Rachel wondered for a second how he knew where she was staying but realised that of course he knew. It was a transfer.
They had started to pass more houses, it was becoming more built up the closer they got to the city and the road had turned into more of a motorway. Jonas began to give a running commentary over the speaker system on the sights they were passing. Then, all too soon, he announced that they were almost there.
“In a minute, we will start to drop you at your hotels but first we will drive past the harbour to show you the opera house, Harpa. Some people think it is very beautiful although many people think it is ugly.”
Rachel gasped when she saw the large glass-paned building made of a metal, honeycomb type structure that had an amazing light installation across the entire front of the building making it look as if the Northern Lights were shimmering across it.
“It’s beautiful,” she said. “It looks like the Northern Lights, the closest I have ever seen to them anyway.”
“This is a good time of year to see them for real,” said Jonas, “but it is very unusual to see them in the city because of the light pollution.”
Having started to lean forward in her seat, staring at the sky in the hope of a glimpse of the aurora, she slowly sat back again trying to look as if she knew that obviously, you wouldn't be able to see them now.
“You would need to go on an excursion!” he grinned and tapped the brochure on her lap.
8
THE HOTEL WAS a modest white building, traditional in style, which from the outside didn't look big enough to be a hotel. It was on a narrow street that was entirely blocked when the minibus stopped outside. Jonas jumped out and unloaded the bags, carrying them up the steps to the door. He held his hand out and when Rachel took it to shake, he pulled her towards him and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. He smelled gorgeous; musky mingled with fresh air.
"Good to meet you, Rachel, I hope you call me about an excursion."
"Thanks, Jonas, I will,” she said, slightly surprised by the kiss. She grabbed her holdall and managed to man-handle her case through the door as they drove away.
The hotel had a lovely welcoming foyer which was modern but cosy with a log fire opposite the reception desk and a couple of easy chairs.
Rachel’s room was up in the eaves and the receptionist had assured her that she would see glimpses of the sea through the roof windows in the daytime. It had a thick carpet, a huge bed and an amazing bathroom with a walk-in shower and a bath with jets in. All the decor was shades of grey and cream with accents in mustard and reds, very Scandi and very Snug.
She unpacked straight away and then sat on the bed to check her emails. Amongst all the usual rubbish in her inbox was a message from Adam asking her to call when she had settled in and one from Luisa letting her know that she had a meeting at the new store at 10 am the next morning with a man from Reykjavik building control. It seemed like it would be a good idea to suss out where the store was before the morning and besides, it would be a good opportunity to find something to eat. Having had a little taste of the city on the journey, she was desperate to explore.
Rachel double-checked her route with reception and headed outside, shoving her hands into her pockets to find her hat and gloves, then pulling her hood up too. It was hard to imagine how cold ‘cold’ could be when it barely ever got down near zero in the middle of a London winter, and in hindsight, she thought she might have gone for style over substance with her choice of hat and gloves because she was absolutely freezing.
Opposite the hotel, a narrow cobbled road led uphill to a more vibrant, brightly lit and bustling street which, going by Jonas’s description, was Laugavegur. She turned right and headed towards where she thought the shop would be. There were so many interesting stores but it was an inviting looking coffee shop, Te & Kaffi, which caught her attention so she called in for a coffee and something to eat while she called Adam. She ordered a latte and a delicious looking muffin and took a seat near the back of the shop in a dark little corner. The coffee shop was made for romance and clandestine meetings, it was cosy, warm, and lit with old-fashioned pendant lights casting a soft glow over each table.
As there was no time difference between Iceland and the UK, Rachel knew that at 7 pm, Adam would probably be at home having dinner.
"Rach!" He sounded in good spirits and was somewhere very noisy.
"Hi! I just arrived at the hotel!"
"Rach, it's so noisy here, I can't hear you! Let me call you back when I get home!" he shouted down the phone.
"Okay… where are you?" she asked, but he had already hung up. Weird. He obviously wasn't at work but he hadn’t mentioned that he was planning a night out. Perhaps he was still with the American clients.
When they first met he was living the life of a single, high-earning banker. He was one of those people who got large bonuses and went on the associated wild, very expensive nights out. Since they'd been together that hadn't happened much, not that Rachel would mind, but it was just the single guys that tended to party like that and Adam preferred not to anymore. He occasionally went out for a drink with his team but these days most of his evenings out were entertaining clients.
She couldn’t help feeling a bit cheesed off that he was clearly in a bar somewhere when the night before he apparently couldn’t get away from work at all to be able to spend the evening together. A sudden pang of homesickness coupled with exhaustion made Rachel feel sad that he seemed to have time for everything else but her and she couldn’t help remembering the conversation she’d had with Anna just before she’d left.
The muffin and coffee were just what she had needed and she tried to forget about whatever Adam was doing and concentrate on being excited to see the new store. It was just four doors down from the coffee shop and had a lovely shop front with a large window, a door in the middle and a smaller window on the other side. She could already picture a living room set-up in the window. It was perfect. Cupping her hands around her eyes so she could peer through to the dark interior, she could just make out the back wall and guessed it probably went back about as far as the coffee shop did which meant it was a great size. She knew the square footage, but even after working with so many new stores, it was hard to visualise how that translated into space. Nick, the build team site manager, who she was also meeting in the morning, had the keys at the moment so without the possibility of looking at anything else she carried on strolling down the road.
As she headed back to the hotel, Rachel made sure to follow the same route so as to not lose her bearings in the dark, although that would probably happen in daylight too at this stage. Everything was so pretty in the dark. There were lots of fairy lights strung in the trees which lined the pavements, and the houses that she could see on the side streets had twinkling lights decorating their gardens as if it were still Christmas time.
A book shop, which seemed to be a coffee shop too, was ahead of her, just about opposite the little side street she knew she had to go down to find the hotel. It looked so welcoming and she could see through the large windows that they sold lots of other things besides books. Five minutes later she had purchased a pair of authentic Icelandic knitted gloves with fleece lining. The outside of the gloves were patterned with bright colours interspersed among the light grey background, reminding her of Jonas’s woolly hat.
She walked back to the hotel with a warm feeling of contentment. The adventure had begun and was off to the best possible start.
9
RACHEL WOKE THE next morning feeling well rested; she must have slept deeply. She got up and opened the blinds, surprised that at 8.30 am it was still completely dark outside. Having got dressed in all her layers, she went downstairs for a lovely breakfast and by the time she finished at 9.30 am, it was still no lighter which felt very odd.
