Page 33 of Adrift in Iceland
She nodded. His eyes were focused on her, as if he could see inside her soul. It took her breath away for a moment as she realised this wasn’t something she’d imagined. They had a connection. It had been there from the first moment they’d seen each other on the fjord, not that she’d tell anyone that, especially not Gudrun.
‘I don’t normally believe in fate or anything like that,’ she said. ‘But from the first time we saw each other, there was something. Even though all we did was wave. I mean, I wouldn’t normally remember every stranger I wave to. But I remembered you.’
‘And the morning when we met to go on the whale watching tour, I’d already made my mind up that I didn’t need someone on the boat. I thought it was pointless. But then I saw it was you.’
She opened her mouth to point out that it hadn’t felt like that, but he beat her to it.
‘It took me a little while to do the about-turn in my head, but I was so happy to actually meet the beautiful woman I had seen on the fjord, looking for whales in a little wooden boat.’
They stared at each other for a minute. Astrid could hardly take in what he’d said. He’d said she was beautiful.
‘To be clear, I didn’t think I would actually see a whale that day,’ she said.
Leifur threw his head back and laughed. ‘An important clarification.’
‘I’m a marine biologist. I just like being out on the water.’
He smiled, his eyes twinkling and full of understanding. ‘So do I.’
15
ON SATURDAY, ASTRID was in her room, packing her cases ready to head over to her new apartment.
‘Leifur’s coming to help,’ she said to Gudrun, who was handing her clothes out of the drawers.
‘Is he? Are you two…’
‘No.’ Because they were something, but she wasn’t sure what. She couldn’t say he was her boyfriend, or that it was a relationship. And why did it need to be called anything? They were friends.
‘You didn’t know what I was going to say.’
‘I have a fair idea.’
‘What’s he helping with? You have two cases.’
‘Neither of us will manage to carry them up the stairs at the apartment, and now that Olafur’s working, it seemed like the obvious solution.’
‘I suppose so,’ Gudrun said grudgingly. ‘If he’s helping with the cases, I could go to the shop and pick up the things we chose yesterday.’
The two of them had had a great time choosing cushions, throws, a few mugs and glasses and a couple of table lamps from Snug, hammering Gudrun’s staff discount. They also went shopping for bed linen and towels since Astrid usuallytried to travel light, so she bought cheap and left things behind.
‘That’d be great. Then we can spend the evening together sorting everything out after Leifur’s gone.’ She didn’t want to assume he would stay that long. And it was important to Gudrun to be involved, so Astrid didn’t think too hard about how much she’d like to lie on her new sofa in Leifur’s arms. There would be other evenings for that.
They got the cases down the tiny path from Gudrun’s house and then wheeled one each through the streets of Reykjavik. It wasn’t that far — less than a ten-minute walk and when they got there, Leifur was outside waiting for them. Astrid was ridiculously happy to see him. He was so much more in real life than how she held him in her head. His hair curled softly around his forehead and collar, and it looked as though he’d trimmed his beard. He was wearing a Lopi sweater, jeans and boots and had his hands in his pockets, and a lop-sided smile as if he was nervous.
‘Hæ.’ He kissed Astrid on the cheek. ‘Hæ,Gudrun.’ He took the case from her.
‘Thanks,’ Gudrun said with a nod.
‘You have the keys?’
Astrid unlocked the door to the building, and the three of them went inside, taking the cases between them.
‘Lead the way,’ said Leifur, hefting one case onto his shoulder as if were filled with fresh air.
Gudrun, her eyes wide, shot an impressed look at her sister before she headed upstairs. Astrid couldn’t help grinning. She’d had the same reaction. It was hot.
Astrid unlocked the door and stepped inside the apartment. It was just as she remembered, and the same feelings of it being exactly the right place came flooding back.
