Page 44 of Entwined in Norway

She was so used to looking out for herself, protecting herself. Putting on a front so that no one would know that there was a vein of sadness running through her that she’d thought was something she’d have to live with forever. It wasn’t only grief. This was something different that had already been there before her parents died. It was smaller then, but born of the growing realisation that while she might be successful in the corporate world, she wasn’t able to replicate that success in her personal life.

Ida hadn’t been one of the popular girls at school. She hadn’t had a boyfriend, even though she’d been desperate to be one of those girls who always had a boyfriend with a seemingly endless line of boys waiting for their turn. In the middle of her two brothers, with her two younger sisters too small to be playmates except to each other, she grew up tough. And that wasn’t what boys wanted; they wanted their girls pretty and feminine, and Ida knew she was neither of those things.

And it became clear to her that a lot of men still wanted that even once they were grown-ups. In the circles Ida had mixed in, she met men who were career-minded and still, in her view, old-fashioned enough to want “the right kind of woman” on their arm. A woman who would put their career ahead of anything she might want for herself. And that wasn’t Ida. She knew the world didn’t consist entirely of men like this. Her brothers weren’t like that at all, well, not Mats at least, and that was the only thing that had given her hope.

Erik was the first man to ever call her beautiful. And maybe that had swayed her opinion of him, although she’d fallen for him way before he said that. But it spoke to Ida’s younger self. The girl who had never believed she was pretty, never mind beautiful, and it made that girl so happy.

Ida was well aware that she was setting herself up for a fall. Erik was going to leave in a week, and she’d pretend that was fine by her because it was a holiday romance with an expiry date that had been very clear. But she’d be heartbroken and back to square one, grieving something all over again, but this time with a sweetness to it because at least she’d had something wonderful for a while.

So, it was difficult to care too much about the fact that the shuttle boat was unexpectedly out of commission that day. After breakfast, she’d had a call from the skipper to say that it was a quick repair but that the part wouldn’t be here until tomorrow. Ida ran through the reservations, noting that there were six guests arriving today and she’d already seen a small group of guests who’d headed down to the jetty for the boat to take them to Bergen.

She called the new guests, three couples, to get estimated arrival times, then called some contacts to arrange boats to bring them over. The guests who were waiting to get to Bergen now were the biggest problem because there was nothing available soon enough. She could take them over herself in Mats’ boat, but it made no sense when all Mats was doing was messing around with some wood.

She called her brother. There was no answer, but she knew he was with Erik, so she tried his number, and there was also no answer.

Pål was in the dining room clearing up from breakfast before they started setting up for lunch.

‘I’m just going to find Mats. If any guests ask about the boat to Bergen, let them know it’ll be another ten minutes.’

‘No problem. Do you want me to find Mats?’

‘Thanks, that’s okay. I know where he is.’ And it was an excuse to see Erik that she couldn’t pass up.

She walked through the woods towards the cabin they were working on. It made her smile when she heard laughter. That was Mats. It would do him good to have a friend like Erik, who was as interested in the woodwork as he was. Working on the cabin before, the one he’d finished for him and Lotta, had been pretty solitary. Her brother was far too sociable to spend all day by himself.

‘Hey, you two! Have your phones fallen into the fjord?’ She tried to keep a straight face while they both started patting their pockets, looking for their phones.

‘Sorry, Ida,’ Mats said, pulling his phone from the pocket of the shirt he’d left hooked on a nearby branch. ‘What do you need?’

‘The shuttle boat is out of commission today, and we have a group waiting to go to the mainland. Can you take them?’

‘Of course. What about the rest of the day?’

‘I have the new arrivals organised, so it’s only the guests who want to go to the mainland now that we will need to fetch back later.’ She let Mats know the times of the boats she’d already arranged so anyone who wanted to could hitch a lift, then she’d leave it to him to arrange the pickup of the rest of the group.

‘I’ll see you later,’ he said to Erik. ‘Don’t do anything exciting until I get back!’ Mats walked away from them, brushing sawdust from his trousers as he walked towards the far side of the hotel.

Erik pushed up the brim of the baseball cap he was wearing. ‘Well, this is a nice surprise.’

‘It’s strictly a business visit.’

‘Oh, really?’ He grinned and took a step toward her.

She nodded, her stomach full of butterflies at the thought of Erik’s touch.

‘So I shouldn’t do anything like this…’ he bent to kiss her. ‘In case a guest sees?’

‘Exactly. That is so inappropriate.’

‘Is this too inappropriate?’ He put his hands on her waist and pulled her towards him.

She gasped as her chest bumped his, then she looped her arms around his neck. ‘Yes. This is crossing the line.’

‘I guess I have to wait until you finish for the day to cross the line again.’

He accompanied this statement with another kiss, and Ida wondered whether they might just nip into the cabin next door, which still had its walls. But no. She had some self-control, and she couldn’t walk back into the hotel with dust all over her. That’s what she focused on because Erik’s eyes were melting her self-control with every moment she stared into them.

‘I’ll see you at lunchtime,’ she said.