Chapter 8
Erik felt bad about snapping at Ida that morning, but it was infuriating to wake up aching and stiff and not be able to take a hot shower to ease himself into the day.
A shower that only warmed up towards the end had put him in a bad mood, but he shouldn’t have taken his frustrations out on her.
If a different room came up now, she might not even tell him about it, and he wouldn’t blame her.
He waited in the hall with the two bags of flour. He knew Ida and her brother wouldn’t be too far behind him. She walked in first and marched past to the reception desk, avoiding eye contact with him.
‘Through here,’ Mats said, walking past her and through a door into the kitchen. ‘Thanks. I appreciate the help.’
‘No problem.’ Erik put the flour on the counter next to the bags Mats had carried. ‘This is your place?’
‘Yes. The island was a farm that had been in my family for generations, but we’re not farmers anymore. I wanted to do something useful with it.’
‘It’s an amazing place. So all those cabins in the woods?’
‘They were for the farm workers. We’re going to renovate most of them eventually to provide more accommodation.’
Erik had been for a walk that morning, after the showdown with Ida, and had come across a renovated cabin. ‘I saw you’d made a start on that. I’m a joiner,’ he said by way of an explanation.
‘I renovated one so I’d have somewhere to stay when the building work was going on, but I’m no joiner,’ he smiled. ‘I had a lot of help from the guys on site, but I’ve just started working on another one for my brother and his son, and I’m on my own this time. I could show you if you have time?’
‘I have all the time,’ Erik said. The kayaking trip to the mainland could wait.
Mats led the way out of the hotel, past Ida, who was on the phone.
Erik made a mental note to apologise to her later.
He had kind of enjoyed her coming into the dining room, being extra polite to him when he could see she was angry.
Since his accident, people tiptoed around him.
But Ida didn’t, and she wasn’t afraid to call him out for being a dick.
The cabin wasn’t far away, through the woods behind the hotel and along the water’s edge.
Apart from the upright timbers in each corner, the walls had been removed, so all that remained was the base that had seen better days, and the moss roof, which was sagging on one end because of some rotten roof timbers.
‘Wow. This is a project and a half,’ Erik said, stepping inside what was left of the structure and running his eyes over the ceiling. ‘You’re trying to save the roof?’
‘If I can. But I wonder if that’s even possible.’
‘Half of the timber looks good. It’s definitely possible.’
‘Yes?’ Mats looked thrilled.
‘I mean, it’s a delicate business.’ It was exactly the kind of thing he needed to distract himself.
It also might help him get more information about the legacy if he knew more about the history of the island.
‘I could give you a hand. I’m around for a week or so doing some research into my family. I have time.’
‘You’re on holiday. I couldn’t ask you to give up your time for this.’ Mats looked exactly the opposite of a person who didn’t want to impose.
‘I’d enjoy it. I can’t relax like you’re supposed to in a place like this.’
‘It’s the same for me. Beautiful place, but I need something to do. Let me show you the cabin I’ve already finished,’ said Mats. ‘So you know you’re investing your time into something worthwhile.’
The finished cabin that Erik had walked past before was a short distance through the woods. A veranda with wooden shingles on the overhang had been added to the front, and a whole extra cabin-sized addition was hidden around to one side. A traditional Nordic folk art sign hung above the door.
‘V?r hytte?’ Erik knew his pronunciation was appalling, but he had some idea of how to say the words.
‘Our cabin. For my girlfriend,’ Mats said, smiling.
Mats opened the door, revealing a cosy, homely room with a table and two chairs, a stove in the corner and a small sofa. A doorway led into a separate bedroom.
‘You have a toilet?’
‘It’s a Cinderella. It burns the waste instead of flushing it. We don’t have any water out here yet.’
‘Wow, I’ve never seen one of those.’
‘Lotta insisted on an ensuite, and it was the best option. They’re quite common in Norway.’
Mats had a look on his face when he talked about his girlfriend that Erik was envious of. He’d never felt that way about a woman. And now he had nothing to offer, it seemed less likely he ever would.
‘You did a beautiful job on these new beams. I think you know what you’re doing more than you let on.’
Mats shrugged. ‘I’m a keen amateur, but I’d still love the help if you’d like?’
‘Do you have more of this wood?’ Erik ran his hand down the doorframe, which was clearly new timber.
‘As much as I need. It’s from the forest here. We had some milled to use on the hotel extension and there’s plenty left. We can always cut down another tree if we need to.’
Erik felt his heart palpitate and took a deep breath. ‘That’s incredible. The timber forest is on the island?’
‘A small part of it is, but it extends to the land across the fjord as well. I think my great-grandfather planted it. We don’t have much information about the history of the farm, but we found a couple of maps, things like that.’
In one conversation, everything Erik had come to find out had been confirmed. The island had been in the same Larsen family for decades. He desperately wanted to ask to see the maps Mats talked about, but that would seem like a weird request.
‘Are you working on the cabin today?’
‘Yes. Unless another flour emergency crops up.’
‘I’ll join you after lunch, if that’s okay?’
‘Great,’ Mats said, holding out his hand. ‘Welcome to the team.’
Erik shook his hand, wondering whether he ought to share with Mats the reason he was here. But no, it was too soon to announce himself. There was more to find out before he did that, but knowing he was on the right track left him feeling a little devious now that Mats had been so welcoming.
They walked back to the hotel together, talking about what they might work on after lunch. Erik went back up to his room while Mats headed for the hotel office.
He pulled out the plastic wallet that held the few precious documents he’d brought with him and carefully pulled out the hand-drawn map.
It said, “Strandg?rden” in the centre of the island; the only words on there.
The island was clearly drawn in the middle of the flimsy paper, the fjord on either side.
The land to the east, an outline much larger than the island — several times larger at least — was marked with a single symbol.
A vertical line with two arrows, one underneath the other, pointing up, like a stick picture of a Christmas tree.
This was what he had come for. To find out whether this timber forest, which had been like folklore in his family, existed. And his conversation with Mats seemed to confirm the scant information in this drawing.
He tucked the map back into the wallet and packed it safely in his rucksack. Then he changed into some clothes he could afford to get dirty and headed downstairs for lunch before he started work. It felt so good to have something to do. So good that he actually had a smile on his face.
As he reached the hallway and was about to walk straight across to the dining room, he saw Ida sitting at the reception desk. He swallowed. He needed to apologise, especially now he’d kind of made friends with her brother.
‘Um, hey. I’m sorry about this morning. The water.’ He shoved his hands into his pockets, feeling suddenly awkward.
‘No problem, Mr Anderson.’ The smile on her face was wide, but fake. He didn’t blame her.
‘And thank you for checking out the shower. I appreciate it.’
‘Your comfort is our top priority,’ she said. ‘Enjoy your lunch.’ She stood there, still with the fake smile, clearly dismissing him.
He walked into the dining room feeling pretty stunned that his apology had not been accepted. It didn’t sit well with him at all. What else was he meant to do? Okay, maybe he’d overreacted about the hot water shortage, but wasn’t Ida being like this as much of an overreaction?
Ida. He was thinking about her as if he knew her, when all he knew was that she was beautiful, and wasn’t taking any of his shit. And maybe he kind of liked that. It was a refreshing change from people walking on eggshells around him, even if it was super awkward between them now.
‘I was kind of an asshole to Ida this morning,’ he said to Mats later in the afternoon. He didn’t know where the sudden urge to confess had come from, but Mats was easy to talk to, and it just came out.
‘I heard.’ Mats took the piece of wood Erik had just cut. ‘This needs a little more off,’ he said and handed it back.
‘If you angle it like this and give it a gentle tap… there.’
Mats grinned and shook his head. ‘You’re good at this.’
‘It’s experience, I guess.’ He started cutting the next piece of wood. ‘Ida told you what I said?’
‘Do you know she’s my sister?’
He did not know that. ‘Man…’
Mats gave him a wry smile. ‘It’s tough to come back from being on Ida’s bad side.’
‘I tried to apologise, for what it’s worth. Got any tips?’
‘Persistence. She won’t expect it. People think she’s tough, and she is, but she’s protecting herself by shutting you out.’
‘Like one chance, and that’s it?’
‘Something like that. You don’t seem like an asshole. You carried the flour,’ he chuckled. ‘And you’re helping me out.’
It was hard for Erik to talk about himself, to open up to Mats, even though he’d been given the chance.
It was easier to admit he’d been an asshole to Ida than to talk about why that kind of behaviour came too easily to him nowadays.
But Mats deserved an explanation, and Erik needed him to know that he hadn’t always been this way.
‘I had a snowboarding accident a few months ago. I used to compete, but that’s off the cards now, and I guess the whole thing has given me a short temper. I shouldn’t have taken it out on your sister, but sometimes it gets the better of me.’
‘So you’re not really a joiner?’
‘My dad is. I learned everything from him while I was growing up, so that’s the only backup plan I have.’
‘I’m sorry. That’s tough.’
‘But not an excuse.’
‘No.’ Mats smiled at him. There was no judgment there. ‘You could ask her out to dinner. She loves eating out. It could be a good way to win her over.’
‘You think she’d say yes?’
‘She might. The way she was complaining about you… it’s worth asking.’
Erik was highly doubtful that Ida would want to go out to dinner with him. After the whole apology attempt, he’d rather die in a hole than put himself through that again and get rejected, but maybe Mats thought he deserved a little pain since he’d been rude to his sister.
‘Maybe I will. Put a word in for me?’
‘Trust me. That’s a sure way to get turned down.’
Erik concentrated on planing a piece of wood while Mats turned his attention to measuring up for another replacement beam. Perhaps he would take Mats’ advice and ask Ida out. What did he have to lose?