Page 67 of The Secret to Belonging

Vibeke notices you’re knitting a man’s sweater

Wenche asks you to please hum something other than ABBA

when Espen accepts Elinor’s invitation to Sunday middag

Erik immediately commandeers him upstairs

Bjørn calls everyone to dinner

and they reappear brandishing rubber swords

you look around the room at each person

laughing and joking, smiling at you

this is love, you think

five months ago

these people were total strangers

and now they have

cracked open your cupboard

blown up your heart like a hot-pink balloon

misery doesn’t have to be

the rule

the default

the norm

life before was someone else’s tragedy

someone else’s pain

this happiness is all

and only

yours

you send pages of Espen to your girlfriends

you know you’re gushing

you don’t care

Alison successfully seduced the aspiring priest

though she found out she’s not his first

she’s still taking credit, though, and setting her sights

on her Italian teacher