“Oh, so they just stay on the list until the chances are good?”
“Exactly,” he said, taking her hand and leading them up the road towards Laugavegur.
The Noodle Bar was not somewhere Rachel would have chosen to eat in a million years. It was very small and looked a bit on the grubby side. Not wanting to offend Jonas, she could only hope that Icelandic health and safety inspections were as rigorous as they seemed to be at home. She was sure they were; Scandinavians seemed very fastidious in general. The windows were steamed up so you couldn’t really see inside and all it had was ‘Noodle Bar’ sign-written on the window in red paint. Rachel gave Jonas a dubious look as they stood outside.
“I know it doesn't look good but the food is fantastic, it is an experience you have to have while you are here,” he insisted. “Shall I order for us? There is beef, chicken or vegetable.”
“Beef, chicken or vegetable what?” said Rachel, needing some clarification on what she was ordering.
“The noodles and broth are all the same but you can have them with beef, chicken or vegetables. Then you can have other things on top like crispy onions if you want to, and fish sauce.”
“Oh, okay, well vegetable then please.”
No way was she going to risk the meat, just in case. She didn’t think she had ever been anywhere to eat that had just one thing on the menu and she wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or a bad one. They ladled a pile of noodles into each bowl then covered them in broth and vegetables, adding Jonas’s meat after that. Then they chose extra garnishes; crispy onions for Rachel and everything for Jonas as far as she could tell; fish sauce, extra chillies, unidentifiable items.
There weren’t any normal tables, just high bar tables with stools around the edge of the small shop. It could probably only seat about eight people at a time but as it was the definition of fast food, they probably wouldn't be there very long anyway.
It just goes to show that you shouldn't judge things on their looks; the noodles were the best dish of any Asian origin that Rachel had ever tasted. She couldn’t begin to explain how delicious they were, but part of the appeal was that they warmed you from within without being very spicy to eat. In a frozen country, that was a definite advantage. She knew it wouldn’t be the last time she visited the Noodle Bar. Apart from anything else it was the perfect place to eat if you were alone.
Back out in the bracing night air, Rachel conceded to Jonas, “Honestly, I never would have chosen to eat there but it was amazing, absolutely delicious! Thanks for taking me.”
She pushed her hands deep into her pockets. They had only been in there about fifteen minutes and she wondered whether to announce that she was going to go back to the hotel or whether that was a bit rude given that it was Jonas’s invitation, so she waited to see what he was going to suggest next.
“Shall we go for a quick drink? It’s still early,” he suggested, smiling but shrugging his shoulders as seemed to be his habit as if it didn't matter to him either way.
Rachel nodded and they set off down the hill, not too far, to a small, virtually empty bar. It offered speciality beers from all over the world, listed on a huge blackboard. Rachel didn't know where to start so she told Jonas that she’d have whatever he was having. Furnished with two bottles of Icelandic beer, they sat in the window at a small table that had a little tea light to soften the darkness.
The candlelight cast a romantic hue over them both and Rachel couldn’t seem to look at Jonas without noticing how gorgeous he was while at the same time trying to stop herself from thinking about him in that way. To try and distract herself and get back to real life where Adam was the person she should find the most attractive, she asked Jonas if he had a partner.
“No, not at the moment. I had a girlfriend, Hilde, for four years but she got a job in the US. We tried to carry on, visited each other every few weeks but it didn’t work. If it had been short term it would have been fine but she wanted to stay over there and she wanted me to go too but I have my business here, I don’t know what I would do anywhere else. So, we split up about six months ago.” He fiddled with his beer bottle as he spoke, not meeting her eye and when he did look at her, he looked sad.
“Four years is a long time, it must have been really hard.”
“It was difficult but it wasn’t fair on either of us to make the other compromise so much to be together. We wouldn’t have been happy in the end if we had. So yes, it was sad but it was the best thing to do.”
Jonas sounded pragmatic, perhaps only with the benefit of hindsight, but it made Rachel think that maybe she and Adam were in danger of forcing compromise onto each other and that perhaps their relationship could be in jeopardy if they did. Jonas and Hilde were living on different continents which made it more difficult to do anything except decide to move your world to be together and that was a big ask of anyone. At least she and Adam were usually living in the same place.
“How about you, how long have you been with your boyfriend?”
“About two years. We live together in London and we’re planning to get married at some point.”
Jonas raised his eyebrows in question.
“I mean, he hasn’t proposed but that’s the plan.”
It sounded ridiculous as she explained. Ridiculous that she needed to explain in the first place and it suddenly struck her that it wasn’t very romantic. If Adam ever proposed it wasn’t exactly going to be a surprise.
“Did he mind you coming to Iceland?”
“No, not really, it was for work, kind of a promotion, so I wanted to come. The thing is, it was meant to be just for three weeks but we had a problem with the flooring in the shop and now it’ll be more like five weeks in the end. But he’s coming to visit next weekend so that’ll be nice.”
She felt as though she was trying to justify her relationship with Adam but it was almost to herself more than to Jonas.
“You must miss him.” Jonas looked at her sincerely, his eyes catching the flicker of the candle.
“I do.” The beer had made her less guarded. “But I was looking forward to some time apart just so that we would have the chance to miss each other and be more appreciative of each other maybe?”
“Hmm, Hilde thought the same. She thought being away would make us realise what we had together instead of taking it for granted. It worked, I missed her but she moved on to a whole new life and I couldn't be part of it.”
