Smiles and laughter, that was what Linnea liked to hear in her house. It had felt terribly lacking as of late and just Amelia's laugh was enough to make her feel like some weight had been lifted from the environment and her shoulders. Clearly she needed to have friends over more often. 'It's not rude to us,' Strike pointed out with a rattle of his tail in response to the look he was given. 'We don't think like you do. Not our fault you just don't come out and say everything you're thinking.' Or had weird words for it. Strike still did not quite get the reason for different languages, for example, since all of their mouths and tongues seemed to work in exactly the same way. Pointless effort to have more than one!
"He'll learn," Linnea said with a smile, accepting the book and chocolates as she sank onto the couch. "These will be delicious, I can tell." She always craved chocolate near the beginning of each pregnancy and she had no idea why. Jokull said it was all in her head - but his opinion doesn't matter now. "And the pictures are gorgeous! Did you get to see much of the countryside or do anything at all resembling the vacation you claim to have taken? Oh, hold that though." Remembering the tray, Linnea set her gifts aside and went to fetch it. A steaming pot of coffee, small containers of cream and sugar in case Amelia wanted to defile her coffee and an assortment of baked goods. Perfect set-up. "Please, help yourself, it's been far too long since I've had someone over for coffee."