Page 76 of Ignited in Iceland
‘Yes. I’ll come first thing in the morning. How long will you need to stay?’
‘I don’t know, maybe only until tomorrow. I need to see someone about my ankle tomorrow, then maybe I am good to leave.’
‘Bye.’ She kissed him again, their lips pressing together as if they might never see each other again. Because they both knew that could have been the case after the last time they’d kissed.
It was on the tip of Iris’s tongue to say that she loved him. It was almost overwhelming her but she didn’t say it. It wasn’t the right time, and however much she wanted to let herself go and take the second chance that they seemed to have been given, she was worried that it was the intensity of the situation that was driving Siggi’s turnaround. Perhaps in the cold light of day he would feel differently.
Olafur drove the four of them across town.
‘Do you think Siggi is going to manage at his flat?’ Iris asked the others.
‘I asked Rachel to see if he could stay at Anna and Ned’s place while they are in London,’ said Jonas. ‘He could stay with us, but we have stairs too and our place is out of town. At least he can get around if he is at their house.’
Iris wanted nothing more than to move in to Ned and Anna’s and look after him, but they were a long way from that being a good idea. Hopefully tomorrow, they would have a chance to talk.
Iris was woken by her phone ringing. She reached for it, still half-asleep.
‘Iris! It’s happening!’
‘Bjarkey?’
‘The fissure is erupting!’
Iris sat up in an attempt to rouse herself. ‘Where are you?’
‘At the office. Can you come? I’ll come and pick you up?’
Iris checked the time. It was four in the morning. By the time she’d been dropped back at the hotel last night and calmed her mind enough to fall asleep, it had been around one o’clock. Only three hours sleep. She groaned, but climbed out of bed reminding herself that this was what she’d been waiting for.
She washed her face, cleaned her teeth, and pulled her hair into a ponytail to avoid having to think about making it look presentable, dressed in the usual multiple layers that she was now used to, then ran downstairs to wait outside for Bjarkey.
The street was eerily quiet. It was the first time she’d seen it with no one around and it felt like a real adventure to be pulled from her bed, and be out and about in the middle of the night.
‘Hey!’ Bjarkey said, looking much livelier than Iris felt when she climbed into the car. ‘You are not going to believe this.’
They pulled around the corner and Bjarkey turned right, onto the main road that ran along the seafront.
‘Oh my god!’ Iris’s hands flew to her mouth. In the distance, there was a line of red fire running across the far horizon. ‘I can’t believe we can see it from here!’
‘I know. It is completely unprecedented. Stunning.’
Iris nodded. Itwasstunning. To think that the fissures they’d been looking at yesterday morning had all of this waiting underneath, ready to put on this spectacular display.
‘Oh god,’ she said again. It hit her what a close call Siggi, Jonas and Olafur had had. ‘Siggi had an accident yesterday and was stuck out on the Reykjanes peninsula somewhere. His friends went out to find him.’
‘Is he okay?’ Bjarkey asked, her joy turning to concern.
‘He is, but if this had happened a few hours earlier.’
‘But it didn’t.’
‘But —’
‘Iris, you will drive yourself mad thinking of things like this. If they are all okay, that is good. There is nothing to be gained from dwelling on it.’
Iris nodded, but she couldn’t get the thought out of her head. It had been too close. What had Siggi been doing? He knew it was a dangerous area.
‘So is it all back on with you two?’
