Chapter Twenty
Twenty
‘It’s not for the faint-hearted, but I promise you’ll feel amazing afterwards.’
‘Are you sure?’
Henrik nodded. ‘One hundred per cent. Inside and out.’
I eyed the lake cautiously. This situation was entirely my own doing.
I’d been banging on about how much I loved wild water swimming ever since I’d arrived, but I’d only ever done it in Greece, in the height of summer.
And now it was just me, Henrik and a freezing cold lake, and it was too late to backtrack.
I had to get on with it. Surely a little dip wouldn’t kill me.
‘How often do you come out here?’ I asked, trying to stall him.
‘Rarely, these days. I’m not really one for swimming to be honest. Hot tubs and Jacuzzis are fine, but otherwise I prefer to be on the water, rather than in it.’
‘Right.’ He didn’t want to do it either. ‘You’re going in today though, yeah?’
‘No, I’m just the taxi,’ he said with a straight face. ‘You’re the wild water swimming champ.’
‘Right,’ I said, again. ‘Right.’
Henrik laughed. ‘Just kidding – of course I’m going in. I can’t let you go in there unaccompanied. You might get pulled under.’
‘Might I? By what?’ This was sounding worse by the second.
‘Not really. It’s a lake – there are just a few small fish. Maybe the odd trout. I thought you’d done this before?’
‘I have, but not in Norway,’ I said, starting to panic. ‘I’m really not sure about this, you know. My inner child is screaming blue murder, and I like to respect her opinion on these things.’
‘Lucky for you wild swimming isn’t designed for children,’ Henrik said with a wry smile. ‘Your outer adult can make the decision here.’
‘Right.’
‘Oh. Before I forget – I wanted to show you something,’ Henrik said, pulling a Polaroid out of his wallet.
It was a stunning, multicoloured sky over Firefly farmhouse.
‘This is the special aurora I was telling you about. The magical version. Taken on a Polaroid, so no apps involved. Proof the Northern Lights exist in all the different colours.’
I took it from him and looked at the rainbow of light: pinks and purples into greens and blues. It was beautiful. ‘No Photoshop?’ I asked, still suspicious.
He gave me a look. ‘Be serious. We barely have Wi-Fi out here. Can you imagine any one of us Photoshopping rainbows onto Polaroids to placate the guests?’
Fair point.
‘That does look pretty cool,’ I admitted, begrudgingly.
‘Cooler than cool. Hopefully you’ll get to see them properly before you head home,’ he said, tucking the photo away carefully and zipping up his bag.
‘OK. Are you ready for a swim? I’ll race you.
’ Henrik threw off his fleecy tracksuit and ran full pelt towards the lake, which ironically my inner child would have loved to do.
It was impossible not to stare at his body.
Hot and cold all at once, and super cute in his Norwegian flag swimming trunks.
I laughed as he screamed ‘Geronimo!’ and bombed into the water like an enthusiastic otter.
‘I’ll just be a sec,’ I shouted, my outer adult about to burst into tears. I wanted to enjoy my jumper for a few more seconds.
Bollocksssss. There wasn’t even a sauna to warm up in afterwards.
Speed was of the essence here. Get my kit off quick, get in and out quick and get back in the minibus. Quick. Henrik was clearly part frog; he was swimming around, loving it in there.
I shed my clothes in one fluid movement, like a snake crawling out of her own skin. The air was strangely serene and wrapped itself around me as I walked towards the lake. It was bastard freezing of course, but nothing like it was going to be once I was in that water.
‘Come on!’ Henrik called, impatiently. No doubt shrivelling up like a used balloon. ‘Get in!’
There weren’t any steps, what with it being au naturel, so there was no option but to suck it up and jump. I couldn’t loiter in the cold any longer. I stood on the edge of the concrete, my feet like blocks of ice.
‘Is it deep enough to jump?’ I asked, gingerly. Last chance to tell him to do one. I was supposed to be on holiday after all. I was in charge here.
‘Like I just did, you mean? Yes! It’s very much deep enough. Completely safe.’ And I was completely in charge. ‘Are you ready? One, two, three, GO!’
I held my nose and scrunched my eyes shut, leaping out towards him.
Anticipating ten seconds of ice-cold hell before I’d be allowed to wrestle myself back onto dry land.
But I hit the water and it was… warm. It was bloody gorgeous, in fact.
I’d been faffing about, freezing my tits off while Henrik had been luxuriating in a hot bath.
I bobbed to the surface and took a deep breath.
‘It’s hot!’ I gasped, treading water like a happy Labrador, my skin tingling all over.
Henrik frowned. ‘Yes – obviously. I wouldn’t still be in here if it wasn’t.’
‘You tricked me!’ I splashed him and he laughed, a sound I was finding I couldn’t get enough of.
The water felt warmer than it had been in Greece.
Or maybe the temperature contrast made it seem that way.
And it was so clean and fresh. That’d teach me to judge by appearances. ‘How did you even find this place?’
‘Mor and Pappa used to bring us here when we were little, if we were good.’
‘And were you good?’
He laughed. ‘We were very, very good.’
‘Yeah right. I bet you and Jonas were an absolute nightmare as kids,’ I said, closing my eyes and trying to float. ‘Your poor mum.’ There was silence as the water lapped around us, doing its thing.
‘Yeah,’ Henrik said, sighing.
My eyes flew open. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean…’
‘It’s fine,’ he said. ‘You’re not wrong. We were a nightmare.’
‘What would I know? I’m sure she was hugely proud of you both.’ He stared straight ahead then shrugged. ‘Has she been gone a long time?’
Henrik shook his head. ‘Three years in December. The 22nd, so Christmas is always difficult.’
‘Was it… sudden?’ I didn’t want to pry. Well, just enough so I didn’t keep putting my foot in it. And I wanted Henrik to know that he could talk to me, if he wanted.
‘No. Which I’m grateful for, selfishly. We all had plenty of time to say goodbye.’
I didn’t know what to say to that. The thought of saying goodbye to my mum and knowing it would be the last time I’d ever see her was heartbreaking. I paddled over and hugged him tight, in case that might help, then left him to his thoughts, swimming to the other side of the lake.
Patches of labradorite twinkled in the rock, and the birds were singing their hearts out as the sun began to appear.
I practised my backstroke up and down the lake then made my way back to Henrik.
The sky was vast and clear, and the stars were somehow still visible as I propelled myself through the water.
A permanent reminder of how tiny we all were.
Insignificant grains of sand on a vast beach of universe.
The water was silky-soft, and I felt at one with nature as I cut through it, gliding back to Henrik, who was lying nestled in the rocks.
‘I’ve found a water jet,’ he said, taking my hand and reeling me in.
Thermal streams were firing from all angles, and the more I tried to resist the flow, the more it pushed me into Henrik’s lap.
I gave up and let it drag me in backwards, spinning me round at the last second so we were face to face.
‘Heyyy, smooth move. No need to jump on me though, I think we’ve established I’m interested.’ He watched in bemusement as I tried to back up, thrashing about and going nowhere.
‘It was… not… a move…’ I said, fighting against it for a few seconds before giving in. There were worse positions to be in than jacuzzi-ing with a Norwegian hunk.
‘Well, this is,’ Henrik said, leaning in to kiss me. Our bodies glued themselves together, and his kiss was slow and deliberate, making me tremble with anticipation. His expression turned dark with desire as his lips teased me, biting and kissing my neck.
‘Do you like that?’ he whispered as I quivered beneath his hands.
I moaned into his hair and wrapped my legs around him tight as we kissed deeper and harder, lost in each other as the jets gently gushed around us.
We stopped, breathless, and swayed in each other’s arms. His hands had woken up my body and I was hungry for more, but the muffled bleating of a mobile phone disturbed the peace.
Henrik had an ancient Nokia, and the tune was straight out of the noughties. He didn’t move a muscle.
‘No interest?’ I asked as it started ringing a second time.
‘Not when I’m here with you. Tore is the only one who ever calls,’ he said dismissively. ‘Jonas sends a text.’
‘What if it’s an emergency?’
‘It isn’t. He’ll be confirming the boat for this evening. The one your man is on.’
‘My man?’ I said, confused. ‘Oh! You mean Mark? He’s not my man anymore.’
‘More yours than mine,’ he said, giving me a nudge.
‘Well, you’re welcome to him. I don’t know what he thinks he’s doing gatecrashing my holiday. He’s been ignoring my messages. How did he manage to book in anyway? I thought you were full.’
Henrik stopped. ‘Are you serious? He told Pappa you’d offered to share.’
‘He did what? The cheeky git!’ I was furious. ‘What time does he get in?’
‘Six-ish. I’ll call Tore back when we’re on our way.’
‘And there aren’t any other cabins available?’
Henrik shook his head. ‘He mentioned your name and said he was your husband, so with the same surname and everything Tore thought it was legit.’
‘We’re getting divorced! What was he thinking?’ I paused. ‘You didn’t think that was strange?’
Henrik shrugged, looking past me and out over the lake. ‘I didn’t think it was my business.’