Page 39 of Adrift in Iceland
‘You’re not,’ Astrid said.
‘You’ve done it plenty of times, I’m guessing?’ She nodded. ‘It’s different when it’s something you’re used to. I’ve never done it. I never even left to go to university. I’ll never leave Iceland.’
Astrid was surprised he could be so certain about that. She couldn’t imagine knowing or planning to stay in the same place for the rest of her life when there was so much to see everywhere else.
‘You don’t want to see the world?’
‘When you’re brought up with expectations about your future, you tend not to think about what you might be missing. I knew I was going to be a fisherman from, well, forever. I knew I’d make no more money than I needed to house and look after myself, certainly not enough for holidays overseas, and I was okay with that because it was the only option open to me. To be where you are, you would have been brought up to know that the world was yours for the taking, that you could do whatever you wanted.’
‘That’s true.’ She felt bad that she’d assumed that was the case for everyone.
‘I don’t mind. It’s all my parents knew because they were both from a fishing community, and that’s how it is. I mean, not always now, but I have a strong sense of loyalty to my father and the legacy he and his father and grandfather left behind. That’s what drives me.’
‘It’s very special to have such a strong connection to your family.’
‘It is. It’s different now because of what happened to thefamily business. I’ve had to come to terms with it being lost on my watch. But the fact that I don’t have kids makes it easier. I’d feel like I’d taken their future away if I did.’
‘But you didn’t want a bigger change for yourself when you had the chance?’
He shook his head. ‘I don’t think there is anywhere more beautiful than Iceland. And this way I still get to be on the sea every day and close to my mother. That’s all that matters.’
17
ALMOST TWO WEEKS later, Leifur and Astrid were onBrimfaxiearly in the morning preparing for the first whale watching tour. It was for friends and family only, so they could check they were ready for anything before they started for real in two days.
‘Lifejackets.’
‘Check,’ said Astrid.
‘Weatherproof suits.’
‘Check.’
Leifur appreciated her patience with him. She was going along with it even though they’d done exactly the same checks yesterday and no one had touched anything since. But she knew he was anxious, and it helped him feel as if he was in control of something by checking the things that could be checked. A lot.
‘First-aid kit.’
‘Check. Weather forecast?’
His head snapped up from the list he was reading before he realised she was trying to move things along. ‘Sorry.’
‘It’s okay. Remember today is going to flag up anything we haven’t thought of. But we do know we have everything on that list.’
The days they’d spent equipping the boat had been a crash course in getting to know each other, and it had gone pretty well. The biggest lesson Leifur had learned was that he was used to being in control and had a hard time letting go of anything to do with the boat.
He sat on the nearest bench and felt his shoulders drop. ‘The weather looks okay. We’re expecting winds of ten knots, which will give us reasonably calm seas. We might run into some rain in about an hour.’
‘That’s good. It’ll give the new gear a good test.’ They had racks of all-in-one waterproofs for guests to borrow.
‘And if there’s anything wrong with it, it’s too late to do anything about it before we start for real in two days.’
‘They’re the best ones you can buy. The same as the ones we wore when we went on the tour with the other company. And it’s still better to find out today than in two or three days’ time.’ Astrid sat next to him and rubbed his thigh soothingly.
Leifur would never have said he was an anxious person, but these past few weeks had been stressful. There was so much more riding on this than whether tourists saw a whale while they were in Iceland. This was his life. If he couldn’t make a success of this, what was he going to do?
‘Hey,’ Astrid said softly. ‘Let’s take a break and get a coffee from Rust.’
‘We have coffee here.’ The galley was fully stocked, ready to serve guests with hot drinks and snacks.
