Page 34 of Snug in Iceland
“I’m guessing it’s cold out there?” Rachel pulled her sweater over her head and then combed her hair through with her fingers in the hope of making it look reasonable.
“Yes, very cold, but it is a beautiful day. Shall I make some breakfast?”
He began rummaging through the cupboards, managing to find long-life milk, instant coffee and some porridge oats.
“I spoke to the office and the mountain road should be open from midday. This road is bad though so I will have to dig around the jeep so we can turn it around and then we’ll take it steadily back to the main road.”
He passed Rachel a milky coffee and stirred the porridge on the stove.
“I can help you dig. I’ve never seen snow this deep before.”
“This is not deep. If it was deep, we wouldn’t be digging around the jeep, we’d be digging to try and find it.” He flashed her a smile before he went back to dishing up the porridge.
Rachel loved how easy it was to be with him. Yet again, she found herself inadvertently comparing him to Adam, thinking that she couldn’t imagine Jonas ever sulking and shutting her out. Then she reminded herself that she really didn’t know him that well, although she already felt as if he was an old friend.
“Thank you, that would be great. It’ll take us a while.”
The coffee was lovely and although Rachel wasn’t a fan of porridge, she thought it would be wise to equip herself with a ‘Ready Brek’ glow before she braved the cold.
They left the cabin just as they’d found it, minus a little bit of food, drink and some logs. Jonas left a thank-you note and a few thousand Krona to pay for the food and wood then they got their boots on and locked the door behind them.
The jeep wasn’t far along the road; it had felt further when they were battling through the blizzard in the darkness. The side road they were on was quite narrow, you could see the slight dips in the snow where the ditch was at either side of the road and there was a good forty to fifty centimetres of snow, more in places where it had drifted.
They shovelled the jeep’s wheels free of snow and then worked to make a space around it so they could turn. Even with snow tyres, Jonas reckoned the snow was too deep for them to grip effectively.
“Rachel, are you digging?” Jonas called from the other side of the jeep.
“Yes, why?”
“I think you need a break!” he said, just as a snowball hit her on the back.
“Aagghhh! You cheeky sod!”
She had already cast the shovel aside and was busy making a snowball to retaliate with when another one hit her, again on the back. She stood up and couldn’t see Jonas but she could hear him laughing.
“I’ll get you!” she shouted, taking the opportunity to make a couple of extra snowballs before the next onslaught.
Positioning herself strategically, she lobbed one over the roof of the jeep and knew she had missed Jonas when she heard him laughing all the more loudly. The next one was more successful and she heard him shriek.
“Okay! You got me!”
“Was it you? Because it sounded like a little girl shrieking!”
“Very funny!”
Rachel lobbed another one.
“Vopnahlé! I give up!” called Jonas.
“Already? You must have had more snowball fights than me, which gives you a major advantage and you want to give up?”
As she stooped to make another snowball, Jonas came around the jeep and stood in front of her, snow on his hat – evidence of a direct hit. He held out his hand which she took. He pulled her towards him as if he was going to kiss her. She felt his hands on her upper arms, his hold taking her breath away. Then he swiped her feet from under her and half pushed, half lowered her into a huge snowdrift.
“Jonas!” shrieked Rachel. “Oh, my God, that’s not a truce!”
“Youdidn’t say truce,” he said, proceeding to fall backwards so that he was lying next to her. His eyes were twinkling and she was sure hers looked just the same. “I think this has been the best excursion I’ve ever been on.”
His voice was soft and Rachel just wanted this moment to be perfect. She wanted to be able to lose herself in the feelings which were suddenly overwhelming her, but she knew she had to settle things one way or the other with Adam and despite being desperate to do the right thing by sorting things out with him independently of any other feelings she may have, that was proving to be more challenging with every minute she spent with Jonas. But she owed it to Adam and their relationship to hear his side of whatever story there was.
