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”Hey girl! You’ve got no idea what I’m doing right now.” Jo’s voice was happy as she talked on the phone.

“Nope.” Lina wasn’t as enthusiastic.

“Eating a bar of real, Swedish chocolate and reading a Swedish newspaper. And drinking a Pucko!” The excitement in Jo’s voice made Lina laugh.

“You’re in Sweden? That’s great!”

“Yup. In Arlanda. Left the others as soon as I could and bought some stuff. Expensive, but damn worth it. It tastes like home.”

“I know. I bought a bag full of liquorice first thing I did.” Lina laughed.

“You hate liquorice.”

“Oh yes. Tastes yucky. But it’s home.”

Jo laughed. “So, would you please come with my parents to meet me? They’re leaving soon, but they’ll take you.”

“Can’t. Can’t stand thinking about him, much less seeing him.”

“You don’t have to. I’ll stay away from him. I miss you. Please.” Jo pleaded.

“Miss you too, but no. Can’t.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes.”

“Guess there’s nothing I can say about it. I love you. Talk to you later.”

“Love you too.”

Jo flipped her phone shut, then had a thought and called Lina’s mother to talk to her. Five minutes later it was settled. Jo had pleaded Nick’s case, and Lina’s mother had melted. She was now packing her daughters bags for a night in Stockholm. When Jo’s parents came by she would put Lina in their car if it so cost her everything she owned. She couldn’t stand seeing her daughter so miserable.


In Stockholm Jo was worrying. Nick was drunk, as had he been since the moment they met for the flight to Sweden. From how he looked she guessed he’d been drunk for the two weeks before that too. He looked like a homeless person, unshaved and messy in dirty clothes. She decided she should talk to him, so she went looking for him. She found him on the couch of his hotel room, where he was singing to himself like a crazy person.

“Ey, Nick!”

He looked around with a surprised look on his face. “Yeah? Oh...” his eyes struggled to focus on Jo. “Hey.”

“Save it, would you? You gotta stop doing this. It doesn’t make her come back. YOU have to make her wanna come back. I’ll tell you a secret. She’s on her way here. She’s coming with my parents. You have to freshen up a bit if you’re even thinking about getting back with her. Shower. Now.”

She pulled him to his feet, but he didn’t head for the shower. He put his arms around her, hugged her for what felt like forever. Then he kissed her cheek, and pulled his shirt off. He shed the rest of his clothes on his way towards the bathroom, causing Jo to giggle and look away, peeking through her fingers to see what he was doing. She heard the shower being turned on, then a shout that could wake the dead.

“What are you doing?” she asked as she walked closer to the bathroom, picking up his old clothes without thinking about it.

“Cold... Water...” came two gasps out of the bathroom, and she laughed.

“You’ll need some really hot water to get rid of all your dirt...” He started singing “Dirrty” in the shower, so loud and shrill that she thought her ears were going to fall off.

“You’re lucky I didn’t pay you to sing right now. I would have thrown rotten tomatoes at you. Good thing the show isn’t ‘til tomorrow.” She shouted across the noise, and heard him laugh back at her. She picked up some stuff that he’d left behind on the floor and tables, put it back where it belonged. Then she heard the shower turning off. He was silent for awhile. Then he came out of the bathroom, towel wrapped around his waist with a razor in his hand, and shaving cream all over his face.

“I’m shaking so bad I’ll slit my throat if I try. Can you?” he asked.

“I’ve never tried before. But I’ll give it a try.” She walked past him into the bathroom, sat on the counter and gestured at him to position himself in front of her, between her legs.
He did as she’d told him, and carefully she started shaving him.

“This feels weird, you know,” he mumbled.

She had her face 5 inches from his cheek, her expression totally focused on what she was doing. When she nodded she let go of her concentration, and bumped into him getting shaving cream on her forehead. He laughed, and the weirdness was gone.


The boys were shooting some scenes for a Swedish TV-show that afternoon, then Jo was bringing Alex to meet her parents. They had talked about this a couple of nights ago, and he had said, as if it was the most natural thing ever, that if they were going to Sweden, and her parents would be there, he wanted to meet them. She’d agreed, she was somewhat shocked, but not nervous. Her parents would love Alex, she told herself. 'As long as dad doesn’t see his tattoos we’re going to be cool,' Jo thought as she walked back to her hotel room. She wasn’t sharing with Alex during the time her parents would be visiting, none of them thought it felt right. She slid in the key, then changed her mind and walked over to Brian and Leighannes suite. She wanted to spend some time with Baylee. Leigh was tired and more than happy to let go of her energetic child. Jo took him for a walk, then returned to the hotel. As she entered the lobby she saw a couple of familiar faces.

“Sarah! Diana! What on earth are you doing here?” She hugged the two girls.

“Well, we thought we’d come see you, but they wouldn’t let us up, and you didn’t answer your phone.”

“Sorry. Took Baylee out for a walk.”

“This is him?”

“Yup. Can you say hello to Sarah and Diana, Bay?”

He waved in his stroller. “Elo!”

More than that wasn’t needed for the girls to fall in love with him.

“So, you wanna come up? I’m not expecting Mum and Dad for another two hours.”

“Yeah, sure. We have some things to talk to you about.”

They laughed and followed her up to the right floor. The security guard that was posted there waved at Baylee and tickled him.

“Poppa K, this is Sarah and Diana, two of my best friends. Girls, this is Poppa K, he is Brian’s body guard.” They exchanged hellos and shook hands.

“Leigh awake?” Jo asked Poppa K.

“Yes, she is. Asked for the lil’man a couple of minutes ago.”

“Well, then, I’ll bring her back her son. You girls wanna come with me?”

“Sure.”

She knocked the door, and Leigh opened. “Oh, look who’s back. Great! Alex asked for you.”

“They’re back?”

“Yes, we are.” Brian came out into the living room. Jo felt a hand grip around her arm and squeeze.

“Great! This is Sarah and Diana, two of my friends, who came to surprise me, this, girls, is Brian and Leighanne.” More handshaking and hello-ing. Sarah looked as if she was going to faint.

”Come on now, girls. I’ll show you where I live.” They went to Jo’s suite, and she opened the door. They went inside, Jo called for some room service, and then they started talking.

Sarah and Diana were full of questions. “Is Lina really pregnant? She hasn’t talked to anyone since she got home, but it said so in Aftonbladet. Nick being the father, I thought I was going to faint. And what is this with you and AJ? You’re really dating him? He’s not your type at all, you know.”

“Calm down... I can’t answer 500 questions at once. Yes, she is pregnant. Nick is the father. Yes, I’m dating Alex, and he’s so my type...” She started laughing. “God, it feels so nice to have you guys around again. Please tell me everything about what it’s like back home...”

The afternoon went by quickly. Before they knew it, it was darker outside, and there was a knock at the door. Jo opened it, and Alex was outside.

“Hey princess... how was your day?” he asked and kissed her.

“It was great. Look, I have visitors. This is Sarah and Diana, two of my very best friends.”

“How nice of you to come visit her. I’m Alex. Pleased to meet both of you.” He shook their hands, smiling, then curled up next to Diana on the couch and started talking. Jo was pleasantly surprised by this friendliness, she wanted her boyfriend to like her friends, and vice versa. He was telling the story of how he’d fallen for her, and how Lina had “broke” his nose, and everyone had a great time. After almost another hour, Diana looked at her watch and gave a little cry. “Shit, we’re gonna miss the train home. We gotta run.”

But Alex got in front of her. “Stop. Why don’t you stay? We have a spare room, you could come see the show tomorrow? Would you like that?”

The girls had a whispering deliberation in Swedish, Jo was pushing them to accept, and they weren’t that hard to persuade into staying.

Jo and Alex were running late for the meeting with her parents, but hurried up and were finished in time. Alex looked at her soft pink silk dress, the black boots he’d given her for her birthday, and a denim jacket. “You look fabulous.”

“Thanks. So do you. Let’s go or we’re going to be late.” He truly was looking gorgeous in a pair of jeans and a white dress shirt, topped off with a black pin-striped jacket and a beanie. When they came down into the lobby, hand in hand, Jo saw her parents sitting there, waiting. She lost all control, and ran up to them, dragging Alex along.

“Mummy... Daddy! I’ve missed you guys so.” She gave them each a hug. “This is Alexander McLean. Alex, my mum, Tina, and my dad, Stephan.” He gave her mother a hug, then shook her father’s hand.

“Pleased to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Ericks.”

“Please, it’s Tina.”

“Okay, Tina.” He smiled at her. “You two beautiful ladies hungry?”

'I swear to god he’s flirting with my mother,' Jo thought, then stuck her hand in her father’s as they started to walk towards a restaurant.


Besides a little argument over who should be paying (“I insist that I pay, Mr. Ericks.” “Oh, No, Mr. McLean. I’ve got it.”) that her father won, things had gone really smoothly, Jo admitted to herself. Her mother had dragged her along to the bathroom, and Jo was very curious about what her mother thought of Alex.

“He’s absolutely adorable. Oh, Jo, I think you’ve hit the Jackpot there. Your father likes him, even though he has those tattoos on his neck, and that’s a huge deal when it comes to him, you know that. And he’s really good looking. If he wasn’t your boyfriend, I’d say that he was a fox.”

“Muuuum! Stop it. But he is, isn’t he?” Jo laughed.

“Oh, yes. He most certainly is.”

“You’re gonna love the show tomorrow night. It’s really great.”

“I think I will too, sweets. Now come on. Let’s go get them boys. Long day ahead tomorrow.”