Atonement(42)
“I live here now. You know after our whole…breakup…I kind of just felt lost. I left the States and traveled all over Western Europe. I actually met Ambros in Barcelona. We just clicked and when I found out he was from Norway, I never thought about maybe just ending what we had. By the time we realized what was happening, we agreed it would be easier for me to move here than him moving to the States.”
“I’m sorry, Ambros?”
Clarissa pointed out a tall, young Viking who walked towards us with two bottles of Aass Bock in his hands. He was lean yet he possessed a lot of hidden muscles and with his lightly tanned skin, golden blond hair and bright steel-blue eyes, he looked every bit the stereotypical Norwegian.
He pulled up a chair and joined us. I don’t know why I felt so nervous but I couldn’t help think there was a real history between Clarissa and Colin, and though it shouldn’t have bothered me at all, it did and I hated those feelings were starting to get to me.
“I’m sorry—my manners must have deserted me and for that, I apologize,” Colin began. “This is Deirdre. She is a very good friend of mine, and we are actually visiting my grandparents. They live in Oppegård and we have pretty much been chillin’ out there in the suburbs. This is our first night exploring the city properly. Deirdre, this is Clarissa.”
Clarissa rolled her eyes in a playful way. “You have always been so bad at introducing people, Colin. Nice to meet you, Deirdre,” she said as she held out her hand and I shook it warmly.
“Colin and I were first loves way back at university. He broke my heart and I was so distraught, I left the semester before I’d finished my degree. I traveled all around—France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, and Spain. It was a complete and unexpected coincidence Ambros was also visiting Barcelona too. We fell for each other quickly and we have been married for four years.”
Colin choked on his lager. “That is great. So you’re no longer Clarissa Jones then?”
“Nope. Ambros, this is my ex, Colin, and his girlfriend, Deirdre. And I’m now Clarissa Evenstad.”
Oh boy, talk about awkward.
All this time Colin thought “Carrie”—real name, Clarissa Evenstad—was licking her wounds and still hadn’t gotten over him. Not only had she healed quite well but she was now married to a very sexy and handsome Norwegian. What were the odds we would have run into one another at all?
“Nice to meet you,” Ambros shook both our hands before he slipped an arm around Clarissa’s waist possessively. “I suppose I should thank you for dumping Clarissa. Otherwise we would have never met. I knew she was special from the moment we ran into one another and every day with her is like heaven.”
She smiled at her husband before she kissed his lips gently. “You are so wonderful and such a gentleman.” Clarissa turned toward us again. “Ambros works in this area so I try to get together a few times after work to see him and spend some quality time together. It isn’t easy to be a full-time mom and though I adore Henrik, he’s a lot of work.”
Major bombshell number two: not only was she married but they’d had a child together and looked blissfully happy with one another. I turned toward Colin but his face was completely impassive and I didn’t take this as a very good sign.
Soon, conversation began to segregate between the sexes and I spent my time talking to Clarissa while Colin seemed to have recovered somewhat and carried on a conversation with Ambros.
“So, if this is the first time you’re getting into the City, I assume you haven’t shopped yet?” Clarissa wondered with a smile on her face, her amber-brown eyes warm and gentle.
“Not yet. I didn’t bring many clothes either because I planned to shop here but we’ve been staying at the house Colin’s grandparents’ own and we haven’t really gotten around to visiting the City yet, not until tonight,” I responded after I swigged from my lager.
“I’ll give you my number. Henrik has a nanny and I can leave him with her. We could spend a girl day—manicures, pedicures, facials and then lots of shopping. Ambros makes so much money and he complains I don’t spend enough but the cost of living here is insane. It’s nothing like the States. It took time to get used to it but now I don’t want to ever leave. I just can’t see us having the same quality of life we’ve got here if we left and moved to the States,” she explained.
The more she spoke, the more I liked her and this was definitely a good thing. I thought she would be an uptight bitch but she was actually a very sweet person. I now knew what Colin meant when everyone thought they’d been the perfect couple and how let down everyone must have felt when the relationship ended.