Chapter 21
Lotta heard the door to the apartment open. She was in the middle of getting ready, in her bra and pants, busy straightening her hair in the bedroom.
‘In here!’ she called, putting the straighteners down carefully and heading out into the hall where Mats was hanging his coat up.
He had a stupid grin on his face the moment she came into view, and she fell into his arms.
‘I’ve missed you so much,’ he said, taking her cheeks in his hands and kissing her.
‘I’ve missed you more. It’s been weird here without you.’
‘Do you need a hand getting ready?’ He ran his hands over her waist and hips, making her groan.
‘We’re already running late,’ she said, thinking that if she’d started getting ready half an hour earlier, they would have time for what he had in mind. But it was too late for that now.
‘I only need to put my suit on,’ he said, kissing her neck and chipping away at her will power a little bit more.
‘There is nothing I would rather do than fall into bed with you, but I can’t be late. It’s an important night, Mats.’ She put a hand on his chest and that snapped him out of it.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said, picking up his bags and heading into the bedroom. ‘It’s just that you look amazing.’
‘Thanks. It means a lot that you think that when I’m not even dressed.’
He grinned and went into the bathroom.
Once Mats was ready, Lotta felt the tables turn. Now she was the one who wanted to ravish him. She had butterflies in her stomach. It was a big night for her and she was going to have the most handsome man in the room on her arm. Both things were a new experience for her.
‘Can you zip me up?’ She held her hair to one side so he could slide the zip up.
She’d splashed out and bought a new dress.
It was navy blue with a long, full skirt and sleeves that puffed out gently before ruching in at her elbow.
She felt elegant and ready to be the woman who ran a successful marketing agency.
‘You look stunning,’ Mats said, his eyes shining as he turned her round to take her in.
‘You look pretty good yourself, Mr Larsen.’ She glanced at herself in the mirror.
‘I think I need my hair up.’ With her hair over her shoulders, the dress looked like it was swamping her.
There wasn’t time to do anything more than twist her hair into a bun at the nape of her neck, but in the way these things sometimes went when you spent no time on it, it looked perfect.
‘Where are we going?’ Mats asked as they went down in the lift. ‘Should we get a taxi?’
‘It’s not far, we can walk.’
He looked at her and smiled. ‘You’re like a local now.’
‘It really isn’t far though,’ she said, pointing across the road to the Edvard Munch Museum when the lift doors opened.
‘Here?’ Mats laughed. ‘That’s the most convenient party location you could have chosen.’
‘And we’ve still managed to be late.’
‘So, tell me who’s going to be there.’ He held the door open for her, and they went out into the street.
‘Clemmie and Sophia from Snug in London plus some other higher-up people I haven’t met before. The people we’ve been working with at the Folk Museum, some influencers, Oda, obviously, and they’ve invited lots of other people, local press, that sort of thing.’
‘It is a big night.’ He stopped before they went inside the museum. ‘I’m so proud of you, Lotta. This is all because of you. The pitch you did in London just before we met has led you here to this posh party that wouldn’t even be happening if it wasn’t for your hard work.’
She felt tears spring to her eyes. It was what she hadn’t known she needed to hear.
He believed in her right from the moment they met.
When she was struggling to find a maker, he could have suggested that was the end of the road, that her idea wasn’t going to work, but he didn’t.
He’d helped her and supported her all the way, and it meant so much to her that he could say he was proud.
‘Thank you. I love you.’ She hadn’t expected tonight to be the first time she said that, but it came out and it was the right time. She loved him, as if she hadn’t known that already, and it felt wonderful to say it to him.
‘I love you too. You’re incredible. I want to hug you so hard, but I don’t want to crumple you.’
‘I’ll take a kiss,’ she said, smiling.
He kissed her gently, perhaps worried about smudging her lipstick, then held the door open. ‘I can’t believe you’ve made us late,’ he said, gently patting her bottom as she walked past him.
The Sky Room, a glass-sided function room at the top of the museum with a large outdoor terrace, was perfect for a party and a beautiful place to enjoy the gentle warmth of a Nordic summer. The room was already full of people mingling and drinking, and it had a pleasant buzz about it.
Lotta spotted Clemmie near the doors that were open to the terrace and headed over there with Mats following.
‘Lotta! You look gorgeous,’ Clemmie said as they kissed on both cheeks.
‘So do you.’ Clemmie was wearing a pea-green maxi-sundress with bright pink embroidery in a deep band around the bottom.
‘Clemmie, this is my partner, Mats. Mats, Clemmie is the Head of Branding and Marketing at Snug.’
‘Great to meet you,’ Mats said, leaning in for a kiss on both cheeks with Clemmie.
‘You too, Mats.’ Clemmie looked at Lotta with wide-eyes and a smile. ‘You sound local. How did you two meet?’
‘In the airport lounge on Lotta’s first trip to Oslo,’ he said, smiling at Lotta as he said it.
‘No! Oh my gosh, I feel like I’ve had a hand in that,’ Clemmie said, laughing.
She and Mats chatted for a couple of minutes while Lotta listened.
It was funny seeing Mats in a situation like this.
They’d never spent time with other people, aside from his family, and she loved seeing how assured he was chatting to complete strangers.
He was used to this kind of thing. It was the world he’d known for years, and he was good at it.
She knew the reasons why he wanted to leave it behind, but Lotta wondered whether he’d miss it when he did.
‘Can I steal Lotta for a moment?’ Clemmie said. ‘I want to introduce her to a few people.’
‘Of course,’ Mats said, smiling.
Lotta almost objected, because it would be her worst nightmare to be taken to a party where she didn’t know anyone and then be left alone.
But Mats didn’t look as if that was what he was thinking, and when she looked back as she followed Clemmie across the room, he was heading out to the terrace, greeting people as he did so. He was fine.
‘Mats seems great,’ said Clemmie, pausing to take two flutes of champagne from a tray at the end of the bar.
‘Really great,’ Lotta said.
‘And he’s opening a hotel? That’s quite a change from investment banking. He looks like an investment banker.’
‘It’s the suit,’ Lotta said.
‘He looks great in a suit,’ Clemmie said, sighing. ‘I wish my husband had a job where he had to wear a suit more often.’
‘What does he do?’
‘He’s in IT.’
‘Say no more.’
They both laughed, then carried on walking to the opposite end of the room, heading for a group of people that included Sophia, the Head Buyer, and Oda.
Oda immediately greeted Lotta with a hug. ‘You look great,’ she said.
Lotta had no words for how great Oda looked. Her black dress had rosemaling the same as she’d painted on the mirror, across the top of the bodice and in wide stripes down the skirt. ‘This is incredible,’ she said. ‘The start of a new line, maybe?’
Oda laughed. ‘Maybe.’
‘Is Elin here?’ Lotta asked Clemmie in a low voice, since Hedda from the Oslo store was there, chatting to a woman on the other side of the small group.
Clemmie shook her head and took a step towards Hedda. ‘Sorry to interrupt. Lotta, I think you’ve met Hedda, she’s the new store manager in Oslo.’
Good for Hedda. Lotta nodded, making a mental note to ask Clemmie what had happened to Elin. ‘Great to see you again.’
Clemmie carried on. ‘Gudrun, Lotta is the genius behind the collaboration campaign. Lotta, Gudrun is from our Reykjavik store. She’s helping us out in Oslo for the next few weeks until Hedda finds some new staff.’
‘It’s lovely to meet you,’ Lotta said, shaking Gudrun’s hand. ‘I’ve heard great things about the Reykjavik store.’
‘Thank you. I’m already full of ideas about the collaboration we will do in Reykjavik. It’s a very exciting campaign.’
Clemmie started talking to someone else, leaving Lotta with Gudrun and Hedda.
‘Are you here with Mats?’ Gudrun asked.
‘Oh, yes. He’s outside, I think.’ Lotta’s mind whirred, trying to work out how Mats knew Gudrun.
‘We have a friend in common, Anders. And his partner, Becca, worked for Snug until a few months ago.’
‘Small world. I’ve heard a lot about Anders and Becca but we haven’t met yet.’
‘Let’s go and find Mats,’ Gudrun said, linking her arm through Lotta’s.
‘See you later,’ Hedda said.
‘Congratulations,’ Lotta said to her. ‘You deserve to be store manager.’
‘Thank you,’ Hedda said beaming.
Lotta and Gudrun headed outside. The cool evening air was refreshing after being inside, and the view, similar but not identical to the one from Mats’ apartment, was stunning.
‘So you know Elin was fired?’ Gudrun said.
Lotta laughed, loving Gudrun’s directness. ‘I didn’t know that, but I could have guessed. So you’re showing Hedda the way a Snug store should be run?’
‘Exactly,’ said Gudrun. ‘Hedda already knows, so it’s actually fun to hang out in Oslo for a few weeks. I used to work here before I moved back to Iceland.’
‘It’s a great place to live.’
‘Any plans to move here?’
On a night like tonight, it would be easy to say yes. Imagine living this life all the time. ‘Maybe. We’ll see how it goes.’
‘I hear from Anders that Mats is a hard man to pin down and yet you have.’
Lotta didn’t know what that meant. What about Mats made him hard to pin down?
‘Is that him?’ Gudrun said, nodding to where Mats had one elbow leaning on the balustrade as he chatted to a couple.
‘How did you know?’
Gudrun shrugged. ‘I can tell. He looks like the kind of man you should be with.’
Lotta wasn’t sure what that meant either, but she decided to take it as a compliment since Mats looked so dashing. She smiled at Gudrun and led her over to Mats.
Mats’ face lit up when he saw them. ‘Hey, Lotta this is Hanne. We used to work together. Her husband works for the trade association in Oslo.’
‘It’s lovely to meet you,’ said Hanne, as they kissed on both cheeks. ‘This is Morton.’
Lotta had never been anywhere where she’d had to do this kissing on the cheek thing so much. It was exhausting.
‘This is Gudrun, she’s the manager of Snug Reykjavik, and a friend of Anders.’
‘I’ve heard a lot about you,’ Mats said, launching into the kissing. ‘What brings you to Oslo?’
‘They have a new store manager here, so I’m just lending a hand for the campaign launch.’
While Mats and Gudrun began talking about Anders and Becca, Lotta turned to Hanne and Morton.
‘How has Mats been?’ Hanne asked her. ‘I mean, he looks happy tonight, but he’s very good at this kind of thing.’
‘He is,’ Lotta said, smiling, wondering whether Mats’ ability to hide his emotions for an event like this ever spilled over into the rest of his life? ‘He’s been in Bergen until today. It was a massive shock leaving the bank but I think having the island has been a good distraction.’
‘I know he was planning to leave anyway, but for them to treat him like that…’
‘You don’t want to work for people like that,’ Morton said to his wife.
‘You’ve left as well?’
‘I was offered a job working for Ole, but after what he did to Mats, I couldn’t stay. But I’ve found a role at a rival bank, so that feels good,’ she grinned.
‘That’s great. I bet Mats was pleased to hear that.’
‘He was. So are you planning to move to Bergen with Mats?’
‘Oh, not at the moment.’
Hanne looked surprised, but she said, ‘Too soon, I guess.’
‘Exactly. And I have a lot going on with work.’
‘Of course you do. I’ve never seen Mats so happy with anyone before. He deserves that.’
Lotta nodded. It felt a little like a warning. ‘He does. Excuse me for a moment.’
She was almost back to the door when Mats caught her arm.
‘Hey, are you okay?’
‘Yes,’ she said brightly. ‘It’s just kind of overwhelming.’
He took her hand and led her to a door at the end of the terrace. They went through into an empty room with a glass wall facing the view.
‘How did you know about this room?’ Lotta hitched up her skirt and slid down the wall until she was sitting on the floor.
‘This isn’t the first party I’ve been to here,’ he said with a rueful smile. ‘Sometimes you need somewhere to take a breath.’
‘It must be nice to catch up with Hanne.’
‘Yes, that was a pleasant surprise.’ He sat down next to her. ‘Lotta, what is it?’
‘Does this feel like work for you?’
He frowned. ‘What do you mean? It isn’t work for me. I’m happy to be here to support you.’
‘But you’re trying to get away from this and here I am dragging you back in.’
He shook his head. ‘It’s not the same, Lotta.
This party is not the superficial bullshit I used to go to where everyone is nice and polite to each other but it’s a cover for the shark-infested pool it really is.
Everyone in the room having their own agenda, but the only agenda really is that everyone wants to be richer, whatever it takes.
This is not that. This is a celebration of everything you’ve been working towards, a celebration of heritage, art, and things that really matter to people. ’
‘You’re here for me though.’
‘I am.’
‘How can I be there for you unless I move here?’