Yrsa Sigurdardottir - Last Rituals

"It's just not like me at all. I'm the mother of two children and you're a foreigner."

"Well, since you have children you ought to be familiar with the process." He smiled. "It's pretty much the same everywhere, I expect."

Thora's cheeks grew even redder. And her horror doubled when Amelia Guntlieb suddenly crossed her mind. "Are you going to tell the Guntliebs about this?"

Matthew threw his head back and roared. After laughing his fill he looked at her and said calmly: "Of course. There's a clause in my contract that says I have to submit a sex report to them at the end of each month."

When he realized that Thora was unsure whether or not he was joking, he relented: "Of course not; how could you think that?"

"I don't knowI just don't want people thinking that I make a habit of sleeping with my colleagues. I've never done anything like this before." Given that she worked with the aging Bragi, Bella from Hell, and the un-assuming Thor, that wasn't saying much.

"I didn't take it that way," Matthew said. "I took it as meaning that you wanted to sleep with me at that momentthat you simply found my sex appeal irresistible." He looked at her playfully.

Thora rolled her eyes. She did not want to answer, because to some extent he was rightat least, she was the one who made the first move, if her memory did not betray her. "My hangover's killing me. I can't think straight at the moment."

Matthew sat up. "I have some Alka-Seltzer. I'll fix you one, you'll feel better straightaway."

Before Thora could stop himshe realized that he was as naked as she wasMatthew had got to his feet and gone to the bathroom. What is it that makes men so much less embarrassed about their physique than women? Thora wondered. She mused on this a while to keep other thoughts that might have occurred to her at bay, such as how fit and strong he looked. Maybe it had not been so terribly stupid, when all was said and done. She heard the sound of running water from the tap in the bathroom and closed her eyes.

She opened them again only when she was sure Matthew was back under the quilt. He was holding a glass of fizzing water and Thora braced herself, sat up, and drank it in one draft. Then she threw herself back on the pillow and waited for the nausea to subside. She lay like that for a few minutes until a finger prodded her shoulder through the covers. She opened her eyes.

"Listen." Matthew turned to face her. "I have a suggestion."

"What?" Thora managed to keep her voice normal. She was almost feeling a little better.

"How would you like to review your opinion that this was a mistake?" He smiled at her. "I can put on my nice shoes, if you want."

Thora woke up again, this time to the sound of running water from the shower. She leaped out of bed and threw on some clothes, hopping around on the floor. She could not find one of her socks, but gathered up the rest of the clothes in her arms. She called into the bathroom that she would see him at breakfast. It was a huge relief to her when she closed the door to her own room.

A long, hot shower made her feel better in body and mind. Before leaving, she picked up her phone and called her friend Laufey.

"Do you know what time it is?" Laufey grumbled sleepily.

Thora ignored her, because it was almost ten. "Oh, my Godyou'll never guess what!" she cried.

"Well, judging from how excited you sound and the ungodly hour at which you're calling, it must be headline news." A yawn followed.

"I slept with someone!" The reaction was immediate. Laufey had clearly sat bolt upright on hearing the news because no sooner had the words left Thora's mouth than a mighty creaking was heard.

"Ooh! Tell me, who, who is it?"

"Matthew, that German. I'll have to save the rest for later because I'm off to meet him for breakfast. We're at a hotel."

"A hotel? Well, well, you can't be left by yourself for a second, can you?"

"I'll talk to you laterI'm a bit worried. Somehow I have to get him to understand that it was just a onetime thing, I don't want a relationship."

Braying laughter came down the phone line. "Hello? Where have you beenwatching Teletubbies ? There aren't many single men that age who are looking for a profound relationship. Don't worry about it, girl."

Thora hung up, slightly irritated at the reaction to news that was supposed to have pleased her friend. She headed off for the breakfast room after taking the time to mess up the sheets so that the hotel staff wouldn't think she was promiscuous. Matthew was sitting at a table for two by a window, drinking coffee. Thora could not help noticing how handsome he was, which she had always refused to admit to herself. His face had those rough features that appealed to her. Strong jaw, large teeth, well-defined cheekbones, and deep-set eyes. This was doubtless a genetic legacy from her prehistoric ancestors, an attraction to looks that suggested toughness and determinationthe perfect hunter. Thora sat down. "I really think something to eat will do me a heap of good," she said to break the ice.

Matthew poured coffee from the stainless steel pot into her cup. "You left a sock in my room. And it wasn't a woolen sockincredible but true."

Nothing in the way they acted implied that something had happened since dinner the night before, apart from when Matthew placed his hand over Thora's with a conspiratorial wink. She smiled back but said nothing. He soon removed his hand and continued his meal. After eating they went to their respective rooms and packed.

While Thora was waiting for Matthew at reception, her phone rang. It was Gylfi. Before answering, Thora reminded herself that he had no idea what his mother had been up to the previous night.

"Hello, darling," she said, trying to sound natural.

"Hi." Gylfi's voice was gloomy and a short time passed before he got to the point. "Er, that thing I was going to tell youwhere are you?"

"I'm at Hotel Ranga. I was working this weekend. Aren't you home?"

"Yeah." Another pause. "When are you getting back?"

Thora looked at her watch. It was a few minutes to eleven. "I'll be back around one, I expect."

"Okay. See you then."

"Why aren't you with your dad? Where's your sister?" Thora said quickly before he rang off.

"She's still with him. I left."

"Left? Why? Did you have an argument?"

"You could say that," he replied. "He started it."

"How?" Thora gaped in astonishment. Hannes normally had a knack for avoiding quarrels and until now had managed to get along quite nicely with his son, although the latter would hardly consider him a born entertainer.

He sighed. "He acted like he wanted to have a talk with me, and just when I thought he understood me and I told him something, he snapped. I swear he did backward somersaults. I wasn't about to listen to that. I thought he'd understand."

Thora's thoughts seethed and jostled. She knew that Gylfi's description of his father's behavior must be a huge exaggeration. So what had really happened? She regretted having persuaded Hannes to talk to the boyobviously it had not helped. "Gylfi, what was it that made your father so mad? Is that what you want to talk to me about afterward?"

"Yeah." No further explanation. She would have to wait until she saw him to find out.

"Listen, I'm on my way. I'm no acrobat so we can surely manage to discuss this calmly. Don't go anywhere."

"You'll have to be back before one. I have to go and see some people."

Some people? Some people? Had he joined a religious cult? Thora felt a pang in her chest. "Gylfidon't go anywhere until I'm back. Understand?"

"Be back before one," he said. "Dad'll be there too." He said good-bye and hung up.

Thora's heart pounded in her rib cage and it took a huge effort not to let out a howl. With trembling hands she dialed Hannes's phone but it was either out of reach or switched off. She stared at her phone. Hannes would never switch off his phonehe slept with it on his bedside table in case anyone needed to contact him in the middle of the night. His riding trips, too, were arranged somewhere his phone workedshe doubted if he had ever been out of signal range since he first bought a cell phone. She tried his home number but there was no reply. What had the boy done? Started smoking? Hardly. Was he a drug addict and on his way to rehab? No, out of the question. She would surely have noticed. Was he coming out of the closet? Off to a gay pride meeting? Hannes would hardly have flipped about thatto give him credit, he was relatively liberal. Besides, she had a feeling that Gylfi had a crush on that girl whose name she could never remember. No, that wasn't the issue. Countless ideas welled up, increasingly absurd. Que sera sera. She stood up and peeped around the corner to see if Matthew was on his way down the corridor. He was standing at the door to his room, dragging out his suitcase.