Chapter 17
Ida floated through the day on a cloud of happiness. Waking in Erik’s arms had been everything she’d known it would be. She felt safe and protected in the kind of way she always told herself she didn’t need. Maybe she didn’t need it, but she wanted it. And it felt good to acknowledge that.
She was so used to looking out for herself, protecting herself.
Putting on a front so that no one would know that there was a vein of sadness running through her that she’d thought was something she’d have to live with forever.
It wasn’t only grief. This was something different that had already been there before her parents died.
It was smaller then, but born of the growing realisation that while she might be successful in the corporate world, she wasn’t able to replicate that success in her personal life.
Ida hadn’t been one of the popular girls at school.
She hadn’t had a boyfriend, even though she’d been desperate to be one of those girls who always had a boyfriend with a seemingly endless line of boys waiting for their turn.
In the middle of her two brothers, with her two younger sisters too small to be playmates except to each other, she grew up tough.
And that wasn’t what boys wanted; they wanted their girls pretty and feminine, and Ida knew she was neither of those things.
And it became clear to her that a lot of men still wanted that even once they were grown-ups.
In the circles Ida had mixed in, she met men who were career-minded and still, in her view, old-fashioned enough to want “the right kind of woman” on their arm.
A woman who would put their career ahead of anything she might want for herself.
And that wasn’t Ida. She knew the world didn’t consist entirely of men like this.
Her brothers weren’t like that at all, well, not Mats at least, and that was the only thing that had given her hope.
Erik was the first man to ever call her beautiful. And maybe that had swayed her opinion of him, although she’d fallen for him way before he said that. But it spoke to Ida’s younger self. The girl who had never believed she was pretty, never mind beautiful, and it made that girl so happy.
Ida was well aware that she was setting herself up for a fall.
Erik was going to leave in a week, and she’d pretend that was fine by her because it was a holiday romance with an expiry date that had been very clear.
But she’d be heartbroken and back to square one, grieving something all over again, but this time with a sweetness to it because at least she’d had something wonderful for a while.
So, it was difficult to care too much about the fact that the shuttle boat was unexpectedly out of commission that day.
After breakfast, she’d had a call from the skipper to say that it was a quick repair but that the part wouldn’t be here until tomorrow.
Ida ran through the reservations, noting that there were six guests arriving today and she’d already seen a small group of guests who’d headed down to the jetty for the boat to take them to Bergen.
She called the new guests, three couples, to get estimated arrival times, then called some contacts to arrange boats to bring them over.
The guests who were waiting to get to Bergen now were the biggest problem because there was nothing available soon enough.
She could take them over herself in Mats’ boat, but it made no sense when all Mats was doing was messing around with some wood.
She called her brother. There was no answer, but she knew he was with Erik, so she tried his number, and there was also no answer.
P?l was in the dining room clearing up from breakfast before they started setting up for lunch.
‘I’m just going to find Mats. If any guests ask about the boat to Bergen, let them know it’ll be another ten minutes.’
‘No problem. Do you want me to find Mats?’
‘Thanks, that’s okay. I know where he is.’ And it was an excuse to see Erik that she couldn’t pass up.
She walked through the woods towards the cabin they were working on.
It made her smile when she heard laughter.
That was Mats. It would do him good to have a friend like Erik, who was as interested in the woodwork as he was.
Working on the cabin before, the one he’d finished for him and Lotta, had been pretty solitary.
Her brother was far too sociable to spend all day by himself.
‘Hey, you two! Have your phones fallen into the fjord?’ She tried to keep a straight face while they both started patting their pockets, looking for their phones.
‘Sorry, Ida,’ Mats said, pulling his phone from the pocket of the shirt he’d left hooked on a nearby branch. ‘What do you need?’
‘The shuttle boat is out of commission today, and we have a group waiting to go to the mainland. Can you take them?’
‘Of course. What about the rest of the day?’
‘I have the new arrivals organised, so it’s only the guests who want to go to the mainland now that we will need to fetch back later.
’ She let Mats know the times of the boats she’d already arranged so anyone who wanted to could hitch a lift, then she’d leave it to him to arrange the pickup of the rest of the group.
‘I’ll see you later,’ he said to Erik. ‘Don’t do anything exciting until I get back!’ Mats walked away from them, brushing sawdust from his trousers as he walked towards the far side of the hotel.
Erik pushed up the brim of the baseball cap he was wearing. ‘Well, this is a nice surprise.’
‘It’s strictly a business visit.’
‘Oh, really?’ He grinned and took a step toward her.
She nodded, her stomach full of butterflies at the thought of Erik’s touch.
‘So I shouldn’t do anything like this…’ he bent to kiss her. ‘In case a guest sees?’
‘Exactly. That is so inappropriate.’
‘Is this too inappropriate?’ He put his hands on her waist and pulled her towards him.
She gasped as her chest bumped his, then she looped her arms around his neck. ‘Yes. This is crossing the line.’
‘I guess I have to wait until you finish for the day to cross the line again.’
He accompanied this statement with another kiss, and Ida wondered whether they might just nip into the cabin next door, which still had its walls.
But no. She had some self-control, and she couldn’t walk back into the hotel with dust all over her.
That’s what she focused on because Erik’s eyes were melting her self-control with every moment she stared into them.
‘I’ll see you at lunchtime,’ she said.
‘I’ll come find you if we’re done here.’
‘Okay.’
They sank into each other for a last kiss, and Ida headed back to the hotel.
She went into the kitchen to pour herself a coffee.
‘What are you smiling about?’ Heidi asked. She was sitting at the counter with a pen and a notebook.
‘Nothing,’ said Ida. It was an automatic response, and maybe Heidi knew that because she waited for her to say something else. ‘You know that guy, Erik?’
‘Erik, who you went on a date with? Erik who went to your house for dinner? Yes, I know Erik.’
‘Does everyone know?’
‘Of course,’ Heidi said, going back to her menu planning. ‘Nothing is a secret in a place like this. And just because I’m in the kitchen all the time, it doesn’t mean I don’t see what’s going on.’ She tapped her nose with her pen. ‘You like him?’
‘Yes,’ she sighed.
Heidi put her pen down. ‘I haven’t known you for long, Ida, but I have never seen you look this happy. Is it because of him?’
‘Yes.’ Ida pulled up a stool and sat along the counter from Heidi. ‘But a person shouldn’t let their happiness be dictated by someone else.’
‘I know what you’re saying. You should be the master of your own destiny, make your own happiness.
Whatever. But that’s only part of it. You need that, but also, if someone else makes you feel like that, isn’t that what falling in love is?
Meeting a person who makes you happier than you even knew you could be? ’
‘I have very limited experience in this area,’ Ida said, smiling. ‘And I don’t think I’m in love with him. I think I love being with him. Even not being with him, but knowing he’s there. All of it makes me happy.’
‘There is nothing wrong with that. Don’t second-guess yourself.’
‘You don’t think it’ll be heartbreaking when he leaves?’
‘Yes. But isn’t this worth taking that chance?’
Ida mulled over Heidi’s words for the rest of the day. She didn’t see Erik until he came back to the hotel later in the afternoon when Mats was leaving again to collect some guests from Bergen. He strolled over to the reception desk and pulled his hat off, sending a cloud of sawdust swirling.
‘Hey, this is a luxury hotel.’
‘Do you have a tradesman’s entrance?’
‘You’re the first guest who’s ever made a mess like this. Go and have a shower before I have to start sweeping after you.’
‘I was thinking of taking a swim first. Want to join me?’
Emilie was coming over from Bergen with Mats, but the hotel was quiet and would be until they got here.
‘I have half an hour, that’s all.’ She popped her head around the kitchen door to tell Heidi, then remembered she had nothing to wear. ‘But I don’t have a swimsuit.’
‘You don’t need a swimsuit.’
She pursed her lips and smiled. ‘Really?’
‘I’m going in naked.’
‘What if a guest sees?’
‘What guest?’ He laughed and held his hands out. ‘Come on. Who’s coming over to the other end of the island in the next half hour?’
‘Okay.’ She ran up the stairs to the first-floor linen cupboard and grabbed two towels. Then, back downstairs, she grabbed his hand and pulled him outside before anyone saw and before she could think better of it.
Ida couldn’t remember the last time she’d been in the water. It had been years, but she still remembered how cold it was, even in the summer. But it was a warm, sunny day, and it might be refreshing. Also, she was desperate to get her hands on Erik again.
They reached the jetty, and Erik swiftly undressed, standing there with nothing on while Ida was still unbuttoning her shirt. Seeing him in all his glory slowed her down.
‘J?ss…’
‘C’mon, Ida. Don’t make me wait.’
‘Sorry.’ She recovered herself enough to speak in English again and to undress more quickly.
Erik watched appreciatively, his eyes taking all of her in, but she didn’t feel as self-conscious as she thought she would.
It was one thing being naked in bed together, and she thought this would be weird, being naked in front of each other in broad daylight, but it was so liberating; it gave her a rush.
They stood, facing the water, and it suddenly dawned on Ida that they’d actually be getting in. Now. Erik took her hand in his.
‘Ready?’
‘Not really.’
He pulled her hand, making her think he was going to jump in right then. She shrieked, and he laughed.
‘I’m messing with you,’ he said, and instead pulled her down to sit next to him on the edge of the jetty. ‘I’ll get in first, then I can catch you.’
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him she could get in fine on her own, but it sounded nice the way he said it. ‘Okay.’
He lowered himself into the water as he had when Ida had watched him the other day. He slipped in as if it weren’t icy cold and then grinned up at her with one hand still on the jetty.
‘Come on, then.’
With one hand on the jetty and the other in Erik’s, Ida braced herself and lowered into the water as quickly as Erik had. Although she couldn’t make it look nearly as effortless. The cold literally snatched her breath away, and she had to remind herself to breathe.
Erik pulled her to him with his hand on her waist, and she clung to him, trying to sap any warmth there might be, but his skin was already cold.
‘Why did we do this?’
‘Because it’s refreshing, and it’s a beautiful day, and you’ll feel so good when you get out. Want to swim?’
She nodded and waited until Erik had done a couple of strokes before she followed him, doing a small circular swim in front of the jetty.
‘That’s probably enough.’ He hauled himself out of the water in a way Ida knew she wasn’t capable of, but before she could worry about how she was actually going to get out, Erik reached a hand down and lifted her out as if she weighed nothing.
She picked up a towel and wrapped it around her shoulders.
‘See? Feels good, doesn’t it?’ Erik didn’t wrap himself in a towel. He did the same as the other day and rubbed himself down while Ida watched, just as enthralled.
‘Yes. It does. I feel…’ She was trying to think of the word in English, but it was out of reach.
‘Invincible?’
‘Yes. Exactly! Invincible.’