Page 94 of Top Shelf

Heidi leans toward me. “I thought you said your family was terrifying.”

“They are.”

On the laptop, Ebba’s face appears much too close to the camera again. She says something in Swedish so fast, Heidi only catches her own name.

“She says you are prettier than your photographs,” I translate.

Heidi’s smile softens, then turns wicked. “Tell her I said her grandson is prettier than his photographs too.”

“No.”

Her eyebrows lift. “Why not?”

“Because she will never stop talking about it.”

“Then definitely tell her!”

Ebba looks between us and asks what Heidi said.

“Nothing,” I tell her.

Heidi gasps dramatically. “Coward.”

Freja laughs because she understands more English than she pretends to when it suits her, then translates to everyone else.

Ebba goes still for half a second before a delighted little cackle bubbles out of her. She turns to Mamma, speaking to her in Swedish. “At least the girl has excellent eyesight. I did wonder if perhaps she didn’t, and that was why he gave her such a large diamond.”

Mamma laughs so hard she has to look away from the screen, and I close my eyes.

Heidi leans closer. “What did she say?”

Ebba turns back to the screen with a grin and waggles her fingers at Heidi, gesturing to her wedding ring.

“Oh!” Heidi’s smile widens. “You’re talking about the Denver Diamond?”

I glance at her. “The what?”

“That’s what Zoe calls it.” She lifts her hand toward the camera, and the stone sparkles hard enough that Freja makes an impressed noise. “Apparently subtlety was not part of the brief.”

“It is an engagement ring.”

“It’s a boulder with a princess cut.”

Freja laughs again, but Ebba leans closer to her screen, studying Heidi’s hand.

“She likes it?” she asks me in Swedish.

Before I can answer, Heidi catches the tone even if she doesn’t understand the words.

“It’s beautiful. And no one will doubt I’m married, that’s for sure.” Her thumb turns the ring around her finger. “Completely impractical for anyone who uses their hands for a living, but that feels like a separate issue.”

Mamma smiles. “You work with athletes, yes?”

Heidi nods. “Sports physical therapist. So I’ll probably take it off at work unless I want to accidentally stab someone during a shoulder assessment.”

“Or dislocate them with it,” Freja says.

“See?” Heidi chuckles, her eyes lifting to mine then nodding toward the screen. “She gets me.”