Chapter 5
Hanne popped her head around the door to Mats’ office. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t forget your sister.’
‘As if,’ he said, rolling his eyes and smiling.
‘He says as if it’s never happened before.’
‘I have a reminder set. But thank you, Hanne. Have a good evening.’
He was meeting his youngest sister, Ingrid, for dinner.
She also lived in Oslo, and with almost eight years between them, she was the one sibling he felt particularly protective of.
In reality, she was probably the most capable of all of them.
She had decided from an early age that she wanted to be a journalist, and she made it happen for herself.
She worked for the biggest women’s magazine in Norway, doing lifestyle pieces aimed at people exactly like her — young career women living in the city.
When she’d moved to Oslo, Mats thought he’d have seen a lot more of her than he did, but if it wasn’t for his insistence on these fortnightly dinners, their paths wouldn’t cross.
Ingrid had embraced her life in the city and hardly visited the family home.
His parents hadn’t seemed to mind, and before their mother was ill, they used to visit Oslo, enjoying the scenic train journey every couple of months to see the eldest and youngest of their children.
Now Mats felt the responsibility of checking in with Ingrid, and it was the only thing about moving back to Bergen that didn’t sit well with him.
At five to seven, he pulled his coat on, grabbed his bag and headed through the quiet building.
They always met at Barcode, which wasn’t far from his office.
It was a place that had various street food stalls with eclectic seating areas in themed zones.
There was an area where the tables were big beer barrels, a room where greenery trailed from the ceiling, and even a wide set of steps that went all the way to the ceiling.
It was definitely a young person’s place, but he was happy to go along with somewhere Ingrid liked.
It made a refreshing change from the stuffy, posh restaurants he usually ended up in for work.
‘Hey, Mats!’ Ingrid stood up and waved him over. She had a beer in her hand and was sitting with a group of other twenty-somethings.
He grinned and went over, feeling a little out of place in his suit now that he had to meet Ingrid’s friends.
‘Hey.’ He kissed her on the cheek and she hugged him.
‘This is my big brother, Mats. Mats, these are the guys from the office.’
Everyone waved and said hello and Mats awkwardly did the same. Ingrid handed her beer to him so she could grab her coat and bag. ‘I’ll see you guys tomorrow.’
‘Usual place?’ he asked as she followed him further into the place, towards the side that overlooked the street. They liked to sit in a booth that was made of a 1950s car.
‘Absolutely.’
They settled in the booth and Mats ordered the food and drink on the app.
‘So how’s the hotel going?’ Ingrid was the only member of the family yet to visit the island since he’d taken it on.
‘It’s slow progress, but it’ll get there.’
‘Ida says you bought a chandelier, so I thought it must be almost done.’
‘Well, no. Becca bought the chandelier because it was a good price, and we’re storing it until we need it. Not much has changed since the last time I saw you. And how are things with you? Work okay?’
She nodded, taking a sip of beer and making Mats check the app to see if his own drink was ready to collect from the bar. ‘Same old, but obviously I love that. What have you been up to?’
‘I went to London on Tuesday and bumped into a woman who runs her own marketing agency.’ It was a long shot, but if Lotta was running a big campaign out of Oslo, Ingrid might know about it. He felt like an idiot for not asking her at least what company it was for.
‘Which agency?’ Ingrid asked.
‘I don’t know. Her name was Lotta, and she’s English.’
‘You’ve given me such a lot to go on,’ she said sarcastically.
‘Oh, shut up.’
‘If you were so interested in her, why didn’t you find out more?’
‘Because I’m stupid.’
‘Just out of practice.’ She patted his hand.
His phone buzzed to say the drinks were ready.
‘I’ll go,’ said Ingrid. ‘You can fetch the food.’
They both got back to the table at the same time and settled themselves, arranging the food between them. Ingrid had ordered loaded fries and Mats had a ramen, and they shared a plate of spring rolls.
‘You must have something that can help you track this woman down,’ Ingrid said thoughtfully, holding a chip between her thumb and forefinger.
‘It’s fine. Forget I mentioned it.’
‘It’s the first time you’ve ever mentioned a woman to me. Ever. I wasn’t sure you were even bothered about finding someone.’
‘It’s not the kind of thing you talk about with your little sister.’
’Well. You don’t talk to Ida about it either, so…’
‘I can’t tell Ida stuff like that.’ He couldn’t tell anyone stuff like that.
‘Mmm. I get that. So what was it about Lotta that has you hooked?’ Ingrid’s eyes were shining and she looked genuinely interested rather than ready to make fun of him, which is how he imagined Ida would look. And he found himself wanting to tell her.
‘All the women I meet know who I am. They know I’m an investment banker, and they think I’m going to give them a lifestyle that goes with that.
But I don’t want to keep socialising with rich people I’m not friends with, or spend thousands of kroner on a meal just because it’s the place to go.
Lotta saw me. The me that wears jeans that are too old and the sweater Mama knitted that’s full of holes.
And I don’t think she cared.’ He couldn’t be sure about that, and the more time that passed, the more he doubted whether that impression was correct.
‘Mats.’ Ingrid looked at him with wide eyes. ‘You really do like her.’
He looked at his sister, feeling now that he’d already given too much of himself away, and ate a forkful of ramen so he didn’t have to say anything else.
‘Mats!’
‘I did like her, but that’s the end of it now. Nothing to be done.’
‘No, you can’t think like that. If it’s meant to be, you’ll see her again.’
He grinned. ‘And we discover you’re the romantic in the family.’
‘Someone has to be,’ she said. ‘Come on, you have to believe in stuff like this or it’ll never happen to you. You need to look for the signs and grab onto love when it’s there. Otherwise, you’ll never notice and it’ll pass you by. That’s probably where you’ve been going wrong,’ she added.
Mats stared in disbelief that his youngest sister was actually giving him advice on finding love. ‘And this theory is working for you?’
‘It would, but I’m not interested at the moment. Too busy being a career woman,’ she grinned.
She reminded him so much of himself in that way.
She was driven in the same way as he was; she went out and made a life she knew she wanted, just as he had.
And even though he was ready to leave that part of his life behind, he remembered how it felt when he was Ingrid’s age.
He wasn’t about to tell her not to leave it too late to look for these signs she believed in, that maybe it was better to aim for a more balanced life instead of focusing too much on her career.
He wouldn’t have listened to anyone telling him that, and she shouldn’t either.
All that mattered was that she’d managed to be happy again since losing their parents.
It was something he’d worried about endlessly in the bleak months between their mother dying and their father never recovering from losing her before he slipped away himself.
They were a close family, and it was always going to hit all of them hard, but he felt grateful to have had his parents for so much of his adult life and sad that Ingrid was on the other end of that.
But what worried him most, and still did, was Ida.
‘I saw you had a feature on the cover this month.’ He bought a copy of Hei Oslo! every month and flicked through to find Ingrid’s byline. He only ever read her contributions and then passed the magazine to Hanne.
‘Crazy,’ she said, smiling and shaking her head. ‘It was just luck that I had written that article about how important it is to have friends of the opposite sex and then when the story came out about Tilda Thorson and she ended up being on the cover, the stars aligned.’
‘Amazing, I’m so proud of you.’
Ingrid had tears in her eyes. ‘Thank you.’
He knew it was important for him to try to fill the void their parents had left in her life.
He wanted her to feel that she was supported and loved as he had felt.
With the five of them leading such different lives, it was difficult to be there for each other, but he lived closest to Ingrid, whereas he knew Ida and Fredrik both being in Bergen most of the time meant they inevitably were in touch more.
Whereas Thea, well, she never seemed to need any of them.
There was a clatter as the barman dropped a couple of glasses and Mats automatically looked over to the bar. He could see the back of a woman with blonde hair piled on top of her head. He put his fork down and shuffled out of the booth.
‘What’s the matter?’
‘I won’t be a sec,’ he said, not taking his eyes off the woman but seeing that she was on her way out, leaving by the doors nearest the station.
He made his way as quickly as he could to the bar where she’d been, but by then she was about to leave through the door. If she went out into the night, he’d have lost her. Again.
‘Lotta!’ he called out, feeling like a total idiot in case it wasn’t her.
The woman turned, and he felt his heart grow in his chest. It was her.
‘Mats.’
She looked pleased to see him too. He could see her taking in his suit.
‘How are you?’
‘I’m okay, thanks.’ She had a takeaway box in her hand.
‘I… I should have asked for your number the other day. I don’t know why I didn’t.’ He waited, berating himself for being too bold. Why would she give him her number?
‘Are you asking me for it now?’
‘Yes, yes I am.’ He pulled his phone out of his pocket, unlocked it and handed it to her. ‘I would ask you to join me, but I’m with my sister and I think we’d both regret it.’
‘The chandelier sister?’
He laughed and took his phone back from her. ‘No. My youngest sister. She’d love you but she’d be far too invested in us.’
Lotta laughed too, her face lighting up in a way that made Mats remember exactly how he’d felt at the airport.
‘Maybe we could grab dinner some other time?’ he said, not willing to let her go before he knew when he’d see her again, even though at least he had her number now.
‘I’d love that but I’m flying back tomorrow afternoon.’
His heart sank. ‘That’s a shame.’ It crossed his mind to take the day off, but he was still picking work up for Ole and had a meeting in the morning which could end up taking the day.
‘I’m pretty sure I’ll be back,’ she said. ‘I’d like to keep in touch.’
‘Me too.’ Should he kiss her on the cheek? No. That was too much. ‘I’m glad I saw you, Lotta.’
‘Bye, Mats.’
He held the door open for her and watched her walk away.
‘What was that about?’ Ingrid said when he got back to their table.
‘I saw Lotta.’
‘No! I hope you got her number this time.’
He patted his pocket and grinned. His ramen was cold now, but he ate it anyway. Nothing mattered now he had put right his grave mistake of not asking for Lotta’s number the first time round.
‘You could have asked her to join us.’
He raised an eyebrow. ‘Not likely.’
‘I’d be a great wingman.’
He spluttered on his beer. ‘It’s a sad state of affairs if I need my little sister to be a wingman.’
‘I’d be a great advert for a potential sister-in-law. Imagine if she met Ida.’ Ingrid rolled her eyes and Mats tried not to laugh, feeling the need to stick up for Ida since she wasn’t here to defend herself.
‘So let me know when your next date is and I’ll tag along.’
Ingrid grinned. ‘Okay.’
He laughed. ‘Double date. I’ll bring Lotta.’ Because now he had her number he had so much hope that she might be part of his life, the fact she was leaving the country tomorrow didn’t matter at all. Tonight he’d been given a second chance, and he was going to grab it with both hands.