But it was Maris that Axel was interested in. He couldn’t seem to get her out of his mind. She was smart, funny, beautiful, and she had a sense of adventure. He wasn’t looking to fall in love, but he knew that when two people were away from home, anything could happen. There always seemed to be a heightened sense of urgency, as if everything would end when the journey was over. People were more impulsive when they travelled, especially when they travelled alone. Should I take a chance? he wondered. Would she reciprocate?
There was only one way to find out. A week later he asked her out to dinner. Not her and Dinah, just Maris alone. When Maris accepted, Axel made a reservation at Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck Restaurant. He had been wanting to try the Peking duck, which was reported to be excellent.
Maris met him at the restaurant, in the Paragon Mall on Orchard Road, and they ordered drinks. Maris was nervous but tried not to let it show. She hadn’t been on a “date” in years — funny how she hadn’t even thought about it until Axel phoned — and it felt like a first-ever date. Silly, she told herself. After all, she and Dinah had been out with Axel on a couple of occasions and she hadn’t felt the least bit nervous. Maybe because she hadn’t thought Axel was interested in her; he had paid her and Dinah equal attention, even though she’d told Dinah otherwise. And maybe this wasn’t about dating and Axel’s liking her at all. Maybe he wanted something else. Maybe he was going to pump her about the business, confirming Angela’s suspicions. She was speculating, she knew, just in case it (whatever “it” was) didn’t work out. Just because he was good looking and eligible didn’t mean she should fall for him. Nevertheless she had dressed extra carefully, choosing a periwinkle blue shirt with a scoop neck that was very flattering, and pairing it with flared white pants, also flattering. She wore her favourite earrings, long and dangly, in blue and silver, with four silver bangles on her left arm. She decided not to wear her watch. She would not think about time tonight.
While they waited for the Peking duck, they talked about a lot of things. Axel didn’t like to talk about his work, she discovered. (“I do nothing but work all day. In the evening I like to forget about work.”) So they talked about art (which he said he didn’t know much about) and collecting (about which he said he was learning, thanks to her and Dinah), about travel (he was a more experienced traveller than her, but it was mostly for work, so he couldn’t claim to be adventurous), and about food (he liked to cook as well as eat).
“Women find it attractive when a man likes to cook,” said Maris. “But then you probably already know that.” She laughed and so did he.
“Well, I don’t always cook for women,” he said. “Mostly it’s for my pals when we play cards. Then I cook up a big pot of something, like pea soup with pork or maybe some meatballs with potatoes. Swedes love potatoes. We have many potato dishes, like Jansson’s Temptation, my specialty.”
Maris laughed. “What’s Jansson’s Temptation?” she asked.
Axel smiled. “It’s potatoes and onions baked in cream with sliced herring or anchovies on top. Very delicious. Maybe I’ll make it for you sometime.”
“Sounds good,” she said, but her face said otherwise. “Tempting.”
Axel laughed. “Trust me. It’s very good. I cook it the way my mother did.”
“Your mother was a good cook?”
“Still is,” said Axel. “Especially her kåldolmar: cabbage rolls stuffed with beef and pork. Nobody makes them like her.”
“My mother’s a pretty good cook, too,” said Maris. “We never had much money so she had to use her imagination. We grew a lot of our own food, so it was always fresh and wholesome, but there wasn’t much variety. We ate a lot of brown rice and vegetables,” she laughed. “That’s why Singapore is food heaven for me.” She told Axel a bit about growing up in British Columbia on a hippie commune, and about how her father had split for another life. “My mother says it shows he doesn’t know who he is, but he’s been living his ‘new’ life for almost thirty years, so maybe that’s who he really is. A car salesman.”
When the duck came, it was perfection. Nice crispy skin with a thin layer of fat between the skin and the meat. It came with shredded green onions, sticks of raw cucumber and hoisin sauce. The pancakes were as thin and delicate as crepes. The rest of the duck meat was taken back to the kitchen and turned into a tasty noodle dish.
“I’m glad I wore loose clothes,” said Maris. “I’m stuffed.”
“Me, too,” said Axel. “I couldn’t eat another thing.”
“Not even your mother’s cabbage rolls?”
“Please, stop,” said Axel, holding his stomach. “I may never eat again. Ever.”
“All right,” said Maris. “Best meal ever. What’s yours?”
“That’s a tough one,” said Axel, “but I think it’s got to be a grilled salmon I had once in Norway. It was rubbed with lemon and vodka and some tarragon, and was cooked over a fire on a cedar plank. Exquisite. They told me it was a Norwegian Viking recipe.” He laughed.
“Mmmm. Sounds delicious. My sister would love that. I’ll have to tell her about it.”
“And what about you?” asked Axel. “What’s your best meal ever?”
“I had a lobster once in Old Montreal that I actually dreamed about, it was so good.”
Axel laughed. “Only women dream about food.”
“What do men dream about?”
“Women. Or nothing. I don’t think men dream much.”
“Everybody dreams,” said Maris. “Not everyone remembers their dreams.”
“Perhaps. I remember very few dreams.”
“Maybe you wake up too fast. I think you have to wake up slowly so the dream doesn’t escape your consciousness.”
“It’s true. I do wake up fast. I open my eyes and that’s it. I’m ready for the day.”
“Not me,” said Maris. “I linger.”
At one point during the evening, Axel’s mobile rang. He answered with a terse “Hello” and listened for a moment. “Oh, hi,” he said, and turned to Maris. “I’ll just take this call, if you don’t mind. I won’t be long.”
“No problem,” she said.
He got up and walked away from the table, toward the entrance to the restaurant. He seemed to listen more than he talked, nodding and occasionally making a brief comment to the caller. When he came back, he apologized and said it was business. Because of the time zones, he sometimes got calls at odd hours and was obliged to take them.
“I don’t mind,” said Maris. “Business is business, after all. And that’s why you’re here. Right?”
“Right,” he said, and smiled. “But next time I’ll turn the phone off.”
“Not on my account,” she said. “I really don’t mind.”
Axel took a sip of his drink. “I’d like to sleep with you,” he said.
Maris laughed, startled. “What? Because I don’t mind if you take business calls during dinner?” Axel smiled. “It’s okay,” she said. “You’re under no obligation to sleep with me.”
“Okay,” he said. “But I still want to sleep with you.”
She looked at him. “Maybe,” she said, “but not tonight. I’ll need a little more time.”
“How about tomorrow?” he said.
She laughed. “No. But next week is a definite possibility.”
“Okay,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Good,” she said.
When she told her the next morning what Axel had said, Dinah nearly choked on her coffee.
“Get out,” she said. “He didn’t.”
“He did.”
“And what did you say?”
“I said okay. But not till next week.”
“Get out. You didn’t.”
“I did.”
“Get out,” said Dinah. “That’s crazy.”
“I know,” said Maris. “I have to tell you, that Peking duck was incredible.”