Sophia's Choice Pt. 03

'That was fantastic. I came so hard.'

'I learnt that technique from a Finnish girl,' said Ulf in a monotone, having returned to his default state of inertia.

'Are they different from Swedish girls?' asked Sophia, her mind on one Swedish girl in particular.

'They are not so emotional as us Swedes,' replied Ulf, without irony.

'I have always been considered unusual,' he went on, his words flowing in an unwonted spate. 'When I was young, they nicknamed me after a Swedish volcano because I was so emotional.'

'And Petsi,' Sophia asked, finally grasping the nettle. 'She was able to cope with your emotional side?'

'Petsi,' Ulf replied flatly, 'is even more emotional than me. I think that is why we sometimes have difficulties.'

'Are you having difficulties now?' asked Sophia, as if she were a marriage guidance counsellor.

'Why else would I agree to put up your shelves?' replied the Swede.

'Thanks very much!' thought Sophia, irritated beyond measure.

Not only had her ruse been so obvious, but his willingness to fuck her had more to do with his frustrations with Petsi than with her own intrinsic merits. Undeterred, though, Sophia ploughed on.

'Is she seeing other men? Or other women, perhaps?'

'I am plenty man enough for her,' responded Ulf indignantly.

And then, after a pause, 'As for women, she gave them up when she met me.'

Sophia was certain she'd heard that one before. In the gossip columns of a newspaper, in a film, in a book, from her friend Carrie.

'Just a casual college dorm thing, was it?' asked Sophia, fishing for all she was worth.

'In her last year at college she moved in with the Feminist Studies professor. They were planning to get married, but Petsi doesn't believe in marriage. In the end, things didn't work out. Petsi never told me why, but I think the other woman objected to her capitalistic lifestyle and the fact she stood to inherit the family business.'

Sophia was stunned into silence by this revelation. But what it did mean is that if she played her cards right, she was definitely in with a chance with the willowy beauty. The fact that she was no smoked salmon socialist ought to give her an edge. If she just upped her wokeness levels, she might have a real chance.

'It seems you may have saved her from a very perilous situation, Ulf. Even more importantly, you may have saved her from herself.'

Ulf kissed Sophia's hair by way of saying thank you, and started to get dressed. The time had come to finish the shelves off and head home. Sophia asked him what he would like to drink, and he said he always had a beer after having sex. Although she never normally tippled in the afternoon, she decided she'd make an exception and join him in a libation. She got dressed, went downstairs, took a couple of bottles of pale ale out of the fridge and took them through to the study.

She had to say the shelves looked very good when they were assembled. Ulf said he'd return the next day to apply a second coat of the fancy oil and Sophia told him the morning would be best and to give her a ring first. As for payment, Ulf said he'd let her know the damage then too. Sophia gave Ulf a peck on the cheek as he left the house, knowing that they would never have sex again. Sometimes she wondered why she put herself through the ringer for this type of casual encounter, without being able to see what even the most disinterested observer would be able to see - that she was an addict. Not so much to the sex, perhaps, as to the thrill of the chase and, above all, the danger inherent in the undertaking. She was to sex what free solo was to rock climbing.