Chapter 31: Farewells, Part II

June 1980, Hovås/Göteborg, Sweden

I was in bed very early on Sunday and slept much later than usual. I planned to hang around the house on Monday because I knew Katt would be calling. Sofia was coming late in the afternoon and we were going out to dinner. Jöran and his family had left the previous week for their Summer cottage, so she wouldn’t see him until later in the Summer when she would spend a week with them.

I decided to run because I didn’t feel like making the trip to the ice rink every day and because Katt wouldn’t be there. Just after lunch, the phone rang. Patrick answered and let me know that Katt was on the phone. I took the phone from him and spoke to her in English.

“Hi, Katt! How was the trip?”

“Very good! Do we speak English now?”

“You are in the US!”

“Yes, but I know you can speak Swedish!”

I switched back to Swedish and said, “Yes, that’s true. How is the new place?”

“The townhouse is less than a kilometer from the rink, so that’s very good.”

“You mean it’s about a half-mile! You have to get used to that.”

“This is so stupid! Miles, yards, feet, inches, ounces, and pounds! What idiot invented this stupid system?”

“The English,” I laughed. “I prefer metric, but Americans don’t seem to like it.”

“I have a nice big bed! Just waiting for you to visit,” she giggled.

“We can talk about that once I’m home for a few days, OK?”

“Yes. Write me, please?”

I took down her address and phone number and promised to write. We talked for another couple of minutes.

“Bye, Steve. I can’t wait until you visit!”

“Bye, Katt! I’ll write to you soon.”

We hung up. I went back to my room to read until Sofia showed up. We took a bus into Göteborg for dinner. We had a fantastic time, as we always did when we were together. Once back in Hovås, as I walked her home, I asked her to go skating with me on Wednesday morning because I needed to get my gear and she agreed. We hugged goodnight, and I went back up the hill to the Jonsson’s.

On Tuesday morning, I played a round of golf with Suzana. She spent most of the time berating me for not practicing and we laughed a lot at some of my poor shots. After we finished the front nine holes, Suzana asked if I wanted to make a bet.

“On golf? I’ll lose for sure and you know it!”

“OK, how about a prize then? You make par on any hole and I’ll find a way to spend the night with you before you go home!”

“That sounds like a prize for you!” I chuckled.

“True!” she said, laughing. “Forget it, just play. I’ll do it anyway!”

“I don’t think what I’m doing qualifies as ‘playing golf’!”

“You’re right! It is a travesty. You should practice more.”

“I thought I was pretty good the last time we were together!” I smirked.

“I’m not talking about THAT!” she giggled with a cute blush.

We finished the round. The best I did was a double-bogie on a par three. Suzana stowed her clubs and golf shoes in the storage locker that the family rented and we walked home. I took her hand, but she dropped it once we were halfway up the hill to the house. I didn’t object because I knew she wanted to keep our relationship secret from her family, and I agreed with that plan.

At home, I showered and decided on a sauna before leaving to meet Torbjörn, Elizabeth, and Cecilia for our last Tuesday gathering. Suzana joined me a few minutes after the sauna warmed up. We sat in the steam just inches apart, but unfortunately we were wearing swim suits. When I was ready to leave, I leaned close to Suzana and gave her a soft kiss, then got up and went to jump in the pool. I swam a few short laps, then went to shower and dress for dinner.

I met my friends at Linnéplatsen and we took the tram to Centralstationen, then walked a short distance to the restaurant. We had a nice table near the back of the room and we spent the next two hours eating, talking, and drinking coffee. When we finished, we went to Torbjörn’s parents’ apartment, and he pulled out two bottles of wine. We toasted, and they sang to me. They gave me a couple of small gifts — a t-shirt and, more importantly, a framed picture of the four of us.

We spent the rest of the evening drinking wine, listening to music, and talking. Around 1:00am I walked Elizabeth home, and we hugged tightly. I said that I’d see her Friday for dinner and headed to Linnéplatsen to catch the last bus home. I walked quickly up the hill, quietly let myself into the house, and went to the bathroom to brush my teeth. When I finished, I went to my room, stripped off my clothes, fell into bed, and was quickly asleep.

Although I had been up late and had had several glasses of wine, I woke up early, showered, ate a quick breakfast, then walked down to the bus stop to meet Sofia. Once we reached the rink, we skated for about an hour, and I practiced some of the skills that Johanna had taught me. I was a bit disappointed that I hadn’t had the time to play pick-up hockey, but I thought I might be able to do that at home, though the closest rink was in Springdale, about a half-an-hour from home.

I was surprised to see Lotta at the rink. She skated up to me while I was skating backwards and greeted me.

“Did you talk to Mikael yet?” I asked.

“Yes, he called me yesterday. Katt has them skating already.”

“I know. Are you surprised?”

“No, I guess not! I hoped to see you here.”

“Why is that?”

“Here’s my address and phone number. Will you write to me? You’ve been a really good friend and given me good advice.”

“You’re welcome. And I’ll write you, of course.”

“Thanks for not being mad at me on Sunday, I shouldn’t have done that to you that day.”

“No apology necessary. I understand.”

She smiled at me and looked me straight in the eyes, “My birthday is the 20th.”

She skated away as I turned to skate forward in something of a daze. I would have to think about that one. It was still nine days until her birthday and I’d be on my way to Abisko. I skated a few more laps while I thought about what to do. I decided I’d still have to think about it, so I skated to where Lotta was.

“I’m gone from the 20th until July 1st,” I said. “I could call you on the 2nd. But I leave on the 9th to head home. We’ll have to see.”

She smiled, said “OK,” and skated away.

Sofia skated up to me then.

“Who was that girl?”

“Katt’s partner Mikael’s girlfriend. She and I became friends while we watched Katt and Mikael skate and she asked me for advice on handling him being in the US. I saw her at the airport when they left and did the big brother thing when she was crying. It looks like she’s doing OK, but I think she really misses him and will for some time.”

“Just like I’m going to miss you,” Sofia said, with her voice lowering. “I’m going to miss you a lot!”

“I’m going to miss you, too,” I said softly.

I took her hand in my hockey glove and we skated a few laps. I asked Sofia if she’d skate with me the following week, and when she said ‘yes’, I stowed my gear in my locker. I’d have to bring it home after that. I wasn’t sure I’d bring the stick back to the US, but I’d certainly bring the skates and gloves with me.

We walked to our usual café for coffee and then headed back to Hovås. I walked Sofia home, then walked up the hill to the Jonssons. I was thinking about Lotta’s offer and something bothered me about it. Why was she offering to have sex with me when she wouldn’t do it with Mikael? I was leaving just like he was. Except I would be going to see Katt. That was Lotta’s game! Katt took her boyfriend, and she was going to take Katt’s boyfriend! She’d tell Mikael, and he would tell Katt.

What Lotta didn’t realize was that Katt wouldn’t care. Well, I was fairly sure that Katt wouldn’t care. The only thing that it might do is hurt Mikael. As I saw it, Mikael wouldn’t blame Katt for Lotta having sex with me, but he would probably be pretty angry with me! He would be thinking that I took advantage of her! I was sure Mikael would keep skating with Katt and all Lotta would succeed at was losing her virginity. My head told me that the best course of action was simply not to call her and not to write her. I was not surprised that my dick told me otherwise.

On Thursday morning, I played golf with Patrick. I did a bit better, actually making par on two holes. When we finished, he walked home and I went to Sofia’s for lunch. Petra and Tomas were there as well, and I had a good talk with Tomas. He and his sister would be heading to Majorca on vacation with their parents and there was a good chance I wouldn’t see them before I left. When we finished lunch, I gave Tomas my address and phone number at home and we hugged goodbye. Petra gave me a hug and a quick kiss on the lips.

“Want to say a proper goodbye?” she asked hopefully.

“No,” I said with a smile, “the kiss will have to do.”

She frowned but didn’t say anything else as she and Tomas left. I thanked Sofia for lunch and told her I’d see her Monday, and headed back home.

On Friday morning I played golf with Patrick again, but this time didn’t make par on any holes. I just wasn’t practicing enough, but at that point, I wasn’t at all interested in spending the time necessary to improve. I didn’t expect to play golf at home, and that made the decision even easier. We finished and walked home. I decided to sit in the sauna and swim before lunch. After lunch, I read until it was time to catch the bus to meet Elizabeth for our date.

We met at Linnéplatsen and took the #2 tram to a small Italian restaurant near Vasaplatsen. The weather was wonderful, so we sat at a small table on the sidewalk. We talked while we ate, but we both carefully avoided the real question of what was going to happen after the movie. We finished dinner and walked the few blocks to the cinema. The movie we were seeing was American Gigolo, starring Richard Gere. It was about an ‘escort’ from Los Angeles who specialized in making older women happy, and who was falsely accused of murder. The movie was pretty good, and the soundtrack was awesome.

When we left the theater, we walked back to Vasaplatsen and caught the #2 tram back to Linnéplatsen. I walked Elizabeth to her apartment. I hugged her at the door to the building like I usually did.

“Come inside,” she said, “and we’ll talk.”

I didn’t answer, I just followed her inside. We took the elevator up to the 7th floor and she led me into the apartment, introduced me to her parents, Gustav and Marie, and after we said ‘hello’, led me to her room and shut the door behind us.

She motioned me towards a bunch of large pillows on the floor and I sat on one and leaned against another that was against the wall. She pulled a couple of pillows beside the bed and sat on one and leaned against the other one that she set against the bed. She was facing me, and there was a bit of space between us. I wondered if the distance meant anything, or if it was just Elizabeth being very careful.

We sat in silence, just looking at each other for a couple of minutes. Elizabeth was dressed pretty much as she always was — her long, blonde hair hanging over her shoulders, her loose cable-knit sweater hiding her figure, her blue jeans snug, but not tight. I knew from our silly wrestling matches that my cute friend had a soft, pliant body with moderately sized breasts.

“Elizabeth, are we just going to sit and stare at each other all night?” I asked softly.

“I guess not. I’m just not sure what to do.”

“Did you change your mind?”

“No, not at all,” she said. “I want to, I’m just not sure we should. What about you?”

“I do want to,” I said. “I decided weeks ago that I would do it if you wanted to. I knew we’re really good friends and I don’t want to ruin that. I’m confident that at this point, we can handle it. The thing is, if we don’t, we’ll always wonder what it was like and I honestly think we’d both regret not doing something that we want so badly.”

“Torbjörn certainly thinks we want to do it, doesn’t he!” she replied with a smile.

“I think it was super obvious to both Torbjörn and Cecilia. I think that you and I were purposefully avoiding it because we’ve been such good friends, and we both knew I had to go home. I do have to say I really, really liked the way you felt under me when we wrestled!”

“I have to admit that I was a bit excited by that, especially when Torbjörn told us not to screw on his bed! I thought about what it would be like with you. And I liked those thoughts.”

“Then I guess it’s up to you to decide what you want,” I said. “I’m not going to be upset or angry or anything, no matter which way you decide. You’re a good friend and you’ll stay one whether we end up in bed or not.”

“I haven’t even kissed you properly, and we’re talking about having sex,” Elizabeth said, “Do you know how strange that is?”

I wondered if her hesitation was the friendship or something else.

“I can see how the idea of having our first kiss and having sex the same day could be a bit strange,” I said. “Can I ask you a very personal question?”