Feeling good, I arrive at Josh's villa a little later. The entrance area is deadly quiet. I hang my hat and bag on the coatrack hooks, straighten out my oversized T-shirtwith its colorful print, and tidy my hair with my fingers. Then I go looking for Sophia.
Eventually, I find her with Jasmin in the glossy kitchen. The bright morning sunlight streams through the windows. The smell of fruit, tea, and oatmeal fills the air, but there's no breakfast left. Too bad. The hole in my stomach has now reached the size of a construction pit. But that has to wait because Sophia comes first. The little girl sits on one of the high stools at the large kitchen island, staring at a tablet. Her dangling feet swing back and forth.
"Good morning." I energetically cross the room.
Sophia doesn't even notice that I'm here. The housekeeper gives me a brief nod.
I lean on the bright marble countertop. "Great day today, isn't it?" I say to Jasmin.
Unchanged, she rubs the pot in her hand intensively dry with a dish towel. "Absolutely wonderful."
Smiling, I sit on the stool beside Sophia and peer over at the girl. She’s still wearing her pajamas.
Yesterday didn't go well between us. But today, I will find a way to get through to her. I can find out what makes her so sad.
Very carefully, I nudge her. "Hey, Sophia. Where's Fridolin?"
Her gaze is glued to the cartoon dogs on her tablet.
"Don't tell me he's still sleeping." I grin secretly even though she doesn't look at me. "Should we wake him up together? Today is such a beautiful day. We could walk with him to the playground."
She doesn't react. Too engrossed in the adventures of thePaw Patrol, she barely notices me.
This isn't working at all. I stand and walk to Jasminat the other end of the kitchen. "Why did you give her the tablet?" I ask her quietly, trying my best not to sound accusatory.
Shaking her head, she stacks the clean plates together. "What else should I have done?" she replies with a frustrated undertone. "After the unsuccessful attempt to put one of her dresses on Sophia, Josh holed himself up in his music room. And I have work to do."
I study her. Keeping everything running here must not be easy. But she can't just not care about the little girl. "Did she have breakfast?"
Jasmin squats down and pulls a pot out of the cupboard. "I tried. She didn't want anything."
She hasn't eaten anything? That can't be true. "What did you offer her?"
The pot in Jasmin's hand crashes onto the shiny countertop. "Everything. I already told you that."
I raise my hands defensively. "Understood," I say, as the situation is obviously more than uncomfortable for her. "Thanks for your help. I'll take it from here."
"Gladly." She nods briefly, then turns back to her work.
I turn to Sophia. "I like pancakes. Do you too?"
There it is. A small twitch at the corner of her mouth while she pretends to focus on her cartoon series.
"Great, I'll make us some." Motivated, I head for the refrigerator. As I take out eggs and milk, I notice Jasmin watching me. Is she afraid I'll make everything dirty even though she just finished cleaning up?
"Don't worry, I'll clean up," I say quickly. Without waiting for her reaction, I look for the rest of the ingredients. The flour packet slips out of my hand. Thankfully, the content only lands on the countertop.
"That's what I call an offer." Chuckling, she leaves the kitchen, and I slowly understand how we both can get along.
A few minutes later, I place two plates of funnily decorated pancakes on the kitchen island. "Do you want the one with the banana mouth or the one with the wild apple slice hair?"
Sophia doesn't even look.
This is going remarkably well. "Then I'll take Mr. Banana," I say cheerfully. At that moment, my stomach growls loudly. "Maybe I'll eat both."
Finally, she looks up. She shakes her head and pulls one of the plates toward herself. Handing her the fork, I smile delightedly. Though we don't talk during the meal, progress is unmistakable.
As soon as we finish our breakfast, I turn to Sophia with a conspiratorial grin. "I have a surprise for you today."