get to see his room.

Mostly calm, somber colors of deep burgundy and brown and dark wood minimalist furniture with portraits of classical musicians on the walls but at the center —an air mattress which  has an explosion of bright colors of clothes, shoes,and on top an empty suitcase and a pile of cosmetics

She digs inside a huge messenger bag and pulls out her phone,
“it’s too bad you didn’t join us at the Hamptons, last week, we had such a great party for Midsummer,” she goes through her phone quickly in search of things and mumbles something in irritation when she sees a message but she finds the song and puts it on. It’s very loud, heavy metal and somehow it does not surprise me

Andreas comes in and seems annoyed, he mumbles things in a pent in rage but most of all I get is,

“det ser ut som din resväska slängde upp!”

“Andreas, speak English, don’t be rude to Duvan,” Hanna puts her phone in my hand and says, “look, you can see us performing at a club,” she stands behind me to point to which one is she

“You play the drums?”

“That was when our drummer was out with a broken arm. I go between keyboard and guitar but I love the electric violin—look —you see here? That’s my boyfriend Erik,” she tells me

“Hanna, will you at least clean up your clothes from everywhere?” Andreas asks her

“I was looking for my converter, I think I lost mine—can I borrow yours?” she asks him and then leaves her phone with me and goes over to the air mattress and starts randomly shoving clothes back into her suitcase

“Do you need somewhere to stay?” I ask her, I put her phone on top of the messenger bag. “I thought your father said you and your mother were staying somewhere.”

“My mother’s boyfriend’s place—yes, it’s a brownstone on the upper West side but they’re having a big party and I don’t really like Lorenzo’s New York friends. They’re so obnoxious so, I’m crashing here for a few days—“

“One!” Andreas says

“The party is all weekend—“

“We said one night—“

“Do you want to stay at the penthouse?” I ask

They both shut up and look at me

I shrug,
“it’s bigger ....”

Jörn must have heard from outside the door because now he says,
“what’s this about?”

I say,
“the work is completed, I was actually going to tell you, Jörn....the interiors —they are all done and are just going to start work outside with the patio soon but —it’s quiet at night after they go so.... I mean it is especially good timing I mean with your family....”
I say and meet his eyes

He flinches and looks quickly away to the disaster all over the air mattress

“Hanna!” he says under his breath indicating the mess


And now she looks at me and says,
“actually—yes—Duvan, can I stay at your place—would that be all right?”

Jörn’s shocked expression looking at me now leaves me wondering if he thinks I’m conspiring with his daughter —why do I feel guilty?

“Wait. Let’s just think —let’s talk about this—“ Jörn takes me by the wrist and pulls me out into the corridor away from being heard and studies me

“What?” I ask him

“No—I .... why are you offering Hanna a room at the penthouse?”

“Because you have a full house.... the penthouse has more room. I was just trying to return the favor as you’ve been letting me stay here all this time and....”

He keeps his eyes on me and searches my eyes. After a long silence we get interrupted by Josef who walks towards us,

“we have all decided we should go out for dinner as I don’t think any of us are in the mood to fix something here.”

I look at Jörn but I can see he isn’t in the mood to go out. He seems put out by the idea and says,
“I have a concert tomorrow....”

“In the evening,” Josef chides him

“Well, there’s rehearsal ....and were we not going to go over my recent music for the opera in the morning? Tobias at the opera house was letting us use
Kungens hall,”Jörn says

Josef looks at him and shakes his head,
“why are you such an old man?”

Josef sticks his head into Andreas‘s bedroom,
“is anyone hungry to go out to eat?”

Andreas and Hanna bolt out the door,
“starving!” Hanna says

“Me too,” Andreas agrees

“Then why don’t you go out, we would rather stay in tonight,” Jörn says which makes me look sharply at him

Josef catches my eye and winks at me with a smile as he reaches to affectionately put his arm around Hanna,
“this will give me a chance to catch up with my granddaughter —away from the disapproving eye of her father,” he chuckles