9
AFTER DISEMBARKING THE tour boat, Leifur and Astrid strolled back into the centre of town. She was heading to Snug to meet her sister, and he was heading to the Iceland Adventures office to debrief Jonas before he forgot any of the details.
‘I had a great time,’ Astrid said. ‘In the end.’
Leifur laughed and shook his head. ‘I am sorry. Thank you for being so understanding.’
‘About your situation in general or about you being an arse this morning?’
‘Both.’ Thank goodness she was grinning too. And thank goodness she was generous enough to see the funny side of it. He would take her teasing him every day of the week over the idea that he could have missed out on working with her altogether if she’d decided he really was an arse.
‘Bye, Leifur.’
Should he kiss her on the cheek? Hug her as a goodbye? While he was debating with himself, she gave a small wave and went inside the store.
He watched her pause and pick up a candle to sniff, then her sister came over and offered her a different candle to sniff.
It wasn’t until the sister caught his eye and then said something to Astrid, who then turned and smiled at him, that he realised he’d been staring.
He gave an awkward wave and left quickly before he could do anything else to embarrass himself, ducking into the coffee shop next door to get coffees to take to the office.
In the coffee shop, he exhaled in relief as if someone had been chasing him. What was wrong with him?
Armed with four coffees, in case Jonas wasn’t the only one working today, he headed to the office, surprised to find himself feeling a lot more positive about the report he was about to give than he’d expected.
Siggi was in the office too and was more than pleased to accept a coffee.
‘Ah, this is the kind of new team member we like,’ he said, holding out his hand to shake Leifur’s since it was the first time they’d met. ‘Good to meet you.’
‘This is Siggi,’ Jonas said. ‘So how did it go this morning? You met up with Astrid?’
Leifur wondered whether to level with Jonas and explain that perhaps things hadn’t got off to a great start.
It sounded as if Astrid’s sister was good friends with Jonas, so it might get back to him anyway.
In the end, he decided against it. He felt as if he’d made up enough ground with Astrid that the start of the day wouldn’t be what she came away remembering.
‘Yes, she’s incredibly knowledgeable.’
‘Do you think you can work together?’ Jonas asked.
Leifur nodded. ‘I think we can. She knows her way around a boat, which will be helpful as well.’
‘Shall we carry this conversation on at the bar?’ Siggi asked, even though none of them had finished their coffees.
‘We’ll catch you up,’ Jonas said. ‘If you want to come, Leifur?’
‘Sure, that’d be great.’ He answered quickly, not giving himself a chance to think too hard about it being out of his comfort zone. None of this was in his comfort zone, so he might as well embrace it.
Siggi swigged the last of his coffee and left.
‘We don’t always knock off this early,’ said Jonas. ‘The forecast for tonight is awful, so there’s no northern lights tour. It gives us chance to get together, which doesn’t happen that often once the summer comes and we’re taking advantage of the longer days.’
‘That was the same with the fishing. We used to socialise more in the winter months, knowing we’d be busy once the season started.’
‘And what did you make of the tour you went on? Any tips you picked up?’
‘They ran a slick operation, but I think they have been doing it a long time. They’re going to tried and tested sites where they know they will see a couple of humpbacks. Everyone was happy with that, but I think we could offer something better.’
‘A couple of humpbacks is better than nothing though,’ Jonas said with a frown. ‘If you know you’re onto a sure thing, isn’t that good enough?’
‘But if you could pay to see a couple of humpbacks for sure or you could pay to have a small chance of seeing a more unusual whale, what would you pick?’
‘I might like the humpbacks,’ said Jonas with a grin.
Leifur grinned back, seeing that Jonas was challenging him. ‘You might like the thrill of the hunt. Feeling like you’re part of tracking down something hardly anyone else gets to see. And with a marine biologist on hand and an experienced Icelandic fisherman, anything is possible.’
‘I might pay good money to be part of that,’ Jonas conceded. ‘But there are people who like a sure thing. If I knew we could get a glimpse of the northern lights from a particular place every day of the week, I’d take that over the hunt we have to do sometimes. And so would our clients.’
Leifur shrugged. ‘Can we do a little of each?’
‘We can. And if we’re going to do that, we should do it while we have Astrid because we don’t know how long that will be for.’
Having spent less than a day with Astrid, Leifur already knew that he was going to miss her when that time came.
As well as feeling that they’d found a connection, despite his blundering start to the day, he knew what it was like working on a boat with someone.
They became like family. Closer than family, because sometimes you spent more time with them than with anyone else in your life.
You got to know people in the hours spent searching and waiting for the right time to fish.
And a fishing boat could be a treacherous environment, and you needed to know you had each other’s backs.
‘So we should start planning where we’re going to go,’ said Leifur.
Spending time with Astrid, planning out, as far as they could, where they’d operate their excursion, was something he was already looking forward to.
Her perspective on marine life was so different from his; hers informed by science and a desire to study what was in the sea rather than take from the sea with perhaps not enough regard for the consequences.
‘Come on,’ Jonas said, standing up and taking his coat from a hook on the wall at the back of the office. ‘Let’s head to the bar.’
‘The boat will be ready to collect on Friday.’ He watched while Jonas locked the door.
‘That’s great news. Have you seen her at all during the work?’
Leifur shook his head. ‘I went there to begin with, but I decided it was better to let her transform and come back to me new.’ Rather than mourn what was being lost. He couldn’t say that, even to Jonas.
It felt too raw to admit how hard it had been to see the fishing rigs being removed from the deck.
She might still be Brimfaxi , but he was frightened that she’d be so unrecognisable she wouldn’t feel like home anymore.
‘Good decision,’ Jonas said, clapping him on the back. ‘You ever come here?’ They had reached the corner of the street and were standing outside a bar called Islenski Barinn.
‘Not for a long time.’
‘I doubt it will have changed.’ Jonas made his way up the steps and held the door open at the top for Leifur to go in ahead of him.
The bar was not all that busy, but then it was relatively early on a Wednesday. Leifur spotted Siggi at a table next to a window that overlooked the street. There were another two men with him who Leifur hadn’t met before.
‘What would you like?’ Leifur asked Jonas.
‘No, this one’s on me.’
Leifur opened his mouth to object, and Jonas held a hand up.
‘Really. Call it team building. Everyone’s drinks are on the business today. Beer?’
With their beers in hand, they went to join the others.
‘This is Olafur,’ Jonas said, ‘and Brun.’
‘Good to have you in the team,’ said Olafur. ‘I hear the boat tour was fun this morning.’
Leifur didn’t know Olafur well enough to know whether he’d somehow heard the truth about how things had started off between him and Astrid and was being sarcastic, or not. He decided that assuming Olafur was being genuine was probably the best course of action.
‘It was. Saw a couple of humpbacks.’
‘A couple of humpbacks must be a normal day at the office for a fisherman,’ Brun said .
Leifur smiled. ‘I’ve seen my fair share. Goes with the territory when we’re both after the same thing.’
‘Are we going to have a staff boat tour as a dry run?’ Siggi asked.
‘That’s not a bad idea,’ Jonas said. ‘Before we let Leifur and Astrid loose with tourists, we can give them a proper test.’
Olafur laughed. ‘I am not one for boats, I have to admit. I will stay behind to keep the berth free for when you return. Make sure none of our competitors steal our spot.’
‘An important job,’ said Siggi, rolling his eyes. ‘I wouldn’t mind being your first mate, Leifur. I love being on the water.’
‘Astrid is his first mate,’ said Olafur.
‘Until she finds something better,’ said Siggi. ‘Then you will need someone else to step in.’
Jonas shook his head. ‘Sadly, you are too valuable to be out on a boat all day. Besides, you’re more likely to end up telling the guests where they can catch some good waves and forget all about the whales.’
They were such a good-natured bunch. It felt to Leifur that they had the same kind of bond he’d had with his crew.
‘How long have you guys worked together?’
‘We’ve all known each other since school. Then Jonas started the business, and we came to work for him one by one as the business grew,’ said Olafur. ‘I remember you from school. Were you a couple of years older than us?’
‘Around four years older, I think.’ Leifur couldn’t place any of the others, but it had been a while.
He was starting to relax. The beer was helping, as well as the fact that they were so welcoming. He felt like there was a chance he could be part of something again. He had his back to the door, but he saw Olafur’s face light up as someone came in.
‘ Hae !’
Leifur turned around and saw Astrid and her sister.
Olafur got up and went to the bar to get them a drink while the women took their coats off and then sat down at the end of the table.
Astrid chose the seat next to Leifur, which he couldn’t help but see as a good sign.
Hopefully, he was well and truly forgiven.
‘ Hae ,’ she said, smiling.
‘Have you been shopping for candles this whole time?’
She laughed. ‘No. Would you believe I don’t own a scented candle?’
‘Yet,’ her sister said. ‘I’m Gudrun, the younger and friendlier sister.’
‘Leifur. Nice to meet you.’
‘Astrid tells me you’re not a morning person, which is odd for a fisherman,’ Gudrun said.
Astrid put her hands over her face and let out a small wail. ‘This is why I don’t live in Reykjavik. You have no boundaries, Gudrun.’
Olafur, busy handing the beers around the table, roared with laughter.
‘I’m sorry,’ Astrid said to Leifur. ‘I only told her you had been a little bit grumpy first thing.’ She glared at her sister, who laughed it off and took a swig of her beer.
‘I’m just teasing, As.’
‘You should only tease people you know. You met him less than a minute ago,’ Astrid said to her sister. Then she turned to Leifur. ‘I’m sorry I mentioned it to her. You should know I also told her we had a great time.’
‘I can vouch for that,’ Olafur said.
Leifur felt Astrid’s hand tap him briefly on the thigh, in a reassuring way.
‘Gudrun is going to be the first person on our list of people not allowed on the boat. Right Leifur?’
‘That seems a little harsh —’
There was a more insistent tap on his thigh .
‘But what Astrid says goes. She’s first mate.’
Gudrun laughed and rolled her eyes at them both. ‘Oh, I see where this is going.’
‘What do you mean? I am the first mate. What else would I be when there are only two of us?’
‘To the Captain and the First Mate of Brimfaxi . Skál !’ Jonas said to defuse the conversation.
‘ Skál !’