Chapter 5
After Ida had checked Erik Anderson in and he disappeared up to his room, she went into the ladies’ toilets and checked her appearance in the mirror.
If he’d arrived on the shuttle boat service, she’d have been better prepared, but the fact he’d kayaked here gave him a capable air that made her go weak at the knees, and she needed to make sure she looked as good as possible for when he came back downstairs.
She smoothed her hair behind her ears with her fingers and swiped on some lip balm.
That would have to do. If she’d known Erik Anderson was going to be a gorgeous fair-haired Canadian around the same age as her, she’d have given more thought to her outfit that morning.
She put her lip balm in her pocket and looked at her reflection.
As if a hot Canadian guy like Erik Anderson was one, likely to be single, and two, likely to be interested in a woman whose hair had been dragged into a ponytail because it could have done with being straightened that morning or a woman who couldn’t even be bothered to wear mascara.
She sighed and went back to the reception desk.
By the time most of the guests had eaten lunch in the dining room, Erik still hadn’t emerged. A quick check on the system told Ida his keycard was in the master room switch, so he was in his room. Checking on him already felt like an unhealthy obsession. It was time to take a break.
With no guests due for another hour, unless they arrived by kayak, Ida went on her usual walk to the far tip of the island.
She did it every day to stretch her legs and because she enjoyed the solitude of that end of the island where none of the guests tended to venture.
Eventually, Mats planned to rebuild an old barn that stood there, as well as making more of the beautiful shoreline and views of the snow-capped mountains beyond.
When Mats and Lotta stayed on the island in their cabin, they built a campfire here, and the remnants of the last one were still visible.
Now that it was summer, they had a couple of wooden chairs from the veranda of their own small cabin they left over here, and Ida took a seat on one of them and closed her eyes, enjoying the peace, and enjoying the visions of Erik Anderson that were playing behind her eyelids.
It was slightly unnerving to be feeling like this.
Was it because he was exotic compared to the men she usually met?
Most of them she’d known from school, which was an instant turnoff, or they had very complicated lives because of divorce and things like that.
For all she knew, Erik might have a complicated life of his own.
It seemed far-fetched to imagine he had reached his thirties without some kind of baggage. Had anyone?
Hers was grief. Grief over losing her parents and grief at losing so much of herself to the process of caring for them.
She didn’t regret any of what she’d done for a moment.
But she regretted that she hadn’t moved on more in the two years since.
Now that she had taken a tiny step towards that by working for Mats and by voicing to him and Fredrik that she was ready to think about selling the house, it made her wonder why she’d been holding back.
Because it was no one else’s fault that she found herself in this position.
Maybe finding herself with heart-eyes for Erik Anderson was another sign that she was moving on.
She pulled her phone out, feeling the need to share how she was feeling.
This was a new thing for her. Her younger sister Ingrid had turned into a grown-up while she hadn’t been looking and had become the confidant Ida never had.
Ingrid lived and worked in Oslo and could hardly ever be tempted back to Bergen, but when she’d visited earlier in the year for the hotel opening, the five-year age gap between them seemed to have dwindled to nothing.
Ingrid was the kind of woman Ida used to be: fearless, ambitious, and carefree.
And even if that wasn’t who she was now, Ida could remember enough to feel an affinity with Ingrid that she didn’t have with her other siblings.
‘Ida! Hey! What are you doing?’ It warmed her heart that Ingrid was pleased to hear from her.
‘I’m good. Just sitting at the top of the island. How are you?’
‘I’m great. And I’m wondering why you’re calling me in the middle of a workday. Because I am very happy to hear from you, but it’s out of character, Ida. What’s up?’
‘I checked a man in today. He’s Canadian, and he kayaked here.’
‘He kayaked from Canada?’
‘No, of course not. From Bergen. No one’s ever done that before.’
Ingrid snorted. ‘What a loser. Why didn’t he get the boat like a normal person?’
Ida felt bizarrely defensive on Erik Anderson’s behalf. ‘No, he’s the opposite of a loser. He’s very…’
‘Attractive?’
Ida rolled her eyes. She should have known Ingrid would hit the nail on the head immediately. That was why she’d called. To get a sense check. But Erik Anderson still wasn’t a loser. ‘Yes. We only said a few words to each other, but… it sounds ridiculous.’
‘It’s not ridiculous. Sometimes you like the look of someone and there’s a weird feeling of connection even if you don’t say anything.’
How did Ingrid become so wise? ‘Do you think that’s normal?’
‘Everything is normal when it comes to things like this. There’s not a way it should happen, and it’s not wrong to feel whatever you’re feeling.’
‘Okay. Thanks. It’s been a while.’ Longer than a while. ‘I don’t want to make a fool of myself.’
‘You won’t, Ida.’ Ingrid sounded so confident. It was reassuring. ‘What’s his name?’
‘I’m not telling you. I’ll google him myself when I’m ready.’
Ingrid laughed. ‘Spoilsport. You can’t blame me for wondering what your type is. This is the first time you’ve ever expressed any interest in a man.’
‘Maybe it’s just the first time I’m sharing it with you.’
‘I know it isn’t. You know what? Go for it. Let yourself have some fun with this guy. Like a reverse holiday romance.’
That made sense. A short-lived fling with someone who might be open to the same thing if he was on holiday alone, assuming he was actually single.
It seemed like a safe bet for her first foray into…
she was hesitant to label it dating, but that’s basically what she was thinking about.
Dating Erik Anderson. The capable kayaker.
‘I might see if I can strike up a conversation with him that isn’t to do with mealtimes or the turndown service.’
‘Do it. Let me know what happens.’
Ida hung up, feeling slightly less out of her depth. She was overthinking the whole thing. He might not even like her, although the weird salute felt as if it was an indication that he’d been thrown in the same way as her. If not, that could be a red flag.
She stood up, shoved her phone into the back pocket of her trousers and strolled back to the hotel along the path that led past the cabins and through the woods. Mats was coming along the path towards her.
‘I was just taking a break,’ she said.
‘I don’t care,’ he said, grinning. ‘You’re the boss.’
‘What are you up to?’
‘I’m making a start on the cabin for Fredrik. I thought one of the ones by the water so Emil can fish.’
‘Already? We only talked about it last night.’
‘I want to be busy. Besides, the weather is finally nice enough that I can work outside.’
‘I’ll have mine on the opposite side of the woods when you get to it.’
He grinned. ‘Not next door?’
‘Well, you know I don’t really mind. I suppose it would be more fun being closer together. I spoke to Ingrid.’
‘How is she? I’ve asked Fredrik to make sure he catches up with her next time he’s in Oslo.’
‘She’s okay,’ Ida said, realising that she hadn’t asked her sister anything about herself. Mats used to see her regularly when he lived in Oslo, and she knew he worried about her being in the city by herself now that he’d moved away. ‘You know Ingrid.’
‘I know. I feel bad not being around for her anymore.’
‘Not to ruin the image you have of yourself being the person holding the family together, but we talk all the time. Just because you’ve moved out of Oslo, it doesn’t mean she’s lost the connection to us.’
‘I know. But it was good to see her in the flesh every couple of weeks.’
‘You ought to concentrate your efforts on getting Thea to visit. Or one of us should visit her. How long’s it been?’
‘Too long,’ said Mats. ‘I think she needed space after losing Pappa, but now I worry we gave her too much space and she can’t find her way back to us.’
‘She never answers when I call. It makes me feel like she’s avoiding us.’
‘Maybe she is. It’s easy not to deal with things when you’re not around everyone else who’s dealing with them.’
Ida knew that. She’d loved to have escaped the house and the memories after her parents died, and there had been times when she’d envied her sisters for being able to leave after that happened.
They both went back to their lives without a backward glance, or that’s what it felt like.
But someone had to stay and deal with everything.
Someone had to stay and help Fredrik with Emil. She didn’t have the luxury of freedom.
But now, when she looked back over the past two years, she knew she wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
Coming to terms with everything had been hard, but she’d faced it.
She hadn’t run away; she’d stayed even when that was the hardest thing she’d ever done.
When she had nothing left of the life she’d had before to cling to or go back to.
Working on the island might seem like a small step, but to Ida it felt huge.
It felt as if she was reclaiming her life, and she was proud that she felt ready to do that.
And if her heart racing for Erik Anderson was part of that, she would embrace it, just like Ingrid had said.
She had nothing to lose, and she was ready to have some fun again.
When she walked back through the hotel, she popped her head around the door of the dining room and spotted the back of Erik Anderson.
He’d changed his clothes. She pulled back, annoyed with herself for even noticing that.
It was a sign she was far too invested in the idea of him than the one-minute conversation over checking him in warranted.
She went back to the desk. Her fingers were itching to google him, but she felt as if she were doing something underhand by giving in to the temptation. After another minute of sitting there, unable to do anything else while she was in this battle of wills with herself, she had to give in.
Erik Anderson had been the snowboarding champion of Canada two years ago.
She scrolled through image after image of him posing for the camera with his snowboard propped up on end next to him, portraits of him that had been used in magazine articles, and action shots of him in the air, upside down, holding the front of his board as he span.
It was incredible. Seeing him on the slopes, his tousled fair hair kissed by the sun, shades over his eyes and a sexy salopette and over-the-head jacket combo did something weird to her insides.
She clicked back to the search page and scrolled down, hungry for more information.
The official Canadian snowboarding team website no longer had him listed on the team.
Why was that? Some more delving revealed that he’d had an accident.
Was he still recovering from that? Out of the team temporarily?
‘Hi there.’
Ida gulped and clumsily tried to close the page she was looking at. Erik Anderson was standing in front of her, and although he couldn’t see her screen, she was wracked with guilt.
‘Hello. Did you enjoy your food?’
‘Yes, thanks. The brown cheese was an experience.’
She grinned and saw a glimmer of a smile begin in his eyes, but it didn’t come to anything.
‘P?l said I should book a table if I want dinner. Apparently, it gets busy.’
His tone suggested he thought that was highly unlikely and clearly some kind of ruse to make him commit to eating dinner in the hotel.
‘We’re almost fully booked tonight,’ Ida said, clicking onto the reservation system, relief at leaving behind the google search washing over her. ‘We have a lot of guests coming over from the mainland.’
‘People do that?’
‘Yes,’ she said, with her best smile. ‘We’re quite well known around here for our traditional Norwegian food. Is eight o’clock okay?’
‘That’s great, thanks.’ He lingered at the desk, his eyes scanning the walls behind her.
‘How are you enjoying it so far?’ Ida wanted so badly to progress to talking about something other than guest business. Maybe get to know each other.
‘It’s nice. Relaxing. Is there anything to see across the water?’
‘Are you thinking of kayaking over there?’ She couldn’t help herself, and immediately regretted the sarcastic tone she’d used.
If it had been one of her brothers, they’d have grinned and taken it in good humour, but Erik Anderson didn’t.
He clenched his jaw and looked to his right, as if he needed a minute to stop himself from snapping.
Ida was quite taken aback. This was a long way from the sun-kissed snowboarding champion of her google search.
‘I mean, you could kayak over there,’ she back-pedalled. ‘There’s a nice walk through the forest that should give you an amazing view of the fjords.’
‘Should? You haven’t done that walk?’
‘You know what it’s like when you live somewhere. You take for granted what’s on your doorstep.’
‘So, no.’
‘No. But I know the view’s great if you like a hike.’ She tried not to be disheartened that this wasn’t going how she’d hoped it might.
‘Okay, thanks. I might try that tomorrow.’
He walked away, heading upstairs, and Ida forced herself not to watch him.
He didn’t deserve her attention. If he wasn’t interested or able to be cordial, she wouldn’t make any more effort to get to know him.
Although she couldn’t help wondering what it would feel like to be the woman who got him to crack a smile.