Page 183 of Top Shelf

“Then you do not know, and you are still thinking about the wrong thing.”

I frown. “It expires in a few days, we are running out of time.”

“So?”

“So she is my wife, Mormor.”

“Because of the paper?”

This is deeply unhelpful. “No.”

“Then stop behaving as though the paper decides what happens to you.” My eyes cut to my laptop, with the lawyer’s email open, and Ebba continues before I can answer. “You love calling her your wife. I know this. You have said min fru enough times that half of Sweden knows this.”

Despite everything, my mouth shifts.

“But if the contract disappeared tomorrow,” she adds, “would you love Heidi less?”

“Of course not.”

“Would you want her less?”

“No.”

Ebba’s voice softens. “When I told you not to put paperwork in her hands when what you mean is your heart, I did not mean only that you should tell her you love her. I meant stop asking paper to say what you are too frightened to say yourself.”

My throat tightens. “And what is that?”

“That is for you to tell me, Viktorliko.”

I look toward the bedroom. “I want to love her for the rest of my life. Contract or no contract.”

“Good,” Ebba says with a sigh. “Now perhaps tell your wife instead of your grandmother.”

I lean my head back against the couch, and we talk for another few minutes before she tells me to sleep and hangs up. Then I put my phone facedown beside me and lean back to stare at the ceiling. It vibrates less than a minute later.

Min fru: I miss you.

Everything in me goes still. I read it twice, then again.

Me: I miss you too. So much.

The reply takes a little longer this time.

Min fru: Can I complain for a minute?

Me: Always.

Min fru: Zoe says the media stuff is settling down, which is good. Pulse is still being Pulse. Mila has decided sleep is for the weak and one of the reformers made a noise today that shaved approximately six years off my life.

An amused sound rumbles in the back of my throat.

Me: What kind of noise?

Min fru: A very expensive one.

Me: Did it break?

Min fru: No. According to the supplier it was just “settling.”