Chapter 21
Ida was putting on a front. Pretending that she wasn’t desperate to know what was going on with Thea.
It was mostly so as not to have a full on family row when she hadn’t seen her sister for so long, because she sensed that might be how it went, and partly because she didn’t want to ruin her and Erik’s mini-holiday.
‘No one ever uses the cabin in the summer,’ Thea said, taking a seat at the kitchen table while Ida rummaged in the cupboard for an extra glass.
‘So you thought you could sneak out here without us knowing?’ Keeping the conversation in English for Erik’s benefit also helped Ida to keep her cool.
Thea shrugged. ‘I’ve switched my base port from Troms? to Bergen. I needed somewhere to stay while I find a new place to live. I’ve been coming here on my off weeks for a couple of months.’
Ida shook her head in disbelief. ‘We have a house in Bergen. This isn’t Bergen, Thea, this is Voss. So you’re commuting an hour to stay here rather than Loddefjord? When we haven’t seen you for months?’ She slammed the glasses down on the table and stood with her hands on her hips.
‘I’m going to pour the wine for you ladies, and I’m taking a walk.’
‘You don’t need to leave, Erik,’ Thea said, her eyes pleading with him to stay.
‘He won’t save you from having to tell me what’s going on.’
Thea rolled her eyes and took a slug of wine.
‘I’ll see you later,’ Erik said, blowing her a kiss only she could see before he left.
‘Why did you move to Bergen? I thought you loved Troms?.’ Ida sensed that whatever the reason was the start of the story.
‘I had to move to a different boat. Me and Henrik broke up.’
‘Oh, I’m so sorry.’ Thea and Henrik met when they were both working on the post boats, the ferries that served the coastal towns of Norway between Bergen and Troms?.
They were originally literally boats to deliver post to small towns but had evolved to be a passenger ferry as well as a tourist cruise.
‘It’s okay,’ Thea said, although it clearly wasn’t.
‘Why did you have to be the one to uproot yourself?’
‘He’s the captain, Ida. No one’s taking my side over his and he didn’t want me on his boat anymore.’
‘That seems harsh. What happened?’
‘He met someone else.’
Ida’s indignation on her sister’s behalf grew to at least twice the size on hearing that.
‘That makes it worse! He was the one in the wrong and you’re the one having to live with the consequences.’
‘I know.’
‘But I still don’t understand why you didn’t come home?’
Thea looked sheepish, as if she couldn’t say the real reason out loud.
‘There are too many memories,’ Ida said for her. ‘I know. I think that’s why Ingrid’s hardly been back.’
‘I think Ingrid’s just busy living in Oslo.’
‘Have you spoken to any of the others about this?’
‘No. What am I supposed to say? I don’t want to come back there, Ida. It’s too sad.’
Ida bit her tongue. She would love to be in the position of being able to ignore all these sad things that her siblings could avoid because they knew she was there picking up the slack for all of them. But that wasn’t Thea’s fault.
‘We’re going to sell the house. I’ve spoken to Mats and Fredrik about it. It’s the right time.’
‘Really? I feel bad for being relieved about that.’
‘Don’t. Things are hard enough without making yourself feel guilty about anything.’
‘I’m sorry I’ve ruined your sex holiday.’
Ida almost choked on her wine. ‘It’s not a sex holiday!’
‘If it isn’t, it should be. He’s fit.’
Ida grinned. ‘I know. I can’t believe it’s happened.’
‘You two look good together. How long has it been?’
‘Just over a week, something like that.’
‘Ida!’
‘What?’
‘I… I don’t know. It’s just a surprise. You’re the sensible one and you’re helping a guest to have a holiday romance.’
‘It’s not that sensible. He’s going to leave in a few days and I’ve been trying not to think about it.’
‘Have you talked about after?’
‘No. I’m not sure he’s ready for an after. I’m not sure I am. I need to sort myself out. Find somewhere to live.’ She pointed her glass at Thea. ‘Maybe we could look for somewhere together?’
‘No offence, but I’m looking forward to getting my own place.’
‘Me too.’ And that was true, Ida realised.
‘Look, I can find somewhere in town to stay tonight.’
‘Absolutely not. Although me and Erik ate at the restaurant at Hangurstoppen so we don’t have much to offer you.’
‘Oh that’s okay, I brought food with me, but not enough to share.’
‘I’m sorry I was cross with you,’ Ida said.
‘It’s okay, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I was moving back down here.’
They hugged each other.
‘So he’s a snowboarder? He’d be happy living here, he doesn’t need to go back to Canada.’
If only it were that simple.
‘He had an accident so can’t compete anymore. He’s having trouble coming to terms with it.’
‘What made him decide to come here?’
‘There’s some link to his great-grandfather. It looks like he may have worked on the farm back in the day. I think he came to find out.’
‘Mats’ farm?’
‘Yes, I think so.’ As Ida explained to her sister, something began to niggle her. As if there was something she was forgetting.
‘And has he? Found out?’
‘I don’t know the details. He’s been to the archives in Bergen. He has a newspaper article and a map.’ Ida thought back to the document wallet she’d seen on the bed. Before Erik had whipped it away. Suddenly, it seemed important.
‘And you’re going to be okay after he leaves?’
‘Probably not. But it’s been amazing. I’ve been lucky to have this time with him. Get myself back in the game, you know?’
‘Good for you.’
Erik poked his head around the door a few minutes later, as if he were checking that the coast was clear.
‘Come and have a glass of wine with us,’ Thea said.
‘I picked up some groceries,’ he said. ‘Just in case.’ He presented a huge bag of crisps, a bunch of bananas and some waffles.
‘I love random food like this,’ Thea said, opening the crisps.
Erik looked at Ida as if “random” was not how he’d describe his shopping.
‘So Ida says you have a family connection to my brother’s island?’
Erik nodded as he munched on a handful of crisps.
‘Have you managed to find out any more?’
‘I think my great-grandfather may have known someone in your family.’
‘How do you know that?’ Thea asked the question Ida wished she’d thought of. ‘You must have something that led you to the island in the first place?’ Thea said.
Ida looked at Erik, interested in his answer. It was something that hadn’t occurred to her until now.
‘I have a letter. And the story was passed down through the family.’
‘What story?’ Ida asked. Was it odd that he hadn’t mentioned this before?
‘About how my great-grandpa came to Canada from Norway.’
‘So you’re actually a little bit Norwegian?’ Thea said. ‘Ida says you were a snowboarder. Maybe that’s why.’
‘Maybe,’ he said. ‘I think being Canadian helped with that too.’
Thea laughed, while Ida looked on, wondering what she was missing. Because there was something.
The three of them ploughed through Erik’s food and then Thea cooked the food she’d brought with her, giving Erik part of it since he was apparently still hungry.
With more wine, and good conversation, Ida forgot all about Erik’s research.
Later that night they were in bed together. Thea was in the bedroom in the bed that had been mysteriously made up already. Not so mysterious now.
‘It’s nice to catch up with your sister?’ he asked.
‘Yes,’ Ida said snuggling into his chest. ‘She’s made my mind up about the house. We need to sell it. I know Mats and Fredrik thought the same but now that I know it’s keeping Thea from visiting, it’s more important.’
‘You’re going to look for somewhere new?’
‘Yes. Although I have no idea what I’m looking for. I can’t picture myself anywhere other than that house.’
‘But you lived away from home before?’
‘I did. But I moved around for work, so just rented places for a few months. I haven’t had a home of my own before, and that’s what I want it to be.’
‘We could look at some places together.’
‘You don’t want to spend your holiday doing that.’
‘We can start right now,’ he said, grabbing his phone.
Ida shifted so that her head rested on his biceps while he tapped away.
‘House or apartment?’
‘Apartment. I can’t afford a house.’
‘Nuh uh. We’re not worried about that. We’re doing a deep dive into what you want, not what you can afford.’
‘Okay, a house. In the centre of Bergen.’
‘Garage?’
She thought about everything she’d want to keep from the house. It was one thing deciding to sell it; she wasn’t sure she’d be able to part with everything inside it at the same time. ‘Yes. For storage.’
‘A couple of bedrooms?’
‘At least.’
‘Here, look.’
It was a large list, cheapest to most expensive, and of the cheaper ones, Ida was surprised to find a few in her price range.
‘That’s part of what stopped me from looking, assuming I could only afford an apartment.
That one looks lovely.’ She pointed at the listing for an older style house with two bedrooms but all the rooms were spacious and it had a basement.
The horizontal wooden cladding was painted bright yellow with white on the corners and the edge of the roof.
‘It’s not right in Bergen but Sandviken is nice. ’
‘It needs some work,’ Erik said. ‘But it’s the kind of house I imagine you living in.’
‘I can get Mats to help. I’m going to make an appointment to view it.’
Erik tapped away. ‘I’ve sent you the link.’
‘Thank you. I don’t know why I hadn’t looked for myself.’
‘Because it’s a big step towards moving on. You haven’t been working at the hotel for long. It’s good to spread this stuff out.’
Suddenly sleepy after the hike and the wine, Ida turned over and pushed her back into Erik’s front, spooning into him and trying not to think that there were fewer and fewer times this could happen before he left.
‘Night Ida.’
‘Night Erik.’
In the morning, with sudden clarity, Ida woke and remembered the torn letter she’d found when she and Becca had been sorting through everything that had been cleared out of the farmhouse before they started work on the hotel.
As well as her own family name of Larsen, there was another name on that letter.
She couldn’t remember what it was, but she was quite sure it hadn’t been Anderson, although that was a Norwegian surname so perhaps she’d just forgotten.
She left Erik sleeping and went outside onto the veranda to text Mats.
Ida: Are you at home? Can you find that torn piece of paper we found? I need to know the other name.
It was several minutes before she received a reply.
Mats: Olsen. Why?
Ida: I’m not sure. Something Erik said about his family research. Thanks.
Mats: You think it’s to do with that letter?
Ida: I don’t know yet. Maybe.
She felt uneasy. She needed to talk to Erik about it, but now, with Thea in the room next door, it didn’t seem like the right time. It could wait until they got back to Bergen.
Ida made coffee for them all and left the pot on to keep it hot while she sat on the veranda and sipped hers.
She gazed, unseeing, across the valley, thinking that she should have asked Mats to send her a photo of the letter.
What little she remembered of it was that it was almost impossible to understand what it had said, since the writing was so old and it was torn in half.
But she remembered warning Mats about the possibility of someone having a claim to the island.
But Erik was an Anderson, not an Olsen. That felt like something to cling to.
‘Morning,’ he said, coming outside with his own coffee. ‘Want a top-up?’
‘No, I’m good, thanks.’ She smiled, and he dropped a kiss on the top of her head before sitting in the chair next to her.
‘I slept so good.’
‘You look like you did.’
He looked more relaxed than she’d ever seen him. His hair was all over the place, and she loved it.
‘Maybe it’s the mountain air.’
‘Or maybe it’s the bigger bed,’ Ida said, laughing. ‘We’ll be back to the small one tonight.’
‘I don’t mind that,’ he said, squeezing her leg and grinning at her.
Ida didn’t want to ruin the last part of their time in Voss by confronting Erik about something she could perfectly well confront him about in Bergen. Especially when there was sure to be a rational explanation.
‘We have time to do something today before our train goes.’ They’d been so blindsided by Thea that they hadn’t made any plans for today.
‘Shall we hire bikes? There was a place in town I saw yesterday.’
Ida grinned. He was the complete opposite of her in that way. He was basically a sporty, outdoorsy man who’d had that part of him taken away. Maybe coming here had been good. Shown him that there were ways to fulfil that side of him without throwing himself down a mountain.
’I could enjoy a bike ride.’ And she would. Because the longer she had Erik without having to get any deeper into why he was here, the better.