Nurse Barbara stood smoking in her newly renovated flat in Sollentuna. She inhaled deeply and blew out the last of the smoke before stubbing out the cigarette in her wine glass and closing the window. Ever since the day Director Mattson had taken over the retirement home, she had dreamed of how they could work together. Her and him. The two of them would be successful. He had the money and could invest it; she could run the business. But as time passed, she started to become impatient. She wanted to talk with him about the future. At the same time, she realized that she must tread carefully so that she didn’t scare him off.
‘Hurry up, darling,’ Mattson said, holding out his hands. He lay on his back stark naked. She didn’t need to be Einstein to know what he wanted. As she took the few steps across to the bed, she was thinking that she must make him dependent upon these moments together. Then when she had managed that, she would be able to achieve her goal. Times like these, when she had his full attention, were when she should try and persuade him that her line of thinking was right.
‘Darling, we do have a good time together, don’t we?’
He pulled her down towards him and kissed her in response. She pulled away and gave him a serious look.
‘If only we could see each other more often. I miss you when we aren’t together.’
‘And I miss you too, my darling.’ He tried to embrace her again.
‘Have you thought about your wife? I mean, about the divorce?’
He stopped her and held her tightly to him.
‘Silly billy, a love like ours doesn’t need to be confirmed by marriage. What we have is enough.’ Just then, his cellphone started ringing on the bedside table. On the second ring he hesitated, and on the third ring he stretched out his hand.
‘Hello, oh, it’s you. Right, yes, OK. Are you having a nice time? Oh, is that right …?’
Barbara could discern the high-pitched voice on the other end of the line; she got up and went into the kitchen. She didn’t like listening to his conversations with his wife; it reminded her that there was another woman in his life. A woman who looked as if she was going to be sticking around for a while longer.
‘So you’re going to stay another week, darling? Right, I understand. Dear me, what a pity. And I was going to take you and the children out for dinner.’
His wife and children had travelled to London. Now it seemed as though their return would be delayed. Perhaps this meant that she and Mattson could be together a little longer? At last the conversation came to an end. Barbara went back into the bedroom.
‘Darling, my family is stuck in London. So I think I’ll take a few more days off work and we can spend some more time together.’
‘How wonderful! But what about the residents?’
‘We’ll get a temp to cover for you.’
‘Can we afford it?’
‘My dear, Diamond House is a veritable profit-making machine. What was the name of the girl who replaced you last time? Katia, wasn’t it? Ring her!’
He stretched out his hands towards her again, and this time she didn’t need any more encouragement. Pleased with how things were developing, she crept in under the covers and put her arms around him.
When the stand-in nurse, Katia, went into the retirement home the next day, she found it unusually quiet. The old people ate their breakfast and gathered in the lounge as usual, but there was no sign of the choir gang. When they didn’t turn up for lunch either, she went up to their rooms and found that everything was neat and tidy, but their coats were all missing. They must be out singing somewhere. She had heard them talking about performances in Strängnäs and Eskilstuna before. Nurse Barbara must simply have forgotten to inform her. Katia smiled to herself. Perhaps they would perform God in Disguise, which they had been rehearsing for such a long time. They loved singing and she didn’t begrudge them that joy. She immediately felt calm. They would turn up soon enough.