Page 13 of Adrift in Iceland
And he’d hope that the next time he went down to the shore, the woman in the boat might be passing to remind him that there was more to life than bitterness and loss. That brightness could come when you least expected it, from a passing encounter with a stranger, and turn your day around.
7
ASTRID HAD SPENT the past few days mulling over Jonas’s offer. While she wasn’t working, it was at least a way to be doing something related, and she longed to be back on the sea. Her job search had yielded nothing aside from a research opportunity in Costa Rica, which although she was more than qualified for, she wasn’t likely to get since her area of expertise was with North Atlantic mammals. She applied for it anyway, just to see if she could get it, but overall the whole situation was less than ideal and left her feeling despondent.
Again, she hired the boat. It was a blowy day, and the gusting wind in her face helped her feel as if the disappointment was being blown off her bit by bit. Perhaps taking Jonas’s job was the answer for now. Maybe she needed to re-establish her place here in Iceland. Spend some time here before the next adventure so that if she came back again, it would feel more like home than it did right now. It didn’t help that her parents had moved out of town, out of their family home, and however welcoming Gudrun and Olafur were, there was nowhere to come back to that felt like home. If she took the job, she might be able to afford somewhere small by herself, and then staying longer would be easier.
All of this was running through her head as she headedalong the fjord, her eyes scanning the surface of the sea for any sign of life. It was habit, borne of many trips on research vessels where the instruments could tell you what was going on under the surface, but there was nothing like seeing it with your own eyes. She could still remember the thrill the first time she’d seen a blue whale. They had tracked it for years, and it followed a fairly reliable migratory route. The tracking instruments had picked it up, so they’d cut the boat’s engines and all gone on deck to watch and wait. Sure enough, within a few minutes the whale surfaced, its enormous tail the last part of it to disappear under the water, giving them the most spectacular of sightings.
She rounded the headland and something caught her eye, but it wasn’t in the water; it was on the shore. The guy she’d seen the other day was there again. Standing on the rocks, waving. This time, she felt less like he was a stranger and as if, bizarrely, there was something between them. How could that be after only a friendly wave?
Astrid waved back and grinned when she saw his face light up with a smile. For her to have seen him both times she had taken the boat down the fjord, he must spend a lot of time watching the water. He’d be able to tell her what the chances of a sighting would be. The shore in front of him was too rocky to pull in any closer, but she remembered that around the end of the bay, there were some shallower spots between the rocks and it would be easier to get the boat closer. She flung her arm away from her, hoping he would understand the universal gesture for “over there!”. Even from here, she could see the surprise on his face and then, after a few seconds, he responded with a similar gesture. She gave him a thumbs-up. Both thumbs to avoid any doubt, cringing at herself because she felt like an idiot. But it worked. He started making his way to the headland. There was no backing out now, and even though she only wanted to askhim about whale sightings, she had butterflies in her stomach at the thought of speaking to him. Since they’d waved at each other last week, she had thought about him. It was a beautiful spot. Isolated but beautiful and she wondered what drove him to spend so much time gazing out at the water? Because if she’d been past twice and he’d been there both times, that indicated how often he was there.
As she rounded the headland, she lost sight of him, the boat outpacing his steps, and she almost decided against pulling in. She could open the throttle and be around the next headland before he made it and avoid this impulsive plan altogether. But curiosity got the better of her, and she pulled the tiller, turning the boat towards the shore, between two rocky outcrops where she could see shingle on the bottom. She killed the engine and waited.
The brief conversation they had filled her heart with warmth. She learned he was a fisherman. Perhaps no wonder then that he had a melancholy air about him. Astrid was well aware of the difficulties facing the Icelandic fishermen. And that explained why he had an affinity with the sea, something she was thrilled to find they had in common. Why she was so pleased about this was a mystery to her, particularly as their short conversation ended with her having discovered that she was unlikely to see any whales in this fjord. But she felt as if she knew him a little better, and that she wanted to know him even better than that. She found out that his name was Leifur before she was too far away from the shore to hear him, and she shouted her name to him, sure that she would see him again. Probably the next time she took the boat out.
Later that day, Astrid called into the Iceland Adventures office in the centre of town. Brun was in there, busy making phone calls to cancel the northern lights excursion for that evening. The scudding clouds had built up, and there wasn’t much blue sky to be seen. It was nearing the end of theseason anyway, Olafur had said, so the bookings were tailing off. Part of the reason Jonas was keen to get the boat trips going.
‘Hæ, Brun. Is Jonas around?’
Brun nodded. ‘He’s gone to park the minibus. He’ll be back. Are you taking the job?’
‘Yes. I think so.’
Brun laughed. ‘Don’t sound so happy about it, Astrid. You may end up enjoying it more than you think.’
‘I know. It’s just not what I planned.’
‘Sometimes the best adventures happen when the plan goes wrong.’
She doubted that, but she didn’t want to disagree out loud. ‘I’m looking forward to being out on a boat again. I’m just not used to dealing with people. Customers.’
‘You’ll be fine,’ he said. ‘It’s like anything you’re interested in. Once you start talking about it to other people, your enthusiasm rubs off on them. Then they’ll get excited about it, and it’s like a circle of good energy.’
Jonas came in then, which was good timing since Brun was making her rethink the whole thing. It sounded a lot deeper than just talking about marine mammals.
‘Astrid,’ Jonas said warmly. ‘I hope you’ve come to accept the job.’
‘She has,’ said Brun, giving her no chance to backtrack. Not that she wanted to now.
‘If you’re sure you’re happy with it being a short-term thing,’ she said.
‘Absolutely. Whatever works. I think we’re lucky to have you for as long as you’re available.’ He made it sound as if she was doing him a favour. ‘Come on, let’s discuss it.’
By the time Astrid left the office to head home, Jonas had fixed up for her to meet the captain of the tour boat and had suggested the two of them book onto a rival whale-watchingexcursion so they could see what was involved. His name was Leifur too, the same as her Viking.
She was nervous about the prospect of the two of them basically being in charge of guests when it didn’t sound as if Leifur had experience in that area either. Hopefully, going on the excursion would put her fears to rest, and it’d be a chance for them to get to know each other.
The excursion was booked for the following morning. Astrid was a little early. She’d been worried about missing the boat and had factored in too much time to walk from Gudrun’s house to the harbour. Jonas had suggested she and Leifur meet by the Harpa, the concert hall down by the harbour, to make it easy for them to find each other. She paced up and down the front of the building to ease her nerves while she waited.
‘Astrid?’ a voice said from behind her.
As she said, ‘Leifur,’ she turned and saw that Leifur was “her” Leifur after all. ‘It’s you!’
‘Astrid. I couldn’t hear yesterday when you said your name.’
‘You’re not a fisherman.’
