Page 65 of Ignited in Iceland
They all said yes. Iris was hesitant since she had half a pint left, but Anna said, ‘Same again, Iris?’ So she nodded and thanked her, slightly stunned to be having a drink bought for her by Ned Nokes. Even her brothers would think that was cool.
‘Okay, we’re on,’ said Ned, coming back with a tray of drinks. ‘Thor says this kind of thing is something Icelanders take in their stride.’
Jonas and Olafur exchanged glances and a couple of words in Icelandic which made Iris think they may not entirely agree with Thor, but once the music started a few minutes later, everyone in the bar was enjoying themselves as if it were any normal Tuesday night.
‘Where has Siggi gone surfing?’ Iris asked Olafur when they were chatting between songs.
‘I think to Sandvik. That is his usual spot.’
‘Is that north of here?’
‘No, it is south-west…’
Iris could see by Olafur’s face that he knew she was about to put two and two together.
‘Near Hraunvik.’
He nodded. ‘Siggi knows the dangers. The road to Sandvik does not have to be through Hraunvik and the civil defence will have closed all the roads leading to that area. He will be safe.’
‘Right.’ But it didn’t sit well with Iris that he’d gone to that area, possibly not knowing what was happening in Hraunvik, and not making an informed decision. She imagined he’d gone to clear his head. That’s what it sounded like. And perhaps if she’d messaged him earlier, he might be here now.
‘Iris. He will be back before they have finished evacuating Hraunvik. He is not in danger.’
She forced a smile. ‘Okay.’ Perhaps she should text him. But how likely was he to heed anything she said? Like Olafur said, Siggi was well aware of the dangers. Or thought he was.
It turned out to be a great night and Iris was glad she’d bumped into Olafur and Gudrun. She recognised some performers from the week before, but the clear highlight was Ned. He sang one song she knew and one she didn’t, which he said he’d only finished that afternoon.
‘He does all of his songwriting here now,’ Anna explained. ‘I don’t know why, but it works for him and we get to spend more time together in Iceland. In London, he’s always getting dragged off to do PR stuff.’
‘Do you always go back to London with him?’ Iris asked, interested in the dynamic of their relationship.
‘Mostly, but he spends more time here than I do. I need to be in London for work a lot of the time. I run a music PR company which is very UK based. And I learned early on that he needs his own space.’ Anna smiled. ‘Are you and Siggi serious enough to have talked about this kind of thing yet? Are you wondering how it could work long term?’
Iris sighed, the beer having lowered her defences. ‘We haven’t. But I’m not sure Siggi’s the settling down type. I had a job offer from the Met Office here and he didn’t take it well.’
‘Right. I don’t know him very well, he’s away a lot, but he’s a nice guy. Perhaps just set in his ways?’
‘Maybe,’ Iris said, gauging that Anna didn’t know as much of Siggi’s story as Gudrun. ‘Anyway, it’s difficult now to think about the job knowing that he probably wouldn’t want to carry on the relationship even if I stayed.’
Anna frowned. ‘I don’t get why it would make any difference. If you guys like each other, a chance of carrying on seeing each other is great, isn’t it?’
‘Maybe he feels pushed into it. We’d both agreed it was a short-term thing. A long-distance relationship isn’t what either of us wants.’
‘And now things have changed, he’s run off to surf.’
Iris couldn’t help laughing. ‘It’s fine. He needs time to think.’
‘Ned had a massive wobble when we were first seeing each other. I was here visiting Rachel when we met, and he went back to London just when things were starting to get serious. He panicked, I think. I mean, there was a lot of other stuff going on for him as well. He’d just left the band, but I still think it had more to do with the way we were heading. He was scared.’
That resonated with Iris. Siggi was scared. And the job offer had catapulted their relationship from something with a finite end to something else. Another possibility that neither of them could define as easily.
‘Hopefully when he gets back from the camping trip, we can have a proper talk about it.’
‘But don’t turn that job down because of him if it’s what you want. It’s a small town, but there’s room enough for both of you and he’s hardly here most of the time. Saying that, neither are we. We’re off to London in the morning.’
Anna made it sound so easy. And maybe it was. Being here tonight was a testament to the fact that Iris could find her own way without him by her side. Ignoring the fact that she was out with his friends, she was sure that she could find her own friends if she stayed. Having Bjarkey as a colleague was a good start.
Afterwards, Iris strolled home with Gudrun, Olafur, Anna and Ned. They all lived just beyond her hotel and it was nice to be part of a group when so often she headed home alone at the end of a rare night out.
