Anna Russel moves back to the small town, Cutten, California when she's offered her dream job at her alma mater. With struggling with her writing, being a professor, and her alcoholism, Anna is reacquainted with the man she left behind.
Lars Nordin...
It was late afternoon the next day, the sun was high, and beating down into the garage, the large plastic fan Lars has had for years was on its last legs and not helping much. Anna and her younger sister, Nicole, had left in the late morning for a late breakfast and then to shop around the county.
Anna told Lars not to expect them till dinner, for they were to be spending every last physical scent they had in their pockets. Lars laughed and kissed her cheek, knowing full well that shopping with Anna could go two ways, she either came back with nothing or bags upon bags of random crap found in thrift shops.
The beefy Swed was thankful that the young woman was in town because Anna didn't have many friends. She had her colleagues but was only in her first year of being a professor, no one thought she was to last so, many staff kept their distance.
The only person Anna had around was Lars and he honestly didn't mind. He didn't have many friends himself and the ones he did have were over the age of sixty.
Lars did notice that Anna had a penpal, someone she wrote to like it was back in the 1800s. He watched her use a fountain pen, specifically for writing her long letters to this friend. She even used a wax seal when folding up the pages, tucking in small pressed flowers and leaves, skinny ribbon, and twisted twine wrapped around the small pages with a bow. It was a long and intricate process.
Lars saw the address once when he passed Anna, looking over her shoulder quickly. A weirdly named place in the UK. Anna never really discussed the person. Only that it was a very successful woman, she knew from her early college years.
The man paused in his crafting to look up at the corkscrew board that was screwed into the garage wall above his workbench. Lars stared at the photo he had found all those years ago, the one that was of him working at the saw bench that Anna had taken without him knowing, the one he found in her dorm room after a fit of rage.
Lars laughed to himself at the memory.
He wasn't laughing at Anna. Oh no, he never could.
What was funny was the fact that he never saw himself settling down with someone like her, someone so wild, but at the same time, Anna was cool and collected.
Anna was a volcano, Lars thought. She could lay dormant for years, but any second could she blow. For some reason, Lars was in love with her because of her being a volcano.
Next to the photo was another but just of him and Anna. It was the first time he kissed her, on the cheek. Anna found one of his dad's old disposable cameras that had a few notches left. Anna refused to let the camera go to waste, promising Lars to give back all the photos after they were developed.
The photos mostly consisted of the early beginning of the hardware store after its repairs his dad and grandad did before the grand opening. One was of the older Swedish men behind the register, one of the crew members took the photo.
The rest were of Anna and Lars.
The only ones he cared to keep were the one of his dad and grandad and the one of him kissing Anna on the cheek as she smiled at the camera.
He remembered that the second he pressed the button and the flash went off, his lips left her blazing cheek, and Anna was utterly confused. Fearing rejection, Lars played innocent and pretended like it wasn't a big deal although he too was blushing something red. He blamed it on the warm weather.
Lars checked his phone for any messages from Anna. When he found five back-to-back text messages about a shirt in his size at a thrift store, he said he didn't need any more clothes. She then replied a second later, saying she already bought the thing. He said he loved her and to have fun, that he would start on dinner after he closed and got back to her place.
For the next two hours, Lars intricately worked on a sterling silver ring he had envisioned months prior. Around the band were Swedish Viking symbols he has known since he was born. The small lines told a story of his lineage in few symbols meaning family, love, and loyalty.
All the things he wished to give his Anna. It wasn't an engagement ring, no for that he wanted to get her something expensive and fancy, but he couldn't help himself making her jewelry.
As he crafted the ring, he was reminded of a time before his father passed, when he and Anna couldn't go an hour without speaking to each other, and when she had spent a whole weekend at his and his dad's apartment above the store.
That weekend, he begged to show her how to fish, but she refused. It was then that his father waved them into the garage and began to show Anna how he made jewelry.
The older Swed showed her what tools he used and how to bend the silver the right way. Anna was so enamored, remembering in her early twenties how she only dreamed of doing something she found so cool.
For some reason, she loved the craft. Stunned by her sudden interest, Lars went over to her short frame and closely showed her how to make a ring out of utensils. Anna and Lars made a silver ring out of a spoon's handle that already had pressed in stars. She still wore the ring to this day.
After The Beach Boys album that played on his grandad's record player ended and the ring was shined to perfection, he found a small felt bag and placed it inside before stuffing it into his pocket. He wanted to gift it to her as soon as he saw her, but he didn't want to take her away from her sister.
So, Lars decided to wait.
اوووه! هذه الصورة لا تتبع إرشادات المحتوى الخاصة بنا. لمتابعة النشر، يرجى إزالتها أو تحميل صورة أخرى.
