Page 28 of Entwined in Norway

‘If she’s not busy.’

If Pål was surprised by his request, he didn’t show it. Less than a minute later, Ida came out from the kitchen carrying a plate of food and a mug.

‘Can I eat breakfast with you?’

Erik grinned so hard, it made his face ache. He stood up and pulled the chair out opposite him. ‘Please,’ he said.

She sat down, taking a bowl off her plate and arranging it next to her.

‘What do you have there?’

‘Some yogurt with berries and granola. And a custard pastry.’

‘I’m having eggs and smoked salmon. You think I’ve made a good choice?’

‘I think you should get one of these from the buffet before they all go,’ Ida said pointing to her pastry. ‘But the eggs will be delicious too.’

Erik left the table to fetch himself a pastry, and while he was there picked up some chia porridge. By the time he came back to the table, his coffee had arrived.

‘The chia porridge is gorgeous,’ Ida said. ‘I usually have that for lunch if there’s any left.’

He took a spoonful from the glass it was served in. It was creamy and had a fairly firm texture, not what he was expecting at all. ‘Delicious. I enjoyed last night so much.’

Her eyes sparkled as she smiled at him while crunching through a spoonful of her own breakfast. ‘I did too.’

‘I thought afterwards, we should have exchanged numbers so you could text me when you got home.’

She looked at him quizzically. ‘I’m always out on my own. It would be weird to have to check-in with someone.’

He hadn’t thought of it like that. He’d just been thinking of his own worry that he hadn’t been able to see her home safely. ‘I guess it is weird when you put it like that.’

‘Sorry.’

‘No need to apologise. I should have realised you’re more than capable of getting yourself wherever you need to be without having to let me know.’ This conversation was veering into strange territory for people who met for the first time a couple of days ago. His innocent comment about texting had blown up in his face, that’s for sure.

They finished breakfast and walked into the entrance hall together.

‘What are you up to today?’ Ida asked.

‘I’m going to take my kayak out.’

‘Looks like a great day for it. I’ll see you later.’

She turned away from him and he headed upstairs to get his things with a sigh. How had the wonderfulness of last night disappeared so quickly? It was hard to believe it was all about his misplaced concern that she got home okay. He’d honestly thought that comment would result in them exchanging numbers and he couldn’t have been more wrong.

With his small daypack stuffed with waterproofs, a bottle of water and some snacks, Erik headed to the jetty to pick up his kayak. It was still exactly where he’d left it on the grass, partly hidden by a bush. He picked it up and slid it into the water, then climbed on.

Knowing exactly where he was heading, but feeling nervous, as if someone might see him and guess what he was up to, he paddled up the fjord that ran to the left of the island rather than going behind the hotel on the other side.

The paddle along the length of the island took him alongside the part of the island he’d walked the day before, ending in the tip at the opposite end where the mountains rose in front of him spectacularly. The end of the fjord wasn’t visible because it curved to one side. Another day he’d carry on paddling up that way and see what it looked like. But today he was on a mission.

Curving back on himself around the tip of the island, he paddled to the opposite shore, stopping well before the back of the hotel came into sight, choosing a place where he could easily hop out of the kayak onto the shore. He pulled the kayak out of the water and stowed it out of sight behind a copse of young spruce.

He followed the shoreline, keeping a tree or two between him and the water so that he was out of sight, although who was likely to be looking, he didn’t know. He’d never done anything that felt like spying before, and he clearly wasn’t a natural. But was it even spying when it was potentially your own land you were searching for? If he hadn’t made friends with Ida, he didn’t think he’d feel like this at all.

After a few minutes, the feel of the forest changed, and Erik realised he had found the spruce forest that was part of Strandgården. The trees were spaced pretty regularly; their wide trunks straight and true. There were fewer stray branches on the lower parts of the trunks. It altogether looked tidier, as if these trees had been looked after instead of being left to nature, at least for the first part of their lives.

He changed direction and headed inland. The land went from relatively flat near the water into a steeper incline, which he had to negotiate by walking in zigzags back and forth along the hillside. It was lucky that there were plenty of trees to use for balance because it was tricky ground to negotiate. The muscles in his bad leg were still recovering. It could be many more months before he saw more improvement there, and while for walking in normal places it was fine, this terrain was problematic.