Little Things

Benny's birthday

Frida got out of the car with the help of her granddaughter Hanna. They had arrived at the restaurant, it was 5:40 p.m., of course it was already dark. It had stopped snowing since the day before, luckily, but the ground was slippery as the snow melted.

They entered the restaurant, further back Alva entered with Linus and finally Göran. The place was full of people, it was Saturday and people used to go out to celebrate Christmas during the month. It wasn't difficult to find them, they occupied the largest table in the room. When Benny saw his ex-wife enter with his granddaughter, for a moment he couldn't react, it made him very happy to see her, to see them, to know that she decided to go to his birthday.

"Happy Birthday, farfar!" He heard Hanna say.

Benny smiled and stood up from the chair, opening his arms towards her. "Thank you for coming," he squeezed her. "And for bringing her with you," he whispered, looking at Frida.

Hanna separated from him and looked at him, winking and handing him a box with his birthday present.

"Grattis," Frida said, it being her turn to hug him. Benny smiled pleasantly and looked at her, happy to have her there. She felt somewhat intimidated by his gaze, she couldn't deny it. They shared a hug that lasted a little longer than expected, he caressed her back and she felt a little shy especially because everyone was there at the table sitting and looking at them, including Mona.

"Thank you for coming," he said.

"You sent an evil being to pick me up," she joked, looking at Hanna, who pretended not to have heard anything and took a seat next to her older cousins Malin and Viola. Benny chuckled and also went to greet his youngest grandson, his daughter in law and son. Frida, for her part, greeted everyone there and took a seat between Nanne and Heléne, it was as if that chair was precisely waiting for her.

Everyone ordered their dishes. Frida was drinking white wine with a tapa of baguette bread, olive oil and sardine, while she waited for her main course. They were all having parallel conversations, hers was with Heléne, whom she had not seen for almost a year. She felt a hand on her shoulder and then as someone leaned on her, Hanna hugged her from behind and looked at her, "can I have some wine?" She whispered in her grandma's ear.

Frida was silent for a moment and made eye contact with Göran, who imagined his daughter's intention. "Why would I do that?" Frida looked at her granddaughter.

"Because you are my farmor and it is better to drink with you than with strangers. Don't you think?" she blackmailed her.

"Oh, I know where you're going with this..." Frida rolled her eyes. "Go and drink with strangers," she encouraged her.

"It'll be more fun to spend Christmas with Grandma Mona anyway," Hanna finally added, knowing the latter would have more of an impact on Frida.

"A sip," Frida said after sighing. Hanna smiled and took the glass.

"What are you doing?" Göran asked from the other side of the table.

"She allowed me to drink a sip," Hanna responded, pointing to her grandmother.

"It will only be a sip, she is already 13," Frida responded, justifying it.

"You were already drinking at 12 anyway," Peter joked, addressing to his brother.

Hanna tasted the wine and put it back on the table next to Frida and then left to sit with her cousins again. "Did you like it?" Viola asked her, she was of course older, she was 16 and she already consumed alcohol frequently, but this time, since they were in a restaurant, she couldn't officially order any alcoholic beverages.