Page 65 of Adrift in Iceland
‘And that makes him a great guy.’
‘I know. I love him.’
Gudrun sighed. ‘This is a huge decision. You can’t change your plans for a guy you’ve only known for a few weeks.’
‘I know that too. At least my head knows that.’
‘It’s the first time you’ve been in love, As. How can you know he’s the one if you have nothing to compare it to? You can’t stay here and work on a tour boat forever instead of following your dreams.’
‘I don’t know what my dreams are anymore. But I do know that being with Leifur is a dream I didn’t know I had. I don’t know how I can tell him I’m leaving.’
‘He’ll understand.’
Gudrun was probably right. He would understand, even if he didn’t like it, but that didn’t make it any easier to tell him, or to be sure it was the right decision.
Astrid slumped onto the sofa and, after a moment, Gudrun sat next to her.
‘I’m thrilled that you and Leifur are together. I really like him, and I can see he makes you happy. What I’m saying is that until now, you’ve loved your work and you had no plans to change course. It should be the easiest decision in the world.’
‘I do love my work, and I never thought I needed a relationship to make me happy. But now, I look back and realise that I wasn’t as happy as I am now. I might not have much experience of being in love to compare that against, butI know how I feel, Gudrun. I’m happy. And on some level, I wonder whether that’s all that matters?’
Gudrun hugged her. ‘You’re right. It’s so important. I just worry that a couple of weeks is not long to base a big decision on.’
‘Leifur and I have talked about this. We agreed we’d have the summer, and now I’m going back on that promise.’
‘It’s only three months. You could come back afterwards and pick up where you left off.’
‘It’s not fair. I can’t ask him to wait for me.’
Astrid led the way back into the kitchen, giving Leifur a broad smile when he flashed her a concerned look. She’d have to talk to him about it later. Now that she’d told Gudrun, she realised she’d already decided to leave Reykjavik.
‘Leifur was saying you’re coming to the open mic night on Thursday,’ Olafur said. ‘Should be a good night. Ned and Anna are back this week, so I expect Ned and Brun will play a few songs.’
‘Oh, that sounds great,’ Astrid said.
‘It’s a good night out,’ said Gudrun. ‘Do you play anything, Leifur?’
‘Only the harmonica. One of the crew on the boat had a guitar, so it was good to while away the time.’
‘Perhaps you should join in on Thursday?’ Gudrun said.
Leifur held his hands up and shook his head. ‘Absolutely not. I’m looking forward to watching, not taking part.’
‘I’m with you there,’ said Olafur. ‘My idea of hell, having to stand up in front of everyone and do that.’
‘You kind of do that every day at work,’ Astrid said. ‘I actually love that part myself, and I didn’t know if I would be any good at it.’
‘I suppose I do,’ said Olafur. ‘If you love what you’re talking about it’s easy, right?’
‘Exactly. I love working with people, guests. It’s so satisfying,’ said Astrid.
‘Not all the time,’ said Olafur, laughing.
‘Maybe not.’ She told him the story of the woman with the checklist.
‘Ah, yes. We have had people ask us to take them to the spot where they can see the purple aurora. I guess it’s important to remember that’s what we’re there for. To inform people. That’s why they come on a tour. But you’ll always get people who get cross if they don’t get what they were expecting, even if what they’re expecting is impossible.’
‘You love the customer service stuff? I do too. I never thought you’d enjoy that,’ Gudrun said.
