Chapter 14
Other than to give him directions, Ida hardly said a word on the way to her house.
He thought back over every conversation they’d had today and silently concluded that she hadn’t wanted to go for dinner with him tonight.
Firstly, she’d turned him down because of her nephew, then even when he’d offered to kayak over there, she’d reluctantly agreed.
When Mats said she was off the hook for babysitting, she hadn’t agreed as such, and then it had been Emilie who arranged it for her.
In the aftermath of their conversation over breakfast, when she’d had to point out to him that she was quite capable of getting home by herself, perhaps he had again undermined her independence.
‘That’s our jetty,’ she said, pointing to a jetty that ran from a small boathouse to the foot of a steep set of steps.
Man, it wasn’t his day. He was going to need another rejuvenating bath when he got to the top.
He pulled alongside the jetty and held onto a mooring post to steady the kayak. ‘You go first,’ he said.
Ida rather inelegantly crawled onto the jetty, then stood up and took the paddle off him. He used the mooring post to pull himself out of the kayak and then lifted it out of the water.
‘And nobody got wet,’ he said, triumphantly.
Ida smiled at him. Before she headed up the steps, he gently touched her arm.
‘Hey. I’m sorry you got steamrolled into this. I shouldn’t have let Mats and Emilie speak for you and then assume we were on for dinner.’
‘It’s okay. I want to have dinner with you.’
That was a surprise. ‘You do?’
She exhaled and looked out over the fjord. ‘This is something I never do. I don’t date and I don’t know how it fits in with… everything. How it fits in with me.’
‘I’m glad you know that I want to date you, Ida. But there aren’t any rules.’
‘There are rules. You’re just being kind. I can’t go out with you in my work clothes. I can’t go out with you without doing my make-up.’
‘You don’t have to change your clothes if you don’t want to, I don’t care what you wear. I think you’re beautiful as you are.’
He stroked her cheek with his thumb and she leaned into his touch. She closed her eyes and when she opened them, blinked away some tears.
‘I didn’t think it would be like this,’ she said softly.
She sat down on the bottom step. ‘I didn’t think someone I liked would walk into my hotel.
I thought I’d have a hard time finding a person when I was ready.
And I’ve been building myself up to that.
Now that things are more settled with Mats and the island, I can start my life again.
I’ve even suggested selling this place so that I can have a new start somewhere else. ’
‘You’re thinking of leaving the hotel?’
She sniffed and shook her head. ‘Not yet. But yes, one day. I didn’t think I could be properly happy here again. And now…’
‘Now?’ He sat on the next step up, and she leaned her head against his chest.
‘Now I don’t think it matters where I am. I’m happy. And that scares me and excites me at the same time.’
‘I’m glad you’re happy.’ He was desperate to know whether it was him or the idea of dating in general that had made her see things differently, but of course he couldn’t ask her that.
For him, it was certainly Ida. She was the unexpected highlight of this trip and he couldn’t bring himself to think past the end of the week because that brought too many unknowns into it.
There were questions that would come up that he’d have no idea how to answer.
‘Don’t think too hard about any of this stuff,’ he said, stroking her hair. ‘We enjoy each other’s company and that’s okay. It doesn’t have to be anything more.’
She stood up, standing on the step so she was slightly taller than him, leant in and kissed him. All the things he’d been thinking about on the way over shot out of his head to make room for feeling everything in this moment.
‘Thank you,’ she said, pulling away but leaving her hands on the sides of his face.
He covered one hand with his. ‘Don’t thank me, Ida. You don’t know how much you’ve turned this visit around for me either.’
‘Come on,’ she said, taking his hand. ‘Let’s go.’
By the time they got to the top of the steps, his leg ached almost as much as it had that morning.
‘Are you okay?’
‘You don’t need to ask me that every time,’ he snapped. He immediately regretted it when he saw the shock register on Ida’s face, quickly replaced by indignation. ‘I’m sorry. I’m fine.’
‘It’s okay.’
‘No, it’s not. I shouldn’t have snapped at you. I appreciate you looking out for me. You don’t need to.’
Without saying anything else, she let them into the house through the door on the terrace and into the kitchen where a young boy was sitting at the table with a workbook in front of him.
A woman, he assumed Mats’ partner, Lotta, was working on her laptop.
It was a companionable silence until the boy spotted Ida.
‘Faster Ida!’
‘Hei Emil!’
Ida went around the table and hugged the little boy. ‘You’re doing your homework, that’s great,’ she said in English.
‘Hi, I’m Lotta.’
‘Erik. It’s nice to meet you both.’
‘And this is Emil,’ said Ida.
‘It looks like you’re good at math?’ Erik said.
Emil looked at him and nodded shyly.
‘It’s his favourite,’ said Ida.
‘What are you guys up to?’ Lotta asked.
‘We’re heading out for dinner,’ said Erik.
‘Can I come?’ Emil said.
‘I thought we were going to play your new game?’ Lotta said. ‘And we’re making pizza for dinner.’
Emil sighed. ‘Okay.’
‘Could we join you for pizza?’ Erik said, his eyebrows raised in question to Ida and Lotta. Was that too much? To force himself into a family dinner as if there were something far more between him and Ida than one evening out together under their belts.
‘Do you mind making extra pizza, Emil?’ Ida asked.
Erik took that as a win. He didn’t know Ida very well yet but if she thought he’d overstepped he had a feeling they’d be on their way back out of the house by now.
‘We don’t mind,’ he said, looking at Lotta who nodded and smiled at him.
‘I’m going to get changed.’ Ida left the kitchen and Erik sat down at the table with Lotta and Emil.
Emil went back to his homework.
‘A second date?’ Lotta murmured.
‘Just dinner. I’m not sure we’re dating.’ He loved that this woman he’d never met was straight in with the questions.
‘How long are you here for?’
‘Another week, maybe longer. I’m on the hunt for some good Nordic spruce. Mats was good enough to show me the timber he’s had milled. I think I’m on the right track but the few days I’d planned to stay isn’t going to be long enough.’
Lotta gave him a knowing smile. ‘It’s a good idea to stay longer then. Explore things a bit more.’
‘Right.’ He grinned.
‘But Ida’s been through a lot. Be careful.’
He knew exactly what Lotta meant, and his first thought was how lucky Ida was to have people looking out for her. ‘You got it,’ he said quietly.
‘Finished,’ Emil said, closing his workbook with a flourish and slamming his pencil on top of it. ‘Can we play the game now?’
‘Yes. Well done for finishing your maths. Come on.’
The two of them went into the lounge at the same time Ida came back into the kitchen.
She was wearing a t-shirt that was short enough to skim the waistband of her jeans.
Her hair was loose; the first time he’d seen it like that, and it fell in chestnut waves over her shoulders. She looked relaxed and so beautiful.
‘Since we’re having dinner cooked for us, shall we take a glass of wine out onto the terrace?’
‘That sounds great.’
Ida poured them a small glass of wine each from a bottle in the fridge and he held the terrace door open for her. Emil shrieked with laughter and Ida’s face lit up.
‘He loves that game, especially when he’s beating one of us.’ She put the glasses down on the table and pushed the parasol up, standing on tiptoe to click it into place.
‘Let me.’
‘Thanks.’
‘Hey, I’m sorry I snapped.’
‘You said that already.’
‘I know. It’s a horrible habit. I felt like that’s all anyone said to me for a long time.’
‘I think it’s the first time I have.’ He could see the hurt in her eyes.
He nodded and took her hand. ‘I have a hard time remembering my manners when my leg hurts, but it’s not an excuse.’
She nodded her acceptance, and they locked eyes in a moment of shared understanding.
‘Was this okay? Staying to eat pizza with your family?’
‘I like that you suggested it. It’s nice to hang out with you like this. It’s more relaxed.’
He realised that the handful of other times they’d been together, apart from last night, she’d been working. ‘It is. This place is wonderful. What a view.’
‘I definitely take it for granted. I’ll miss it one day when we’ve sold this place. What’s it like where you live? I imagine Canada is as mountainous and snow-covered as here.’
‘Some parts of it definitely are like that. My place in Banff, in the winter is basically in the middle of a ski resort. But where my parents live is in the city, on the outskirts. There are a few trees lining the street but that’s it as far as scenery goes.’
‘Did you ski as well as snowboard?’
‘I started out skiing, then when I was thirteen I begged my dad for a snowboard lesson and that was it. I was in love.’ He chuckled, remembering the feeling, almost like a revelation. ‘Do you ski?’
‘I do cross-country but I don’t like downhill. I feel out of control.’
‘That’s what I love about it. And that’s what I miss the most. I don’t think I’ll find anything that makes me feel like that again.’
‘You will.’ She said it with such certainty that Erik wanted to ask her what she knew that he didn’t. Because he was just as certain that he wouldn’t.
He shook his head. ‘I don’t know, Ida. I think I just have to accept it otherwise I’ll be a self-pitying fool for the rest of my life.’
Ida reached for his hand. ‘You’re not a fool, Erik. You’re grieving for the life you had. It takes time.’
He nodded and looked out at the fjord because if he looked at Ida and saw the kindness in her eyes, he might crumble.
‘Oh, look. There’s Mats.’ She pointed to a small motorboat that was making a beeline for them.
‘He’s having fun renovating those cabins. Is he doing one for you?’
‘I hope so. And I hope it’s next on his list so I don’t have to commute in all weathers.’
Mats came bounding up the steps, beaming. ‘What are you guys doing here?’
‘Emil’s making pizza so we decided to eat with you.’
‘That’s great!’
Ida was looking at Mats with an expression Erik would have said was a death stare if he was still in high school.
‘Relax, Ida. We can behave ourselves. I’ll jump in the shower and then get started on the pizza. I’m sure Emil’s only interested in the toppings.’ Mats went inside.
‘You look angry with him.’
She sighed. ‘I don’t want this to turn into an interrogation. They’re far too excited about you being here.’
‘Hey, it’s fine. Let them be excited. I’m pretty excited myself.’
She smiled at him. ‘Why?’
‘Because I get to spend another evening with you, and it’s nice to see you relaxed. You’re showing me a different Ida to the one I went out with last night.’
She laughed. ‘It’s a while since I went out for dinner with anyone other than them,’ she said, tipping her head towards the house. ‘Honestly, I’m relieved I didn’t have to think about what to wear tonight.’
‘You’re beautiful whatever you wear.’
She blushed. ‘You’re so direct, Erik. You say these things as if it’s the most natural thing in the world.’
‘I guess I don’t think too hard about what I say. When I feel something, it’s good to get it out.’
‘Well, it’s unusual.’
He laughed. ‘If you don’t have guys telling you you’re beautiful all the time, you definitely haven’t been getting out enough.’
‘Hei!’
Ida put her head in her hands as a man Erik hadn’t met yet came outside. ‘This is my brother Fredrik, who I thought was going to be back much later than this.’
Fredrik grinned, and they shook hands. ‘Good to meet you. Erik.’
‘I finished up early, so I thought I’d eat with you and then take Emil home.’
‘And when are Ingrid and Thea getting here?’ Ida asked him.
‘No need to be like that.’ He ruffled her hair before walking into the house.
‘You’re very lucky to have a family like this even if they drive you nuts.’
Ida sighed. ‘I know. I tell myself that all the time.’
This was the kind of thing he loved, and he always looked on, wistful that he didn’t have that. But being here tonight, being welcomed by Ida’s family was the next best thing.
‘I’m willing to throw myself into this, if you are,’ he said.
She raised an eyebrow. ‘I’m not sure you know what you’re getting into.’
‘I’ll take my chances.’