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left, Noelle opened up the guest room—my room. A twin bed with a beautiful, puffy white down comforter waited for me with folded towels at the foot.
    “I put hangers in the closet, but let me know if you need more. This room doesn’t have a lot of closet space since we use it for overflow” She put my suitcase next to the closet. “I’ll show you the office across the hall, and then we can go up to see the bedroom on the third floor.”
    I kept up with Noelle as she scooted across the hall and opened the door to a crowded home office. The desk sat in front of the window that looked out to the back of their house. A high-back office chair faced the window.
    Just then the chair turned, and Noelle’s husband lifted his hand to greet us but didn’t change his facial expression.
    “I didn’t realize you were home,” Noelle said in a soft voice.
    The large, fair-skinned man nodded in a reserved manner.
    Whether he was reserved Dutch or not, I was thrilled to meet Noelle’s husband after all these years. I jumped in, stepping close and offering my hand in an eager handshake. “Jelly, I am so glad to finally meet you. Thank you for agreeing to let me come last minute like this.”
    A deep voice suddenly spoke from the speakerphone on the desk. I hadn’t realized a phone call was in progress. The man on the speakerphone replied in Dutch. While I couldn’t understand what he said, I distinctly heard him repeat Noelle’s husband’s name, “Jelly,” with a humorous inflection.
    I turned to Noelle with my lips pressed together just as a second voice chimed in, also in Dutch. We had interrupted a conference call.
    Noelle said something in Dutch and motioned for me to follow her out of the office. She quickly ushered me out of the room and closed the door behind us. Her face was red.
    I grimaced as soon as we were on the other side of the closed door. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize he was on a conference call.”
    “He was talking with his brothers.”
    “Oh.”
    “They all work together and…”
    I tried to read Noelle’s expression. Not only did I have the disadvantage of not being familiar with what her different expressions meant, but I also didn’t know if this was the sort of thing we would all brush off and laugh about later. Her husband’s response had been so reserved.
    “Come.” She motioned for us to climb the spiral stairs to the top floor.
    I hoped this meant it was best to just set aside my intrusion on the conference call and go on as if it was no big deal.
    We stepped into a beautifully decorated loft with a large bed, thick rugs, and a wide window facing the outside world at the back of their home. I immediately went to the window. Gazing past the neighbors’ roofs, I said, “Is that the North Sea you can catch a glimpse of between the rooftops?”
    “It’s Rotterdam Harbor. We can watch the huge ships come in.” Noelle took my arm. “Summer, you know how you asked me to tip you off before you do anything embarrassing?”
    “Yes. Too late, right? I’m sorry I barged in. I should have waited until Jelly said something to me first.”
    Noelle looked like she might burst out laughing.
    “What is it?”
    “My husband’s name is Jelle.” The way she pronounced it, the name sounded like
Yella
, not
Jelly
.
    I slapped my hand over my mouth.
    “You had no way of knowing. All these years you’ve only read his name. I never told you the y is pronounced like a soft
y.
”
    “Oh no! And I called him Jelly in front of his brothers!”
    Noelle pressed her lips together, suppressing a giggle. “He’s been called worse than ‘Jelly but…just don’t ever add’ Belly to the end of it. That would be the worst.”
    “Oh, Noelle! I’m so embarrassed.”
    “Don’t worry. Really. All is well. You broke the ice. The rest of your visit can only go up from here.”
    I hoped she was right. We went downstairs to the living room, and at Noelle’s suggestion I called Wayne to let him know I