Page 60 of Adrift in Iceland
He laughed and leant in to kiss her. ‘That would be understandable.’
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EVEN AS HE knocked on the door of his mother’s house before he let himself in, Leifur wondered whether it was a good idea to bring Astrid with him. Although she didn’t mind if Peta thought she was on the verge of gaining a daughter-in-law, he still had the feeling that he was more invested in their relationship than Astrid.
She said all the right things, and he had stopped trying to keep himself from falling in love with her because it was too late for that. He still didn’t believe that she was going to stay here for him, whatever she said. It was one thing for him to be heartbroken if she left, but he wasn’t sure he could cope with his mother knowing quite how hard he’d fallen for Astrid. Peta would be heartbroken for him, and it would be difficult to hold himself together in the face of her sympathy.
As it was, he’d been right to be wary because his brother was there. As soon as he saw Isak, he knew it would not be good. If his brother was here on a Monday morning, it meant he’d lost his job.
‘Hey, Leifur,’ said Isak. ‘Who’s your friend?’ He got up from the table looking far too keen to meet Astrid.
‘This is Astrid,’ Leifur said.
‘Astrid! It’s lovely to see you again,’ said Peta, coming overand hugging her as if they’d known each other for years. ‘And you too, Leifur.’
‘Hey, Mamma.’ He hugged his mother. ‘Astrid, this is my brother, Isak.’
‘Great to meet you,’ Isak said, hugging her.
Leifur clenched his fists. Peta noticed and put a calming hand on his arm, shooting him a meaningful look at the same time. The split-second glance said to him, calm down, you don’t need to worry; you know what your brother’s like.
‘Coffee and cake for you both? I made aSkúffukaka,’ she said.
‘Ooh, lovely, thank you,’ said Astrid.
He nodded to his mother. She knew he loved the rich chocolate cake.
‘Day off?’ Isak asked.
‘Yes, our first day off since we started,’ Astrid said brightly.
If only he’d known Isak would be here, he could have warned Astrid.
‘Day off for you as well, is it?’ Leifur asked his brother, unable to resist.
‘I’ve been laid off,’ Isak said as if it was nothing of concern.
‘Oh no,’ Astrid said. ‘That’s awful.’
‘Isak was wondering whether you have any jobs going on the boat,’ Peta asked.
‘No, I’m sorry.’ He wasn’t sorry at all. The last thing he wanted was to involve his brother in his new start. It was one thing when he was running the family business, because Isak was family and that had given him some protection, but the fact was he was a shirker who never took responsibility for anything, and he wasn’t about to subject his new business partner and the wider company to that. He’d seen how hard everyone worked, and Isak would let him down. ‘There’s only me and Astrid on the boat.’
‘You run that boat with just the two of you?’ Isak said.
‘Well, we have Eva to help, but that’s more for guest comfort,’ said Astrid.
‘I told Isak that it had only been the two of you on the trial run, and I thought you could probably do with another pair of hands,’ Peta said, looking innocently at Leifur.
‘It isn’t up to me,’ Leifur said. ‘Jonas does all the hiring.’
‘But you could put a word in for your brother,’ said Peta.
Leifur sighed. Hadn’t he already said they didn’t need anybody? ‘Okay, sure.’
Peta clapped her hands together. ‘Wonderful. Come on, sit down and let’s eat this cake.’
Being around Isak put Leifur in a bad mood, and his spirits didn’t rise even after he and Astrid had left Peta’s house and were walking back to his.
