The wine came first, and during the small ceremony of approving it, the clock reached the half-hour and a small party came in and occupied one of the vacant tables. It was two couples of about Finn’s age. No one else came in during the fifteen minutes it took for his first course to arrive.
The room was still lively, but it was looking increasingly as if the party he was there to observe was the party that had canceled. With some dread, Finn imagined the next call to Ethan and Debbie, but at least that could wait until tomorrow. When he got back to the hotel he’d check Tilberg’s Facebook page. And if necessary, he could go to the university administration office early enough in the morning that the Portmans wouldn’t be wondering at his failure to call. It wasn’t a disaster, just a setback.
He noticed a couple of people heading up the stairs at different points and realized that was where the bathrooms were situated. He got used to seeing people coming and going during the meal, but then as he finished the reindeer loin, he glanced up because someone was coming down the stairs, someone he hadn’t seen going up.
The guy was smiling as he walked around to the reception area. He spent a while chatting there, then came back in and went up the stairs again, still smiling as he folded a long receipt and put it into his wallet. He had floppy fair hair, longer than in his picture, but there was no doubting that it was Anders Tilberg.
There were tables upstairs, something Finn should have checked earlier in the day, and Tilberg and his friends hadn’t canceled, they’d been early. Now that he was aware of them, his hearing separated out the noise and he realized a fair amount of it was coming from up those stairs.
The waitress who’d shown him to his table had just finished seating a party at one of the other vacant tables. Before she could leave, Finn gestured to her and she nodded and came over.
She picked up his plate and said, “Everything was good?”
“Really good.”
“The dessert menu?”
“No, thank you. I’ll just finish my wine, but could I have the bill now please.”
“Of course.”
She walked off and he listened for signs of movement upstairs. Their bill was paid, so they could leave at any moment. The waitress was quick and he could still hear settled laughter from up above, but he paid in cash to ensure he didn’t get caught out by a slow credit card transaction. He counted out notes and told her to keep the change, then settled back with his wine.
It was another ten minutes before he heard a collective movement of chairs being pushed back, and a few minutes more before the first person came down the stairs. He was followed by a girl, but it wasn’t Hailey.
A second girl emerged, her hair short and blonde, throwing Finn for a moment. He was no longer even confident he’d be able to pick Hailey Portman out of a group. But the girl with the short hair spoke to the others in Swedish, jolting Finn’s memory into seeing she looked nothing like Hailey.
And when Hailey did come into view, almost at the back of the group, he realized he should never have doubted himself. She looked older, it was true—very much a young woman, fashionable, the short hair giving her face character—but easily recognizable.
She didn’t see Finn, didn’t see anybody in the dining room, and as soon as she reached the bottom step she turned to say something to the last person in the group of ten, Anders Tilberg. He smiled, said something back and gave her a fleeting kiss, and as they moved toward the reception he rested his hand on the small of her back as if they’d been a couple forever.
Finn had to admit to himself that they looked good together—two attractive people who also formed what seemed an obvious and natural unit. It was clear, too, that Anders Tilberg had no idea of her true age. Even more surprisingly, as briefly as he’d seen her, Finn had seen nothing in Hailey’s manner or expression to suggest guilt or confusion or uncertainty—if anything, he’d never seen her looking so at ease, perhaps only because he was now seeing her not around adults but living as one.
They were slow to get themselves together, and once they’d left he gave it another thirty seconds before leaving himself. They were moving quicker once outside in the cold but they were still within sight. They were in high spirits, too, so it was easy to stay on them, the voices and laughter telling Finn where they were even when he let them disappear from view.
Only once did he hear Hailey’s voice, clearly saying, “Oh my God, you have to come to New York.” Again, it was very much a student talking, not a schoolgirl. Finn wondered if she was claiming to come from New York City or just talking in general terms—as far as he knew she’d never lived there, and hadn’t lived in America at all since infancy.