by Elle Limpkin
“It’s all in the past now.”
The memory of Polly telling her that she jumped to conclusions without having all the facts resurfaced. At the time, she wanted to throw a pillow in her face, but now she was forced to admit her dear friend had been right all along. She formed connections where there were none, leading to several erroneous conclusions about Johan. If she wanted to find out what he was hiding, she couldn’t back down because it was inconvenient for him to discuss it.
“I didn’t ask if it was in the past. There was some tension there.”
Johan fixed his gaze at the sky for a few moments. As gorgeous as it was, a mixture of gray and blue, it didn’t justify the attention.
“I’ll tell you about it over lunch,” he finally decided, not before releasing a deep sigh.
Snowmen
Eda hated buffets. Faced with a myriad of choices, she always ate until her stomach almost popped. Everything appeased her, the fried chicken, baked potatoes, fish, salad, cake. The biggest issue with buffets was that they occurred in public, where she had to pay attention to social norms and limit the quantities. She would’ve loved having all these options in her home, on a Saturday planned for TV and books.
Halting near the salat stand, she sighed, realizing how much she missed spending time alone. Between her new job and Johan and Polly with their problems, she had spent every waking moment surrounded by people. In solitude was where she re-charged her batteries and prepared to face the world. Socializing drained her.
Who said she couldn’t isolate herself in the apartment she held so tailored to her desires? Why did she have to behave as everyone else did? Her life was her own, and if she wanted to spend it alone in a remote house on a deserted island in another galaxy, she was allowed to make that choice. The problem was, she didn’t to be alone forever. It was as if she couldn’t make up her mind. Polly and her insufferable diary! None of this would have happened if it weren’t for her.
“What are you thinking about?” Johan asked.
Eda took her eyes off the plate of strangely looking salad. “Sorry?”
“I doubt some green merits your attention.”
“Oh!” Eda took a few more steps and decided on fish. There was no point in torturing herself by inspecting the whole place. “I was thinking about how my life has changed these past few weeks. When I met Bud, I was desperate to get to know people. And now...” She stopped before releasing her thoughts.
“…and now you can’t get rid of us,” he completed, laughing.
“Ye-- No. I don’t want to get rid of you,” she protested, wondering if it was the truth.
“I get it. You need your time with you. It used to happen to me too.”
“Used to?”
“Raising a kid alone rips that out of a man,” Johan explained. “I can’t remember the last time I was truly alone.”
“Maybe before you and Clara got married?”
They found an empty table with a flower vase in the middle and sat.
“I didn’t forget I agreed to tell you about it.” He set the salt and pepper perfectly in line. “Truth is, I dated both Jane and Clara for a couple of weeks.”
Eda almost choked on a piece of fish.
“Are you okay?” he asked innocently.
“What do you mean you dated both?”
“Don’t look at me like that!” Johan protested. “I had no idea they knew each other, let alone that they were best friends. I wasn’t exclusive with either. I had a couple of dates with Clara and one with Jane in between before I found out.”
“How did you find out?”
“Not in the best way, I’m afraid. I was walking Clara home after our date, and I led her to her door. Jane was there.”
“I can picture it!” Eda exclaimed when she could contain the laugh enough to do so. “I would’ve thought you didn’t stand a chance with either after that.”
“Well, Jane stepped down immediately. She never approved of my relationship with Clara, though. What you witnessed today describes all our interactions.” Johan studied her closely. “Will you help me get that information from Clara’s laptop?”
“Sure.”
“Thank you,”
“Don’t mention it,” Eda said while struggling to chew a resilient piece of fish.
“I mean it,” Johan insisted. “I don’t think I’ve thanked you for all that you did. It means the world to me.”
∞∞∞
When they arrived back at the cabin, it was well in the afternoon. Countless footprints of various sizes decorated the perfect snow blanket they had admired early morning.
“Looks like someone had fun,” Johan commented.
Despite the evidence left behind, there was no one in sight. Then, the front door slammed to the wall, and Polly, Talia, JP, and Bud stormed out, almost bumping into each other, all protected by winter wear and thick gloves.
“Daddy!”
JP was the only one that cared enough for Eda and Johan’s presence to give them a minimum of attention, with the others engaged in a friendly argument.
“You’ll regret you agreed to this,” Polly threatened.
There seemed to be a contest between Bud and Talia about who would have the right to reply. Bud won. “You seem to forget that I’ve been here every year since I was JP’s age. I can build a snowman with my eyes closed at the blink of an eye.”
“Blink of an eye, eh?” Polly said, crossing her arms. “I guess we’ll have to see that.”
“What are they talking about?” Johan asked, breaking his hug with JP.
“They are having a contest to see who can build a snowman faster,” the boy answered.
“This sounds interesting!” Johan exclaimed. “Can we join in?”
Eda hoped she could bail. The last time she’d built a snowman, she had been but a kid, and, though her memory of the event was not vivid, she could swear the result was less than satisfactory.
“We can do teams,” Bud said. “Three teams of two people.”
Everyone headed for the tree line, sizing up the best spots. One thing was certain; there was enough snow for everyone.
“I confess I’m terrible at this,” Eda said. “I won’t be much of a teammate.”
“Great,” Talia said. “Then you team up with Polly.”
“Hey!” her friend protested.
Eda didn’t remember ever being picked last, but, short of a miracle, it was sure to happen now.
Said miracle came from Johan.
“There are clear weak links,” he said, pointing at Eda, “and strong links,” he said, pointing at Bud. “I say we draw straws to see who gets who.”
“That would certainly make things more interesting,” Talia said.
With everyone in agreement, they proceeded to draw straws. The first team that came up was Polly and Talia. The second was Eda and JP.
“At least there’s one team we don’t have to worry about,” Polly commented.
Naturally, the brothers formed the third team.
As each took their distance, Eda stayed behind with JP, wishing she could blink twice and skip to the end. She was as bad with children as she was building snowmen; at least, this is what she told herself her entire adult life as an excuse to avoid them. Truthfully, she had no experience in dealing with a 5-year-old.
Judging by his darkened gaze, he wasn’t happy with how things turned out either.
“What’s wrong, sweetie?” Eda asked.
“I wanted to team up with Daddy,” the boy answered. “Why can’t I team up with Daddy?”
“Because these are the rules, and what do we do with the rules?”
“We follow them,” JP answered, kicking the snow.
“Hey, you can build a snowman with your father anytime, but when do you think I’ll have the chance to spend time with a nice fellow like you again?”
JP smiled timidly. “I guess it’s okay.”
“That’s what I thought.”
Eda did her best to appe
ar enthusiastic and confident. If there was one thing she knew about children, it was that they sensed weakness and devoured anyone who showed it. “Let’s find a good place to start.”
“I know a spot!” JP shouted.
Before she knew it, he was running deeper into the woods. She caught up to him when he stepped into a small clearing with undisturbed snow.
“Perfect,” she commented.
They proceeded to build the base, JP’s tiny gloved fingers touching hers as they rolled the snowball on the ground.
“Do you think we’ll win?”
Eda glanced at the other teams, both farther along. “Do you think anyone can build a snowman faster than your father and your uncle?”
JP let his head down. “No.”
“It doesn’t matter if we don’t build the snowman the fastest,” Eda said firmly.
“It doesn’t?” JP’s big eyes enlarged.
“No. Because we will build the best snowman. Great things take time,” she explained. “What do you say? Shall we build the best snowman this place has ever seen?”
“We shall!” JP exclaimed. “We need a nose and mouth and stuff.”
JP ran back to the cabin before she had the chance to stop him. Seeing his enthusiasm and the joy with which he engaged in the smallest things filled her with grief she tried desperately to conceal. He was such a sweet child! What if they couldn’t find his father? Six years had passed since his conception—his biological father could be dead.
JP returned, gasping for breath. “I couldn’t find eyes,” he said with sorrow.
Eda smiled. “I think I have something. Keep rolling this until I get back.”
As she returned with two beautiful amber stones from her necklace, she glanced at the work the other teams were doing. She’d promised JP their snowman would be the best, and she fully intended to keep her promise.
Of course, it also depended on the boy’s definition of best.
With the supplies safely gathered aside, she shaped the snowballs perfectly round while JP formed the headpiece. The other teams began shouting, but she did her best to ignore any derails.
There was one particular shout she couldn’t ignore, coming from Johan and Bud. “We won! We won!” they were both singing in unison.
“Ignore them,” she told JP. “We’ll be done pretty soon ourselves.”
The last pieces she had to put in place were the eyes. When Eda turned to take them, they were gone.
“JP!” she shouted. “Did you take the eyes?”
“No.”
“I can’t find them.”
The boy and she looked around—nothing.
“Aunt Polly came by here a while ago,” the boy said.
“What was I doing?”
“Fixing the nose, I think.”
At that precise moment, Polly and Talia announced the completion of their snowman, an ugly-shaped monstrosity with one detail to give it personality, two amber stones functioning as its eyes.
“Hey, you stole my eyes!” Eda exclaimed.
“I borrowed them,” Polly countered.
“You weren’t supposed to do that.”
“The rules say we get our supplies from wherever we can,” Polly said. “I happened to get them from you.”
“You stole my eyes, and you still lost,” Eda taunted before storming back into the cabin.
A minute later, she returned with her skin burning and replacements for the eyes, which JP placed ceremonially on their snowman. The buttons were hardly as good as her first choice, but they did the job.
“Congratulations,” Polly said. “You still finished last.”
JP put his hands on his hip. “We came last, but our snowman is the best of them all.”
“It’s hard to argue with that,” Johan said, putting a hand around JP’s shoulders. “We have two awards, the Fastest Snowman, and the Best Snowman.”
JP jumped up and down in the snow. “Yay! I won!”
Talia gave Polly a frown. “Really? You stole those eyes?”
“I’m sorry,” Polly pouted. “I was caught up in the fever and couldn’t find anything that fit. How did you find those buttons so fast?” she asked Eda.
“I took them off your shirt,” she announced with pride.
Everybody laughed except Polly. “You did what?”
“I took them off your shirt.” Eda leaned towards her friend. “The blue one.”
Polly’s face contorted with anger. “You’ll pay for this,” she managed to say before she picked a fistful of snow and threw it in Eda’s face.
This aggressive move had to be reciprocated; Eda held none of her rages back. Soon, snow and snowballs were flying back and forth, not only between them but between everyone in the group.
It was already dark when they all collapsed on the snow, exhausted.
The Mysterious Man
After taking a sip of Earl Gray, Eda set the cup back on the desk, wishing it contained coffee instead. The short bathroom break was the only time she’d left the desk in the past five hours; not one person could blame her if she broke her rule of never drinking more than three coffees in a day.
With a sigh, she focused her attention back on the steamy emails filling Clara’s inbox, congratulating herself for insisting she did the hacking in private. At the time, Johan wouldn’t hear of it.
“I can’t work with you hovering over me,” Eda had said. “Trust me, I will do this three times as fast if I’m left alone.”
That last point was enough to convince him.
Her real reason to request privacy was the fear of what she might find. As it turned out, she was right. Starting with the dating website, Eda tracked Clara’s discussions with Michael on the dating platform and their private emails. And the emails they wrote to each other! Their brief relationship never passed beyond physical. At no point in their interaction did they address any other subjects. They arranged to meet at a spa, then all communication ceased.
While finding the emails had been easy, tracking down Michael’s real identity forced her to put her entire brain into it, to no avail. Michael, whoever he was, valued his privacy to the point of obsession and paranoia. He’d given no details, not even a phone number or vague indications about where he lived, or other such details people often slipped on social media. All Eda had was the name of the Spa, but she doubted they would keep a record that went back six years.
Yet finding him was too important to give up, and the answer wasn’t embedded in their saucy exchanges. There was one course of action that promised results, one that Eda hesitated to pursue, hacking Michael’s dating profile. Earl Gray failed to support this type of endeavor, Eda realized while looking down into the cup. She left the comfort of her leather chair and trekked to the kitchen.
With the clock fighting against her, if she wanted to get the job done until the end of the day, she had to stop second-guessing herself and just do it.
Three hours later, Eda jumped from her chair, shouting, “Eureka!”
The door to her bedroom opened without delay. “What happened?” asked Polly.
“I finally broke into that jerk’s account,” Eda explained. “When did you get here?”
Polly made herself comfortable on Eda’s bed. “Seriously? I came in about an hour ago and said hello. I figured you’re still mad at me because of the buttons and don’t want to talk to me.”
“I didn’t even realize. Plus, you were the one upset about the buttons. I was upset about the precious stones.”
“Right,” Polly said. She appeared to put a lot of effort into getting herself out of bed and joining Eda at the desk. “So, this is JP’s father! I have to say, I’d bone him too.”
Eda took a closer look at his profile picture. He was undoubtedly attractive, like an empty shell covered with the best paint and clothes.
“If he wasn’t lying about the things he said he’d do to Clara in his emails, I don’t blame you.”
“Really? I want to read!” Polly came even close
r to the 15-inch laptop display for a moment.
Eda pushed her away. “Can you let me finish this? You’ll have plenty of time to read his emails if you want.”
Polly agreed with obvious displeasure, giving Eda barely enough room to focus.
Even though Eda had convinced herself she was ready to face another avalanche of dirty messages, going through them with Polly breathing down her neck made the experience much worse.
“Look!” Eda exclaimed. “He sent a message today.”
“He’s still active.” Polly’s eyes grew big. “I have an idea! We create a profile for me and set up a date with him, where you’ll have the chance to talk to him in person. After the date is over, of course.” She winked.
If Polly expected a stern refusal, she would be disappointed. Her idea was even good if tweaked a bit.
“You’re not his type,” Eda said without mercy.
Polly’s lower lip inflated. “What is that supposed to mean? That I look old?”
“Judging by the women he’s been in contact with, he has no problem with age. But he does like women with means.”
“You mean rich? Why can’t you say rich?”
“Clara lied quite a bit in her profile,” Eda explained. “She pretended to be married to a banker twenty years older than her. Michael didn’t even hesitate.”
“The perfect bait,” Polly whispered, drawing closer to the photo as if a magnet was pulling her in. “Let’s do it. Make me the bitchiest profile.”
“Perhaps I should create a profile for myself.”
“No! You might fool him online, but he wouldn’t believe for a moment that you’re a married woman looking for some fun when you meet in person.”
“He doesn’t have to. I need to know where he’ll be, and Johan and I will take care of the rest.”
“He’ll be in a public place,” Polly stressed. “Did you think what would happen if he doesn’t want to hear you out and leaves?”
“Johan wouldn’t let him leave.”
“That’s exactly my point!” Polly shouted. She took a deep breath then continued in a much calmer voice. “Listen... You create a profile for me. You say I’m a married woman who recently found out her husband was cheating on her and wants to get revenge fast. We meet at a restaurant, and I get him into a hotel room. There, you and Johan show up.”