21
DESPITE BEING SECRETLY devastated when Astrid suggested a couple of nights apart, Leifur had been grateful for his own bed.
He’d tossed and turned, worrying about anything and everything that could go wrong on the first day of the tours.
Would they see any whales? Would the weather be favourable?
How was it going to be with Eva on the boat when she hadn’t been part of the trial run?
But mostly he was thinking about why Astrid wanted to spend a few nights apart.
Perhaps she’d had a hunch he’d be like this and wanted to steer clear, wanting a good night’s sleep herself.
Deep down he knew that there was more to it, but they’d been so honest with each other.
If she was having second thoughts, he was sure she’d tell him after they’d been open about it being just for the summer.
Except he didn’t want it to end. By the end of the summer, he hoped that they’d be in too deep to think about ending it.
It was unfair of him, knowing her reasons for putting an expiry date on their relationship, but spending the past two weeks with her had made him selfish.
He wanted her like he’d never wanted anyone before, and it seemed stupid to put something as amazing as that in jeopardy because Astrid was hoping for a future that didn’t exist yet.
But then he remembered that the best things about her were her passion, drive and her impressive knowledge.
Who was he to undermine her passion for her career by tempting her to stay here with him and letting all her hard work go to waste working on a tourist boat?
Something had happened yesterday to make Astrid feel she needed to pull away, and Leifur wasn’t sure whether finding out what it was would make him feel better or worse.
Over the course of the afternoon they’d got back to normal, assisted by the sea air and a pit stop at the Kvika foot bath, a circular pool hewn out of the rock where a weary walker could soak their feet in the hot spring water, and they’d fallen back into how it had been before Astrid had said anything.
He didn’t believe that she was worried about how much sleep they’d get, but maybe she’d changed her mind about it all and didn’t want to say in case it made it awkward working on the boat together.
After realising at four in the morning that he wasn’t going to get back to sleep, he got up, showered, dressed and ate the overnight oats he’d left in the fridge the night before while he checked the weather.
It looked okay. They might have some rain, but nobody would mind that once they had their weatherproof suits on.
Out of habit, he packed a bag with a spare set of clothes just as he would if he’d been going out fishing, then pulled his coat on and drove to Reykjavik.
He arrived at the harbour as dawn broke.
The clouds hanging over the mountains to the north were a sure sign that they were in for some rain later on.
After he’d done his usual checks, he went down to the galley to make some coffee, looking forward to having an hour to himself to unwind before Astrid and Eva arrived and he had to be in charge of everything.
‘Morning.’
He turned to find Astrid standing in the doorway. She was dressed in plenty of close-fitting layers, and her hair was plaited intricately around her head.
‘Hey. Coffee?’
‘Buns?’ She held up a cardboard box.
‘Are those from Sandholt?’ The bakery on Laugavegur did the most amazing brown sugar buns and iced cinnamon buns, and he’d bet that Astrid had plumped for one or the other.
‘How do you know that? The box is plain.’
‘I’ve had enough take-outs from there over the years to know.’
Astrid sat on the bench seat and opened the box. There were three brown sugar buns nestled inside.
‘Two for me, one for you?’ He put the coffee on the table.
‘One for Eva.’
Ah, Eva. He had nothing against her, but he’d be sad that it wasn’t just him and Astrid anymore.
‘That’s why I thought I’d come early,’ she said. ‘So we could spend some time together.’
‘How did you know I’d be here early?’
She rolled her eyes. ‘Do I seriously need to answer that? How many hours have you been here?’
‘Less than one.’
‘That’s something. I missed you last night.’ She put her hand on top of his.
‘Me too. Maybe you had a premonition I might have been restless. At least one of us slept well.’
‘Tonight you’ll sleep like a log, and you’ll wonder what you were worrying about. What are you worrying about?’
He put his bun down, having not yet taken a bite. ‘Everything. Weather. Whales. Mechanics and everything in between.’
‘Try and remember how great we felt at the end of the trial tour.’ She pulled her phone out of her pocket and showed him a photo of them on the boat together.
They were standing side by side with big grins on their faces, and they were looking at each other.
The connection between them was unmistakable.
‘Gudrun took this when she got off the boat that day. Look how happy you are.’
It surprised him to see his expression. No wonder Astrid’s mother and his own had realised there was something between the two of them that day.
‘Can you send me that?’
‘Yes, and you can look at it whenever you feel like things are going to go badly. There’s no reason to expect the worst.’
It was easy to say, but since the night his father died, when he had to put into practice what he and the rest of the crew had been trained to deal with but never thought they would face, he’d always expected the worst. Having Astrid around had eased the feelings of dread somewhat, but it was hard to break the habit of half a lifetime.
‘I’ll look at it all the time,’ he said. ‘You look beautiful.’
Astrid bit her lip and stared at him as if she had never heard anyone say that before. ‘Thank you.’
’Come here,’ he said, taking her in his arms, filling the void that had been there since the walk on the beach the day before. He felt her nuzzle into his neck and his worries melted away, because nothing else mattered.
‘I kind of liked missing you last night,’ she said. ‘I was so looking forward to seeing you this morning.’
He said nothing because he hadn’t felt like that. He’d not allowed himself the luxury of missing her, or looking forward to seeing her because he’d been too busy dwelling on what had been wrong yesterday.
‘It’s okay if you don’t feel the same,’ she said, reading his mind. ‘I know you’ve been too busy preparing for today.’
‘It didn’t stop me from wishing you were in my arms last night. My bed felt empty without you, and you’ve never even been in it.’
They sat for a few minutes kissing and caressing each other’s faces before they heard footsteps on the stairs.
‘Hello?’ It was Eva.
Astrid sprung off Leifur’s lap. ‘Morning! You’re bright and early, Eva.’
‘I was so nervous. I just want to get started.’
‘Take a seat,’ said Leifur. ‘I’ll make more coffee and we can eat our buns before we start.’
When the first guests arrived, they were completely ready for them.
Astrid met them on the quayside, checked them off on her list, welcomed them onto the boat and sent them downstairs to see Eva, who would help them get kitted out and make them drinks.
They had a full boat of thirty that morning, and once everyone was on board, Astrid notified Leifur, he started the engines, and Eva and Astrid let off the lines. They were off.
Once they were heading out of the harbour, Astrid turned on her headset and began the safety briefing, primarily letting people know what to do if anyone fell overboard.
Her voice was being broadcast throughout the boat, and as she moved on to explaining what they hoped to see today and the signs to look out for, more of the guests appeared from below to stand on deck.
‘It is likely to rain during the tour, which won’t matter to the whales, but if you don’t already have a weatherproof suit on, you might want to grab one now.
We’re heading out to about fifteen kilometres from the harbour, which is a common place to find whales feeding.
It’ll take us around twenty minutes to get out there, then our captain, Leifur, will slow the engines.
We’ll be on the lookout for groups of seabirds, a sure sign that there are fish to be had and therefore whales feeding, and blows, which are the classic vapour release from the whale’s blowhole.
We can see those from a kilometre or two away. ’
Astrid felt the boat turn and wondered whether Leifur had received some information from another tour boat. Five minutes later, scanning the horizon, she saw the first blow.
‘And we have a blow at twelve o’clock. It’s probably a humpback.’
Just as everyone started peering at the horizon, two minke whales swam along the starboard side of the boat. Astrid noticed before anyone else and called it out, but the minkes were gone before anyone could get a photo, although there were lots of excited comments from the guests who spotted them.
‘Look! They look like dolphins!’
‘They’re so close!’
It was wonderful to know that they were having a great time, and with each sighting, there was renewed excitement.
She also took it as a good sign that most of the guests stayed on deck.
It was a relief because even after the trial run had gone so well, she’d had a niggling worry at the back of her mind that of course everyone enjoyed that tour.
They were family and friends and out on a free trip.
The guests today, their reaction was the validation Astrid realised she’d been waiting for.
Eva came up around halfway through. ‘Is it okay for me to be up here?’
Astrid switched her mic off for a moment. ‘Of course. I don’t think the guests are going to want anything from the galley while this is going on,’ said Astrid.
‘I’ve never been on a boat tour. Isn’t that crazy?’
‘Not that crazy. I never went on one before Leifur and I went to do a recce for this.’
‘Oh, look!’ Eva said, pointing.
Astrid smiled, pleased that Eva was getting to experience her passion firsthand. She switched her mic back on .
‘And we have two individuals, two humpbacks at nine o’clock. They’re diving, I think they will come under the boat. Look at two o’clock for bubble rings and dark shadows.’
Everyone went over to the starboard side and waited.
This was what made them different from the other companies; thirty people could all gather in about the same place and see whatever was going on.
As it was, they’d mostly lined the bow, and there was no one who wouldn’t see the humpbacks if they came up as Astrid predicted.
The stars aligned, and a minute or so later they could see the shadow of the whales under the water, with the telltale rings of bubbles expanding and reaching the surface at the same time as their creators.
It was a wonderful sight, even when you’d seen it before, and Astrid knew she’d never tire of seeing it.
‘Incredible,’ breathed Eva next to her, eyes wide in genuine wonderment. ‘I’ve never seen the bubble rings for real before. They’re beautiful.’
Astrid felt quite overwhelmed for a moment as she took in everyone’s reactions.
This was more than being a tour guide. Right now, it didn’t feel second best to anything else she could be doing, and that felt amazing and frightening at the same time.
There had been times on research boats when they’d made a breakthrough or seen something incredible, but that was once in a blue moon in amongst all the hard work, data crunching and false leads.
Today was already incredible, and it was the first tour.
‘I’d better go downstairs,’ said Eva. ’This is going to be the best summer ever!’
And Astrid was inclined to agree with her.