Page 17 of Snug in Iceland
“I think those would be too hot for me,” said Rachel, smiling.
“You would get used to it, gradually build up to the hottest,” he grinned. “Hey, come over here.” He took her hand led her towards the other end of the pool area. “This is the saltwater pool. They pump the seawater from the bay and it is warmed naturally by the geothermal activity. All the water here is heated like that.”
All she could think about as he talked was that they were holding hands. Was that okay? It seemed like second nature to Jonas but it was giving Rachel butterflies. After the brief kiss he had given her when he’d dropped her off at the hotel and now this…perhaps he was just a tactile person, Rachel thought.
“It looks so inviting, I’m definitely trying this,” she said, taking her hand from his and dipping it into the water. “It is so lovely and warm!”
“Yes, it’s my favourite of all the pools here. Very relaxing.”
As they wandered back towards the main building, she snuck a glance at him and he caught her eye and smiled.
“Thanks for bringing me here, it’s cool.”
“It was a pleasure,” he said, looking right into her eyes as if trying to convey something else. “It’s fun to show you around.”
His ready smile faded slightly and he looked so sincerely at her that she found herself looking back into his eyes, completely mesmerised.
“Look, I’m going to walk back just so I know how long it takes,” Rachel said brightly, trying to break the moment that Jonas had created between them. It wasn’t awkward but it was something.
“Okay.” He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek just as he had before when he’d left her at the hotel. “Bye, Rachel, I hope I see you again soon.”
She watched him walk towards his jeep, then he stopped and turned around.
“Could I take you out for something to eat tonight?” he called, shrugging his shoulders and giving her a lopsided smile.
“What did you have in mind?” She would be ready to nip it in the bud if it sounded anything like a date but on the other hand, she wasn’t about to turn down the offer of eating dinner with somebody rather than being alone.
“Have you been to the Noodle Bar yet?” Now he was grinning and walking slowly back towards her. “It’s famous for its noodle soup.”
“That sounds good, I haven’t been anywhere to eat properly yet.”
“I’ll meet you at 7 pm at your hotel, does that sound okay?”
“Perfect. I’ll see you later.”
He turned back towards his jeep leaving Rachel with a big smile on her face, wondering whether she was crazy to be going out with him. It could end in trouble. But she had told him about Adam and he might have a partner himself, she didn’t know. It wasn’t as if he had explicitly said that it was a date. He was probably just being friendly because he knew she was by herself and his job was showing people around. Or was she kidding herself because she couldn’t deny that she felt great when she was with Jonas and she wanted to see him again.
As she walked back to town under a constantly changing sky, Rachel tried to justify her decision to go out with Jonas. It was entirely possible for men and women to be friends and there was no evidence, apart from a slight flutter in her stomach, to suggest that there was anything more than that between them. She could easily put him in the ‘friend’ category. The feelings she was having were probably because they had just met; an initial attraction which would wear off to be a friendship. Definitely fine.
She got to the shop and as she wrestled with the slightly sticky front door, the flooring company phoned to inform her that they could start the job in two weeks. It could have been worse and all she could do now was concentrate on organising the Design Call with the new manager and try to keep herself from being distracted by anything else.
11
RACHEL WAITED IN the hotel foyer glancing up every time the door opened, wondering whether all men were tardy or just the ones that were meeting her.
She’d just rung Anna to tell her about the dinner date with Jonas. It seemed less clandestine if someone else knew.
“Rachel, there is nothing wrong with having a friendship with a man,” she’d said, “or going out for dinner with a man. Just because he’s good looking and you probably fancy him, it doesn’t mean you’re being unfaithful to Adam.”
Wise words. Rachel had told her he was good looking. He was, it was just a fact, not even an opinion. And he was the only person she knew here.
Perhaps she should have waited outside, she wondered, at which point Jonas came bursting through the door.
“Sorry, Rachel, I came straight from the office. I had to cancel tonight’s Northern Lights excursion and it took longer than I thought.”
“Why did you have to cancel it?”
“The aurora forecast is not good for tonight, we would be unlikely to see the lights so we cancelled but people who had a booking can go the next time instead. Tomorrow we will try again.”
