7
ASTRID HAD SPENT the past few days mulling over Jonas’s offer.
While she wasn’t working, it was at least a way to be doing something related, and she longed to be back on the sea.
Her job search had yielded nothing aside from a research opportunity in Costa Rica, which although she was more than qualified for, she wasn’t likely to get since her area of expertise was with North Atlantic mammals.
She applied for it anyway, just to see if she could get it, but overall the whole situation was less than ideal and left her feeling despondent.
Again, she hired the boat. It was a blowy day, and the gusting wind in her face helped her feel as if the disappointment was being blown off her bit by bit.
Perhaps taking Jonas’s job was the answer for now.
Maybe she needed to re-establish her place here in Iceland.
Spend some time here before the next adventure so that if she came back again, it would feel more like home than it did right now.
It didn’t help that her parents had moved out of town, out of their family home, and however welcoming Gudrun and Olafur were, there was nowhere to come back to that felt like home.
If she took the job, she might be able to afford somewhere small by herself, and then staying longer would be easier.
All of this was running through her head as she headed along the fjord, her eyes scanning the surface of the sea for any sign of life.
It was habit, borne of many trips on research vessels where the instruments could tell you what was going on under the surface, but there was nothing like seeing it with your own eyes.
She could still remember the thrill the first time she’d seen a blue whale.
They had tracked it for years, and it followed a fairly reliable migratory route.
The tracking instruments had picked it up, so they’d cut the boat’s engines and all gone on deck to watch and wait.
Sure enough, within a few minutes the whale surfaced, its enormous tail the last part of it to disappear under the water, giving them the most spectacular of sightings.
She rounded the headland and something caught her eye, but it wasn’t in the water; it was on the shore.
The guy she’d seen the other day was there again.
Standing on the rocks, waving. This time, she felt less like he was a stranger and as if, bizarrely, there was something between them.
How could that be after only a friendly wave?
Astrid waved back and grinned when she saw his face light up with a smile.
For her to have seen him both times she had taken the boat down the fjord, he must spend a lot of time watching the water.
He’d be able to tell her what the chances of a sighting would be.
The shore in front of him was too rocky to pull in any closer, but she remembered that around the end of the bay, there were some shallower spots between the rocks and it would be easier to get the boat closer.
She flung her arm away from her, hoping he would understand the universal gesture for “over there!”.
Even from here, she could see the surprise on his face and then, after a few seconds, he responded with a similar gesture.
She gave him a thumbs-up. Both thumbs to avoid any doubt, cringing at herself because she felt like an idiot.
But it worked. He started making his way to the headland.
There was no backing out now, and even though she only wanted to ask him about whale sightings, she had butterflies in her stomach at the thought of speaking to him.
Since they’d waved at each other last week, she had thought about him.
It was a beautiful spot. Isolated but beautiful and she wondered what drove him to spend so much time gazing out at the water?
Because if she’d been past twice and he’d been there both times, that indicated how often he was there.
As she rounded the headland, she lost sight of him, the boat outpacing his steps, and she almost decided against pulling in.
She could open the throttle and be around the next headland before he made it and avoid this impulsive plan altogether.
But curiosity got the better of her, and she pulled the tiller, turning the boat towards the shore, between two rocky outcrops where she could see shingle on the bottom. She killed the engine and waited.
The brief conversation they had filled her heart with warmth.
She learned he was a fisherman. Perhaps no wonder then that he had a melancholy air about him.
Astrid was well aware of the difficulties facing the Icelandic fishermen.
And that explained why he had an affinity with the sea, something she was thrilled to find they had in common.
Why she was so pleased about this was a mystery to her, particularly as their short conversation ended with her having discovered that she was unlikely to see any whales in this fjord.
But she felt as if she knew him a little better, and that she wanted to know him even better than that.
She found out that his name was Leifur before she was too far away from the shore to hear him, and she shouted her name to him, sure that she would see him again.
Probably the next time she took the boat out.
Later that day, Astrid called into the Iceland Adventures office in the centre of town.
Brun was in there, busy making phone calls to cancel the northern lights excursion for that evening.
The scudding clouds had built up, and there wasn’t much blue sky to be seen.
It was nearing the end of the season anyway, Olafur had said, so the bookings were tailing off.
Part of the reason Jonas was keen to get the boat trips going.
‘ Hae , Brun. Is Jonas around?’
Brun nodded. ‘He’s gone to park the minibus. He’ll be back. Are you taking the job?’
‘Yes. I think so.’
Brun laughed. ‘Don’t sound so happy about it, Astrid. You may end up enjoying it more than you think.’
‘I know. It’s just not what I planned.’
‘Sometimes the best adventures happen when the plan goes wrong.’
She doubted that, but she didn’t want to disagree out loud. ‘I’m looking forward to being out on a boat again. I’m just not used to dealing with people. Customers.’
‘You’ll be fine,’ he said. ‘It’s like anything you’re interested in. Once you start talking about it to other people, your enthusiasm rubs off on them. Then they’ll get excited about it, and it’s like a circle of good energy.’
Jonas came in then, which was good timing since Brun was making her rethink the whole thing. It sounded a lot deeper than just talking about marine mammals.
‘Astrid,’ Jonas said warmly. ‘I hope you’ve come to accept the job.’
‘She has,’ said Brun, giving her no chance to backtrack. Not that she wanted to now.
‘If you’re sure you’re happy with it being a short-term thing,’ she said.
‘Absolutely. Whatever works. I think we’re lucky to have you for as long as you’re available.’ He made it sound as if she was doing him a favour. ‘Come on, let’s discuss it.’
By the time Astrid left the office to head home, Jonas had fixed up for her to meet the captain of the tour boat and had suggested the two of them book onto a rival whale-watching excursion so they could see what was involved. His name was Leifur too, the same as her Viking.
She was nervous about the prospect of the two of them basically being in charge of guests when it didn’t sound as if Leifur had experience in that area either. Hopefully, going on the excursion would put her fears to rest, and it’d be a chance for them to get to know each other.
The excursion was booked for the following morning.
Astrid was a little early. She’d been worried about missing the boat and had factored in too much time to walk from Gudrun’s house to the harbour.
Jonas had suggested she and Leifur meet by the Harpa, the concert hall down by the harbour, to make it easy for them to find each other.
She paced up and down the front of the building to ease her nerves while she waited.
‘Astrid?’ a voice said from behind her.
As she said, ‘Leifur,’ she turned and saw that Leifur was “her” Leifur after all. ‘It’s you!’
‘Astrid. I couldn’t hear yesterday when you said your name.’
‘You’re not a fisherman.’
‘I used to be. I guess it’s habit to say that when someone asks. It’s not been very long since that was true.’
‘So you haven’t done this before?’
He shook his head. ‘I’ve seen more than my fair share of whales over the years, but I’ve never gone out of my way to find them before.’
They stood awkwardly for a moment before Astrid said, ‘Shall we grab a coffee while we’re waiting?’
The friendly guy from the beach seemed to have disappeared. Leifur seemed a little offhand with her, and there was no sign of the back-and-forth banter they’d had yesterday. When she’d turned around and seen that it was him, she’d been thrilled. And for some reason, he wasn’t .
There was a cafe in the Harpa building, so they got takeout coffee and strolled towards the harbour. Astrid was at a loss as to how to find the vibe they’d had yesterday. She’d thought there might be something between them, and now he was behaving like a moody stranger.
‘Jonas said you’re a marine biologist?’ He said almost accusingly.
‘Yes, I’m between jobs. The last contract I had was fixed for four years.’
‘That’s tough.’
‘It was, but it goes with the territory when you’re a research scientist. You have to be really lucky to keep the same job for your entire career.’
He didn’t say anything, and another gulf of silence spread between them.
‘Is this a new career for you, or are you doing it in your spare time?’
He laughed. ‘A fisherman doesn’t have any spare time.’
‘But you’re not a fisherman.’ Astrid heard the belligerence in her tone. But she was annoyed with his manner and wanted to let him know he was being an arse.
‘No, I’m not a fisherman anymore. But I’d rather be doing that than this.’
Astrid didn’t know what to say. Was it because it was with her? Or because he didn’t want to spy on the competition. Perhaps that’s what the problem was. Maybe he felt bad about the espionage they were about to undertake.
‘You know we can just try to have a good time and forget that we’re on an information-gathering mission.’
‘I don’t know the first thing about how to run a boat tour, do you?’
Astrid was so taken aback that for a split second she thought she might burst into tears.
‘No. That’s the whole point of this, isn’t it?
’ When he said nothing but avoided her gaze, she decided she’d had enough of his nonsense.
‘I don’t know what’s happened between yesterday and today, but whatever it is, I’m pretty sure it’s nothing I’ve done.
’ Satisfied that her words made him squirm a little, she finished by saying, ‘I’m looking forward to seeing the whales, but if you prefer, we don’t have to do that together.
’ She stopped walking, his not saying anything emboldening her.
‘So what do you want to do? It’s best that we sort this out before we get on the boat. ’
‘Let’s go our separate ways,’ he said, to her surprise. His eyes were flashing. Was he angry?
‘Fine. Enjoy it.’
Astrid marched ahead to the harbourside where the boat tour left from.
She could hardly believe that this had happened.
How had this happened? Had she overreacted?
No, he’d been lovely yesterday, and today he was worse than indifferent.
She’d been right to call him out on it, and she wasn’t sure whether she’d be able to see through the commitment she’d made to Jonas.
If Leifur wasn’t even willing to spend a morning with her, how were they going to spend six days a week with each other?