HEJ, MY LOVE

HALMSTAD

Sierra opened her eyes. The new environment never failed to startle her. Every day the woman had to remind herself where she was. She got out of bed and looked out the window.

Halmstad.

Located on the Swedish west coast, the municipality Halmstad was famous for its port and a great vacation location. With a little over seventy thousand inhabitants, the town was pleasant and offered many attractions, museums, water-themed parks, historical sites one could not get bored. Jonas loved to stay in the city in the summer because of the sea.

For Sierra, water was the main attraction, never had she seen so many rivers and streams in her entire existence.

Also, life seemed to flow differently. She opened the window to freshen up the room and went downstairs.

Leone and Jonas were already in the kitchen, the place that reunited them the most. The routine of eating together regained its rightful place.

"Hi," Jonas could not contain his smile. The happiness of having Leone and Sierra with him was unquantifiable.

"Hej."

Even if it was a few words, it delighted Jonas to hear Sierra, who swore never to need to speak Swedish pronounce a hello.

Leone watched their interaction. Since his mom sat outside, Leone got the impression Jonas and Sierra played a game of Hide and Seek. The little boy had a distraction of his own where he sought to see how many times either one blushed. His father did it the most from what he saw.

Sierra turned to look at Leone as if she heard his conspiracy, "oh, Leone, look at this mess."

"He wants to eat on his own, I tried to grab the spoon, but he said no, papa."

Sierra furrowed her eyebrows, "Leone, donne la cuillère à Maman [Leone, give the spoon to mom]." Though the tone was firm, the order got a blunt answer from the toddler.

Leone, too, furrowed his eyebrows in determination, "no, Mama," he declared.

"Leone."

The boy shook his head and carried on eating his cereals.

"Perhaps we should leave him to it if he's motivated to try to eat by himself. He's at that age where he'll attempt all types of apprenticeship."

"But it's messy."

"It's nothing, Sierra. We all went through this."

The woman sighed, surrendering. She advanced to one of the cupboards and tried to grab a bowl, only to have Jonas's hands reach out above her and give it to her. The gesture, too, was part of their daily life since Sierra arrived.

"Tack [thank you], why is every so high up?"

"Let's say we're all quite tall in my family and globally. You are tiny, Sierra."

The woman blinked, "pardon, I'm standard size."

"What is the standard size?" Jonas teased.

Sierra was about to throw her defense when a phone rang.

"It isn't mine," Sierra said.

The man fled his phone so much that he almost forgot its ringtone. Jonas turned and grabbed the phone from the counter table, "hej Dirk [hello Dirk]."

Sierra sat with her bowl of cereals and observed the man who paced in front of her.

His radiant face grew solemn, and Sierra wondered what the lawyer said when Jonas replied, "I'll be back in Stockholm on Friday. Okay, thank you, Dirk, Hej då [bye]."