Chapter 27 #2
‘On Becca’s account? The one you found when we were stalking Mats?’
‘No, on the hotel account. I think the algorithm suggested it to me because I follow Becca.’ Freya pulled her phone out and searched for the account.
So many questions ran through Lotta’s mind, the biggest one being who was doing Mats’ marketing?
‘He’s named the hotel without me,’ said Lotta, when she saw the post.
‘Didn’t the island already have a name?’
‘Probably, but no one knows what it is. We were going to change the name to something more meaningful.’
‘Well, this means…’ Freya googled it. ‘The peaceful island. I mean, that’s quite good.’
‘Ro?ya? I don’t know how it sounds in Norwegian, but it’s ridiculous in English. Rooyah? It doesn’t sound right. I can’t believe he did this without me.’ Lotta took a huge gulp of wine, ignoring her sister, who was wide-eyed at her reaction.
‘Are you doing his marketing then?’
‘I didn’t think he’d got that far yet. I’ve been working on a campaign for him this week, but I was waiting until I visit next weekend to surprise him with it.’ She never thought for a minute he’d have gone to someone else without mentioning it to her.
‘Maybe he’s just testing names? I mean, that’s not the logo, is it? I’m sure he’ll discuss it with you if that’s what you agreed.’
Lotta lay back on the grass and sighed. ‘We didn’t agree anything.
We didn’t discuss anything because… I don’t even know why.
Of course I want to do his bloody marketing.
Why would he think I wouldn’t?’ Even as she said it, she knew why.
Because she hadn’t offered. All she’d done was go on about how busy she was. No wonder he hadn’t asked.
‘Well, perhaps he thought it would muddy the waters to be involved professionally as well as personally,’ said Freya.
That was another reason she could perfectly understand Mats having.
She’d gone on enough about how Curtis had ruined her life, how being involved with someone she worked with had ruined everything.
Of course Mats was going to be hesitant about asking her.
But it still hurt that he hadn’t mentioned that he’d asked someone else.
‘What am I supposed to do now?’
‘Does this look professional to you? It’s half-arsed at best.’ Freya said, waving her phone across Lotta’s face. ‘He hasn’t even got a proper logo. Would you let any of your clients launch with this?’
‘No.’ Lotta took her sister’s phone and looked more carefully at the account. ‘It does look kind of amateur, but he’s already got a few hundred followers.’
‘You need to talk to him, Lots. If he’s your man, you can’t not talk about big stuff like this. You should be able to talk to each other about anything, right?’
‘If that’s true, why didn’t he even mention this to me?’
Freya fixed her with a look. ‘Did you mention to him that you’ve been working on it for him?
I know you wanted it to be a surprise, but I know what you’re like when you’re caught up with work, Lots.
You have a tendency to be single-minded.
Don’t launch at him with accusations unless you’re sure he’s really to blame. ’
Annoyingly, Freya was right.
‘If anything, this should be a catalyst for you getting your arse into gear and moving to Norway. If you were in the same place, this wouldn’t have happened.’
‘I don’t know how you can be so sure about that,’ Lotta said, defensively, earning a triumphant grin from Freya. ’Maybe it’s too late now he’s got these other people involved?’
Freya gave an exasperated sigh. ‘It isn’t too late. For god’s sake, if you go to him and say you want to do it, he’s hardly going to say no.’
‘What I’ve done is better than this. And I can come up with a better name than Rooyah,’ she said.
‘That’s the spirit. Call him.’
‘What, now?’
‘Yes. Or you’ll be moping around wondering what’s going on and it’ll ruin my weekend.’ Freya pulled a bag of tortilla chips and a tray of Mexican dips out of the shopping bag. ‘Go on, I’ll get started on these.’
Lotta walked to the next tree and sat cross-legged on the grass underneath. She had no idea how to start this conversation, but she knew Freya was right.
She stared at Mats’ name on her phone screen.
It was Mats. She could talk to him about this.
She pressed the call button. As soon as the call connected, she got his voicemail in Norwegian, asking her to leave a message.
Perhaps he was on another call. She waited a few minutes, watching Freya lying on her side, dipping tortilla chips and eating them as if she was in an eating challenge.
If it wasn’t for her sister being here, she’d still be stewing about this instead of calling Mats to sort it out.
She tried the call again and the same thing happened. With an exasperated sigh, she stood up and went back over to Freya.
‘Do you want to go to Bergen?’
‘Now?’
‘Yes.’ Suddenly, it didn’t seem like any distance. She needed to talk to him. Right now. This whole situation was ridiculous. She loved Mats, and she knew he loved her. What was the point of being apart?
Maybe in the beginning she’d worried that he might undermine everything she was working for, like Curtis had, but she knew better than that now.
Mats liked a plan, and even if that seemed likely to turn into a pet peeve of hers not too long from now, at least she would always know where she stood with him. There were no surprises.
‘Come on, Lots. Sit down.’
She shook her head. ‘Nope. I’ve sat around for long enough.
What am I doing? If we were together, in the same place, this wouldn’t have happened.
This distance leaves too much room for misunderstanding.
Yes, I’m pissed off about this stupid Instagram account but I need to talk to him about everything. I can’t wait until next weekend.’
Freya brushed her hands together to get the tortilla dust off her fingers. ‘Can I really come?’
‘Do you have your passport?’
‘Yes! I always bring it to London with me, I don’t know why.’
Lotta picked her phone up to look for flights. ‘We can get a flight at seven in the morning.’
‘Oh my god. Jo’s going to be so jealous when she finds out! The one weekend she doesn’t come!’