Chapter 13
After the disaster that was yesterday, at least until she’d met Mats for dinner, Lotta was hopeful that even if Oda didn’t end up being the maker she was looking for, at least she had a plan for what she was going to do next.
Talking it through with Mats had made everything clearer and made her realise that this part of the process that was proving so stressful wasn’t part of the original brief at all. It wasn’t her fault.
She’d emailed Oda last night as soon as Mats’ sister had emailed her address, and when she checked her messages from the comfort of Mats’ bed after he left for work, Oda had already replied asking if Lotta would meet her for lunch.
It was such a relief. If she wanted to meet so soon, she had to be interested in hearing about the project.
It would be so easy to stay in bed for longer thinking about what had happened last night, but she had to collect her things from the hotel and then she had influencers to meet, not necessarily in that order once she remembered she would need to get back to the hotel to shower and change.
By the time she was on her way to meet Oda, her things were still at the hotel but she had successfully met two influencers who were on board with the project.
Although Lotta hadn’t been able to tell them the maker they’d be promoting, they were both enticed enough by the idea to have signed up, regardless.
That alone made Lotta feel as if she were finally getting somewhere.
Oda had suggested meeting at a coffee shop in an area of the city Lotta didn’t know. The streets had a different feel from the centre of the city. It felt more homely, quite bohemian and arty and there were lots of independent shops that she would have popped into if she’d had more time.
She walked into the coffee shop and scanned the room for a woman by herself, hoping that the Instagram profile picture she’d studied would be close enough to reality to help her out.
‘Lotta!’ A woman was standing, waving at her. She was smiling as if she were a friend, which was a little odd, and there was another woman sitting at the table with her. That woman looked more likely to be Oda, so Lotta wasn’t sure who the waving woman was.
‘Hi, it’s great to meet you,’ she said, looking between them both and not addressing her greeting to either of them in particular. She sat down and shrugged her coat off.
‘I hope you don’t mind me gatecrashing,’ the waving woman said. ‘I’m Mats’ sister, Ingrid. I couldn’t pass up the chance to meet the woman my brother’s crazy about.’
Crazy about? Well, that was always nice to hear. ‘Not at all. It’s nice to see you.’ Now, she felt like this was some kind of audition, feeling on the back foot when normally she’d have felt super confident pitching to Oda about the collaboration.
‘And I’m Oda.’ She smiled, and Lotta felt at ease straight away. Oda had a very open, friendly face, and Lotta knew in an instant that if she could persuade her to sign on to the campaign, they’d get on well together.
‘Thank you so much for agreeing to meet me. I’ve looked at your work online and it’s incredible.’
‘I’ll leave you two to chat while I get some drinks,’ said Ingrid. ‘Coffee, Lotta?’
‘A latte would be great, thank you.’
‘I’m sorry for bringing Ingrid,’ said Oda, shaking her head and smiling. ‘There wasn’t much I could do to stop her once she knew we were meeting up today.’
‘Oh, it’s fine,’ Lotta said. ‘I’m so grateful she suggested you.’
Lotta explained the concept behind the campaign to Oda and was pleased to see her enthusiasm didn’t wane like it had with the other makers she’d met.
‘It’s an amazing opportunity for me. I’ve tried to get into Snug before because I always thought they supported local makers, but it didn’t seem to be like that in Oslo.’
Lotta bit her tongue, unwilling to throw Elin under the bus, although she would tell Clemmie because if Oda started working with them it would come out sometime.
‘I can guarantee you would be a supplier with them going forward. Since you’re not an existing supplier, we’ll use the collaboration to launch you. ’
‘I already have so many ideas,’ said Oda. ‘I love the idea of using the Folk Museum as inspiration. It’s given me so much over the years, it’ll be wonderful to collaborate with them like this.’
‘I have a couple of influencers lined up to help spread the word. We’ll do some videos of you at the Folk Museum with them, and probably some in-store footage as well when we’re a bit further down the road.’
Ingrid came back to the table with a tray of coffees and pastries. ‘I got three different things because I wasn’t sure what you guys would like.’
They distributed the contents of the tray between them. Lotta declared she’d be happy with any of the pastries and ended up with an iced cinnamon bun that was delicious.
‘So you’re in?’ Ingrid asked Oda.
‘Yes, I think so,’ she said, raising an eyebrow to Lotta for confirmation.
‘Definitely. You’ve saved my life, Oda. And your work is the perfect mix of contemporary and heritage. It’s going to be amazing.’
‘Great!’ Ingrid said. ‘So can we move on to how you’ve managed to turn my workaholic big brother into a love-struck teenager?’
Lotta almost choked on her mouthful of bun, but at least it gave her a couple of seconds to think about what to say.
‘Ingrid!’ Oda said, laughing. ‘It’s none of your business.’
‘If you knew Mats better, you’d be as curious as I am about Lotta’s magical powers.
‘Honestly, there’s nothing to tell,’ Lotta said. ‘We’ve only been on two dates, so it’s very early days.’
‘But you know he’s leaving the city and going to live on an island, and you’re still dating him.’
‘What’s that got to do with it?’ Oda asked.
‘Mats has had bad luck with women,’ said Ingrid.
‘I think because of what he does, he mixes in these circles of materialistic women who just want him because he’s a rich banker.
Lotta didn’t even know he was rich when she met him, and now she’s still seeing him even though she knows he’s going to pour all of his money into this island hotel. ’
Wow. No wonder Mats was reluctant for her to meet his family. She felt the need to defend him but was aware that this moment could make or break any future relationship she might have with Ingrid.
‘None of that matters to me. He’s kind, thoughtful, considerate, and okay, he’s handsome, but all of those things are still true wherever he lives. Whatever his job is.’
‘You think he’s handsome?’ Ingrid said, scrunching her nose.
‘Oh, he’s handsome,’ said Oda. ‘That man can wear a suit.’
Lotta laughed, feeling the tension release, but still feeling the need to fight Mats’ corner.
‘I don’t want to be rude, Ingrid, but you have to respect the fact that he might be your brother, but he’s also my very new boyfriend.
He might not want me to know everything about him, and if he does, he can tell me himself.
The same way I’m telling him the best bits of myself and waiting until later for the rest.’
Now Ingrid smiled. ‘I’m sorry. You’re right. And it’s only because we know how great he is that we’re excited someone else has noticed.’
‘It’s okay. I have sisters and they have opinions on everything that’s none of their business too,’ she said gently. It felt bold to reiterate what Oda had already pointed out to Ingrid, that it was none of her business, but also important.
‘Don’t break his heart.’
Lotta was taken aback but recognised that with everything Ingrid had said up to now, she’d been trying to say this.
She couldn’t promise not to break his heart anymore than he could promise not to break hers.
She was wise enough to know that breaking a heart wasn’t always intentional.
‘Don’t worry,’ she said, ‘I don’t intend to. ’
After Ingrid left to get back to work, Lotta and Oda made plans for the next steps.
In a couple of weeks, when Lotta came back to Oslo, they would meet with the Folk Museum to present a shortlist of designs that Lotta would already have signed off with Snug head office in London, and they would do some filming with the influencers.
Lotta went back to the hotel feeling elated, and before she packed up to leave for Mats’ place, emailed Clemmie outlining the progress she’d made on the trip and asking for confirmation they would go ahead with Oda.
Now she could concentrate properly on enjoying the last evening she and Mats would have together for a couple of weeks.
She packed her things up, checked out of the hotel and walked the short distance to Mats’ apartment. It was around four-thirty, so she was surprised to find he was already home from work when she let herself in.
‘Hey,’ he said, smiling. He came over and lifted her bag off her shoulder, then wrapped his arms around her waist and bent to kiss her. ‘I’ve missed you.’
‘Missed you too,’ she said, leaning into him, loving how solid he felt. He was wearing jeans and the same cable-knit jumper he’d been wearing the first time they’d met.
‘I thought we could open a bottle of wine and order in?’ He picked up her bag and case and took them into the bedroom.
‘That sounds perfect.’ She took her coat off and hung it next to Mats’ on the row of pegs beside the door. ‘I met your sister today,’ she called while she sat down on the bench to take her boots off.
She heard a groan, and he came into the hallway looking worried. ‘What did she tell you?’
‘Nothing terrible,’ she said, smiling and quite enjoying the dynamic between him and Ingrid play out. ‘She wondered why I’d bother seeing someone who’s going to move to an island, that was one thing. And she said you’ve had bad luck with women.’
He ran a hand down his face. ‘It could have been worse.’
‘Could it?’
‘Maybe not. It makes me sound hopeless to say I’ve had bad luck with women. That’s not a great advert for me.’
‘She was less trying to sell your good points and more pointing out why I might want to rethink.’
‘Are you rethinking?’ He pulled her up from the bench and kissed her so she couldn’t think of anything except the kiss.
‘No,’ she murmured, leaning her head back as Mats began kissing her neck, the stubble on his chin grazing her throat in the most delicious way.
He picked her up the way he had last night and carried her into the bedroom, so there was no need to stop, and sat on the edge of the bed with her straddling his lap.
‘I don’t know why you got changed after work,’ she said, pulling up the hem of his sweater. ‘You should have just waited in bed for me.’
‘Didn’t think of that,’ he said, against her breastbone as he pulled the zip down of her jumpsuit. ‘I wanted to pull this zip down so badly in that airport lounge.’
‘In front of everybody?’ Her hands were in his hair as his kisses moved down her torso. He lowered the zip further.
‘I’m glad I waited,’ he breathed, pausing to smile up at her.
Afterwards, Lotta dressed in her thermal leggings and the sweater Mats had been wearing before, loving that it was warm and smelled of him.
He wore a waffle Henley with the cuffs pulled halfway up his forearms, and it was a toss-up whether that was sexier than the suit he’d been to work in that morning.
‘Can I still come to the island in a couple of weeks?’ She took a sip of wine and watched him look up from his phone with a smile.
‘I’d love that. And next time you’re in Oslo, will you stay here?’
‘If it’s still your place, yes. Otherwise, I’ll stay wherever you are.’
He laughed. ‘I think I’ll still be here in a couple of weeks. Take the key with you.’
Lotta thought her heart might explode with love for him.
Obviously, she wasn’t actually in love with him, but she couldn’t think of any other way to describe how he made her feel.
Sitting at his table with his sweater on, planning her next visit, felt like a dream.
She’d never thought it would be like this when she’d first met him just a couple of weeks ago.
In other relationships, she’d have had only a few text exchanges with someone in the same time.
Was it a good or bad sign that things were progressing so quickly?
She couldn’t help but think of Ingrid’s plea not to break his heart and hoped she wasn’t being careless, moving too quickly to really be sure that wouldn’t happen.
But what she knew already was that if she broke his heart, hers wouldn’t be far behind.