Page 63 of Snug in Iceland
“Well, sort of. And he’s not some hunk. Where did you get that from?” Rachel said, glaring at Stella. “God, it’s like Chinese whispers.”
“Alright, so you didn’tsayhunk but most of the guys I’ve seen here match that description,” she grinned.
“That’s just because they seem new and exciting compared to London men,” said Luisa with her typical cynicism, “underneath they’re all the same.”
“Notallthe same,” Stella giggled.
It was a long time since Rachel had had a girls’ night out, especially one with conversations like this, and it took her a little while to relax into the easy banter.
“Let’s stick to the matter in hand,” insisted Luisa, “spill the beans, Rachel. I could do with some vicarious romance.”
Rachel re-told the story just as she’d already told Stella, only adding benign details like the place she’d had dinner that night and that Jonas had slept on the sofa. Yes, they’d both slept on the sofa but it was better to tame down that side of things because you never knew who they’d tell. Stella could be best friends with someone Adam knew or something, which wouldn’t help anything.
“So that’s why you and Adam split up?” Luisa asked Rachel.
“No, it was just the straw that broke the camel’s back I suppose. Things hadn’t been right for a while and it was easier to see that from here somehow.”
“So, I don’t get it. What was Adam doing here today? What’s his job?” asked Stella. Luisa and Rachel looked at each other.
“He doesn’t work for Snug does he?” asked Gudrun.
“No, he doesn’t. And this has to stay between us. It cannot go any further.” Rachel aimed that at Stella. “Snug is probably being sold. Adam’s here working on behalf of the buyer.”
“Oh my God! Are we all getting made redundant?” said Stella, gasping and holding her hand to her chest melodramatically.
“Well, we don’t know, but he said not. He said they’d probably keep people on,” said Rachel as Luisa rolled her eyes and took a swig of her cocktail.
“Oh, dear. So, it could be over before it’s started,” said Gudrun.
“I don’t think they’ll mess around with the staff in the stores because they’ll want things to keep going as they are, at least for now. We need to remember that they’re buying the successful company which we have built and there’s no point in them buying it and then tearing it apart.” Rachel tried to sound reassuring but she didn’t know any better than anyone else. “Come on guys, let’s try and enjoy ourselves. It’s the big day tomorrow! We’ve worked hard on this store, we deserve a good night out. Skál!”
“Skál!” said Gudrun, joining in straight away. “Skál!” she said again gesturing for the others to join in. Eventually, everyone had clinked everyone else and they vowed not to talk about work anymore.
“Hey, Gudrun,” began Stella, “is your boyfriend Icelandic?”
“He’s a hunky Icelandic tour guide, Stella!” said Rachel, finally feeling able to let herself go. Gudrun laughed and nodded to confirm that was true.
“Oh my God, I need to go on one of these tours,” groaned Stella.
31
THE GRAND OPENING day had arrived at last. Rachel was wearing her black dress, woolly tights and brogues and she felt all sparkly and excited. She loved opening day. It was usually so busy that she got to work in the shop like a proper member of staff and it was the only time that she ever really came into contact with Snug customers. It was fantastic fun chatting to people and helping them choose things.
Gudrun had the whole thing planned like a military operation and had called her entire team in for the day. She had two of them on the tills, one stationed on the door to welcome customers and hand out baskets, two people tasked with keeping the shelves stocked and tidy and the rest of the team, including Julia, Luisa and Stella mingling and helping on the shop floor. Dave had gone by himself on a whale watching trip from the harbour because Julia, in her words, only had to look at a boat to be seasick.
Rachel picked at the corner of the window vinyl trying not to be annoyed with Gudrun who was picking away at the vinyl on the next pane. It was such an immensely satisfying job that Rachel wanted to do all of it herself. They peeled it off and finally glimpsed the outside world from inside the shop. Rachel went outside and stood across the road taking in the shopfront in all its glory and even to her it looked tempting. It was still dark outside which made the shop look even cosier and more inviting.
Finally. The moment had come where she could stand back and feel proud of what she’d achieved. What she and Gudrun had achieved. This store meant more to Rachel than any of the others because she had been there every step of the way. It meant more than any of the other stores because of where it was and where it had taken her. It had brought her to this amazing place that had changed her life.
At the moment she was wavering over whether her life really was going to be better than it had been before; that hope had gone for the moment because despite her and Jonas deciding that they didn’t need to think about the future, she had been. And now those tiny little beginnings of thinking of a future that involved Jonas had gone. She tried to pin down where she had thought this future would be? She’d never expected that he would want to leave Iceland…Had she been thinking of herself in Iceland? Could she do that? That was a bigger question and a moot point now that Jonas had ended things, but Rachel knew she was going to be different. She would go back to a different kind of life and she was glad about that. Feeling the cold begin to pinch at her ears, she went back inside.
At five minutes to nine Gudrun gathered everyone around the kitchen island, Rachel was desperate for a coffee because it smelt so good, but they weren’t allowed any yet. There was already a small queue of people outside which was impressive for this hour on a dark Saturday morning.
“Thank you all for your hard work,” began Gudrun, “you’ve made the store look amazing for today. Remember, don’t be afraid to approach people, smile, ask if you’re not sure about anything and most of all have fun.”
They all clapped and then she went over to the door, flicked the latch and opened it, saying what the English people assumed to be “Welcome to Snug” in Icelandic and they were open.
Now that the shop was finished Rachel was forced to abandon the window sofa for fear of looking like part of the display so she lingered near the coffee machine for most of the morning moving occasionally to show someone the best place to put something or to help bring some of the extra stock upstairs. She couldn’t stop looking at her favourite item which was a lampshade that looked like the Northern Lights when it had a bulb inside it. She’d never seen anything like it. It had a clever double-layered shade and the inner one rotated slowly making the shimmering waves on the outer layer. There were also pinpricks all over it which looked like stars. It was beautiful, and later that day she could resist it no longer and put one aside for herself as a souvenir of her trip. Despite not having seen the Northern Lights, the thought of them and the lampshade would always make her think of Jonas.
