Chapter 13
Ida was at the reception desk when Erik came back from his kayaking. Was it her imagination, or was he limping?
‘How was it?’ she asked.
‘Great. I paddled up the fjord, past the island, and then got out and hiked up the mountain.’
‘Is that why you’re limping?’
His face took on a determined look as if he were building up for an argument. ‘I’m fine.’
‘Okay.’ He was looking at her the same way Emil did sometimes when he’d been doing something he shouldn’t.
‘If you want to stomp up a mountain and hurt yourself, I don’t care.
But if there’s anything you need, anything I can do to help, please tell me.
’ Since he wasn’t Emil, she tried to keep the frustration out of her voice.
And she must have done that because his face softened.
‘Thanks. I feel like an idiot.’
‘There’s no need,’ she said gently.
‘Is there any chance of an ice pack?’
‘Of course. I’ll get it sent up.’
‘Thanks.’
He turned away, and Ida saw him grimace as he climbed the stairs.
The third floor probably seemed like a long way away, but he was a grown man and they had no spare rooms. Or did they?
Ida checked the system. The guests in the Spruce suite had checked out and left on the first boat.
The room had been cleaned, but they’d had an email from the new guests confirming a late check-in.
‘Hey, Erik.’
He was on the first-floor landing and leant over the rail.
‘Wait there.’ She ran up the stairs. ‘Do you think a bath would help?’
‘My room doesn’t have a bath,’ he said, unable to keep his irritation at her seemingly pointless suggestion out of his voice.
‘No, but you can use the one in here.’ Ida led the way across the landing to the door of the Spruce suite.
‘Wow, this is fancy,’ Erik said.
The bed dominated the room. Doors on either side of the bed led to a dressing room area behind. Ida led him through there and into the bathroom that had a huge shower and a bath that was close to the window with views out over the mountain he’d just climbed.
‘You can have two hours.’
‘Thank you so much, Ida.’ He smiled at her.
‘No problem. Do you still need the ice pack?’
He shook his head. ‘This is great.’
‘Okay. I’ll leave you to it.’
She headed downstairs, wrote on a sticky note, “Room 308 guest in Spruce until 4pm”, then called the housekeeper to ask for the bathroom in the Spruce suite to be cleaned last thing before they left for the day.
‘Hey, Ida,’ said Mats. He was wearing his building contractor clothes and looked a total mess.
‘I think you should use the back door when you come in looking like that.’
He grinned. ‘But I own the place, so I can do what I like.’
She huffed at him. ‘What are you doing dressed like that anyway?’
‘I’m working on the cabin.’
‘Have you had lunch? Not that you can go into the dining room looking like that.’
‘I ate before I left the house. I came to see if Erik was around. Thought he might like to see the timber I had cut.’
‘I’m sure he would, but he’s in the Spruce suite having a bath at the moment.’
‘Right. I probably don’t need to know why,’ Mats said, looking confused. ‘You’re the boss.’
‘It’s good that you realise that.’
‘Well, maybe point him in my direction when you see him.’
‘Will do.’
Erik appeared about an hour later. His hair was damp and combed to one side, neat in a way it never was when it was dry.
‘I’m done with the room. Thanks again, that was exactly what I needed.’
‘You’re welcome.’
‘Is it too late for lunch? I’m starving.’
‘It’s never too late. Come with me,’ she said, heading into the kitchen. ‘Let’s see what we can find.’
The kitchen was quiet since most of the staff were on a break between lunch and dinner service. Ida opened a fridge and pulled out a small tray of open sandwiches.
‘Will these do?’
‘If they’re like the ones I had yesterday, they’ll more than do.’
She pulled a clean plate from a stack on the side and handed it to him. ‘Help yourself.’ She pulled another plate and took a sandwich for herself.
They headed into the dining room and sat at a table in the window that looked out onto the veranda at the front of the hotel.
‘You know I’d love to take you out to dinner again to thank you for helping me out today,’ Erik said.
Ida didn’t know enough Canadians to judge whether Erik was particularly candid about what he wanted or whether it was a trait he shared with his fellow countrymen, but she liked it. She liked it last night and she liked it now.
‘It was nothing. I’m just glad you’re okay. Does that happen often?’
‘Not really, but my doctor tells me it’s still early days, which sounds crazy because it’s been months.’
‘My brother Fredrik broke his arm skiing. It was a while before it was back to normal. He used it as an excuse to get out of doing his jobs around the house for a long time.’
Erik grinned. ’I guess there’s always an upside.’
‘He’s lazy. Still is. Whereas I get the feeling it’s holding you back.’ She said it carefully, watching him for any emotion that might slip past the brave face he was putting on.
‘Sometimes I get scared that this is it and I’ll never be able to forget it and do what I want.’
Ida could see a flash of fear in his eyes.
‘I only hiked up a mountain. I mean, it’s not that different from regular walking.’
‘That is not true. As a person who is very happy to do regular walking, hiking up a mountain is not in the same category. You’re being too hard on yourself.’
‘That’s what my mom says.’ He smiled at her and took a bite of his sandwich.
‘Try looking at how far you’ve come instead of where you think you should be heading.’
He sighed. ‘Ida. That is the kind of sensible thinking that’s going to drag me out of my wallowing.’
‘You’re on holiday, Erik. There’s no time to wallow.’
He looked at her, and his face eventually broke into a smile. ‘You’re right. I’m sorry. So, in the spirit of that, can we go out again tonight? I promise not to ask you to call me when you get home.’
‘I can’t tonight. I have to pick my nephew up after work.’
‘Can I come with you?’
‘It’ll be boring. I’m just cooking dinner and putting him to bed.’ She wanted Erik to say, that was fine, he’d love that. But even if he did, the practicalities of how Erik would get back to the island from Loddefjord meant it couldn’t happen.
‘I mean, that sounds good to me.’
‘You won’t be able to get back here.’
He looked thoughtful for a moment, and Ida found herself holding her breath. She loved that he was thinking up a way for it to happen. Especially because it wasn’t dinner out together, it was hanging out with Emil.
‘I’ll kayak us over to your place. Would that work?’
Ida burst out laughing. ‘Both of us on a kayak? Across the fjord?’
‘Uh huh.’
‘I can’t kayak.’
‘You don’t need to kayak,’ he said, his eyes shining.
Well, at least he was feeling better. And it was hard not to get caught up in his idea when he was looking at her like that.
‘If we can both get on the kayak without falling in…’
‘Deal.’
They finished their lunch, and as they walked back to the entrance hall, Ida remembered Mats’ suggestion that Erik head out to find him at the cabin.
‘Mats is working on one of the cabins today. He wanted to show you some of the timber he’s had cut.’ Ida couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Looking at timber sounded so boring.
‘That sounds great! Same place as before?’
‘I may as well take you.’
They went outside and headed behind the hotel, following the shoreline towards the far end of the island.
‘I think he’ll be over here,’ Ida said when the cabins nearest the water came into view. ‘Mats!’ she called out as they got closer.
‘Hey!’ He appeared from behind the farthest cabin.
Good to see you again.’
Mats held his hand out, and Erik took it. They were grinning at each other, already bonding over the timber, Ida supposed.
‘What are you working on?’ Erik asked, surveying the cabins with his hands on his hips.
‘I’ll see you both later,’ Ida said, before they were too deep into all of this to notice whether she was there or not.
‘Oh, Ida, Lotta is going to pick Emil up today.’
Lotta had done that a few times to help Ida out, but doing it when Ida could was new.
‘I don’t mind. Emilie is coming in early to cover me.’
Mats shrugged. ‘Lotta’s happy to.’
‘So we can go out for dinner after all?’ Erik said.
Mats grinned at Ida. ‘Seems like it,’ he said.
She’d have to talk to Erik about boundaries.
‘Come and find me when you’ve finished drooling over the timber and we can discuss it.’
She walked away, listening to them seamlessly fall back into talking about the structure of the cabin.
There was nothing she’d rather do than spend time with Erik.
And now that it wasn’t happening, she realised she’d been looking forward to taking him home with her to hang out with Emil.
Still, it was nice that Lotta was building relationships with the whole family, not just Mats.
So maybe going out for dinner again was the best option, but it meant a repeat of yesterday in that she had nothing to wear and no make-up with her.
Perhaps she was going to have to turn into one of those women who had a handbag full of things for every eventuality that might strike.
Her sister, Ingrid, was like that, but Ida had never had any call to be that person until yesterday.
Last-minute dinner invitations were tricky when you worked on an island.
Ida was at the reception desk doing a handover with Emilie when Erik strolled back into the hotel.
‘I think we should still kayak,’ he said.
Ida could feel Emilie’s wide-eyes on her without turning to see.
‘Where would we go?’
‘We’ll go to your house. I’m guessing you’d like to change before dinner?’
‘She would,’ Emilie said. ‘She’s ready to leave whenever you are.’
‘Great.’ Erik grinned, and before Ida could think of any objection, he was striding up the stairs, his bad leg hardly slowing him down.
‘Emilie!’
‘Ida. Mats is already here, so there’s no one to fetch your clothes today. Don’t be difficult for the sake of it.’
Ida was almost lost for words again. ‘I could have said that myself.’
Emilie simply raised an eyebrow and went back to the screen.
Ten minutes later, Erik appeared, having changed into a long-sleeved black t-shirt and the khaki trousers he’d worn last night.
‘Ready?’
Ida nodded and grabbed her bag. ‘See you tomorrow,’ she said to Emilie.
‘Have a good time.’
Erik took her hand authoritatively, which made Ida’s stomach flip.
‘I left the kayak at the other end of the island to keep it out of the way.’
‘At least there’ll be no one around to see when we fall into the fjord.’
He laughed. ‘I have never fallen off a kayak. Not accidentally.’
When they reached the tip of the island, Erik pushed the kayak into the water and held the front.
‘Take the life vest.’
‘What about you?’ She zipped up the vest.
‘If I fall in, I’ll use you as a floatie.’
She flicked her eyes between him and the kayak.
‘I won’t let you fall in,’ he said in such a reassuring voice that she actually believed him and held his gaze. ‘Promise.’
He held the front while she climbed in, and it only wobbled slightly when she crouched down and shifted one foot and then the other onto the back of the kayak.
‘Okay?’
She nodded, and before she could start worrying about it tipping over when Erik got on, he was on so quickly there was no time to think anything.
‘And off we go.’
Ida watched his back as he paddled them alongside the island, between the shore and the rock on the other side of the fjord.
The shirt he wore, the sleeves pulled up to his elbows, was tight enough to show his muscles rippling as he dipped one arm down and then the other.
It was mesmerising. In no time at all, they had reached the end of Radfjorden.
‘Where to now?’
‘Straight across,’ said Ida, wondering whether she might need to take a dive into the fjord to cool off before she watched any more of Erik’s capable paddling. Who’d have thought that would be a turn-on?