“Yes, he’s fine now but he won’t be able to do any jobs in the garden for a couple of weeks.”
That would be so irritating for her mum who wanted everything to happen immediately. Which made Rachel think she rang because…
“Anyway, I rang to see whether Adam could post the wool to me. I know I said it would wait until I see you but Sylvia is getting impatient so I thought that would be easier if he doesn't mind.”
Here we go, thought Rachel.
“Sorry Mum but it’s still here.”
“Oh, he didn't have room for it?” She sounded disappointed.
Rachel tensed, bracing herself for the change to disapproval.
“No, he didn’t come over in the end. He had to work over the weekend to finalise a deal he’d been working on.”
“Oh, Rachel.”
Tears sprang to her eyes because her mum sounded sympathetic and sorry for her. It made her feel homesick and she had a fleeting feeling of wanting to be looked after by her mum, for her to make it all better.
“It’s fine. I’m fine. He was really sorry, he couldn't do anything about it.”
“Oh, love. It’s such a shame for you. Your dad and I do worry about you.”
“Thanks, Mum. I’m okay. I had a lovely weekend anyway. I went on a sightseeing tour.”
Even though Rachel was just saying it to reassure her mother, she actuallyhadhad a lovely weekend.
“Well, that’s good love. We just want you to be happy and we do like Adam, we just worry when he lets you down. You deserve better than that.”
Rachel’s mother was rarely so frank. Yes, she did make disapproving noises, probably without realising it, so Rachel knew what she thought, but she’d never said it out loud.
After further reassurances from Rachel that she was alright and after her mother had regaled her with tales of the latest Skype call from her brother, she said goodbye and settled into bed with her new knitting.
Now that she was more practised with her knitting, Rachel found that it lulled her into a very relaxed state which allowed her mind to wander, a bit like when she was swimming. Whether that was a good thing at the moment, she didn’t know.
Nothing felt like real life. The things she had seen here were so otherworldly and the climate and the strange dusk that enveloped much of the day added to that feeling. Being trapped in a snowstorm with a handsome, protective man in a magical foreign land was at the top of the list of reasons why it didn’t feel like real life. Looking back on that night in particular made Rachel feel like Cinderella after the ball; she’d had a wonderful night but it could never be.
Jonas was the polar opposite of Adam; a free spirit to Adam’s calculated planning; spontaneous, fun-loving and relaxed as opposed to Adam’s more reserved, well-groomed ways. Allowing her mind to wander, Rachel thought about how Jonas made her melt when he looked at her sometimes. He just caught her eye fleetingly with a look that took her breath away with its intensity. She knew he felt something for her too. There was no denying that they were falling for each other and being so removed from her usual life gave Rachel a perspective that she hadn’t had before. She could see how her life would be if she went back to London, even now, before anything really had happened between her and Jonas and that wasn’t the life she wanted anymore. This was an opportunity she needed to take. After all, wasn’t that what had brought her to Iceland in the first place? Taking one opportunity and going back to normal afterwards wasn’t going to work. She was on a trajectory out of her life in London and that was where she wanted to stay.
21
THE STORE WAS starting to take shape now. The interior walls had been painted and the ceiling was up. The windows flooded the space with natural light and as soon as the floor covering was removed they would see how it all came together.
Because of the floor problem delaying everything, it had been decided that they’d concentrate all the efforts of Nick and his team on the main shop floor and not worry about having the downstairs office and stock room completely finished for the opening. Although Rachel had gone along with it at the time, she was aware that as soon as the stock started to arrive they would need to fill the stock room with any excess. Luisa was all for leaving it as it stood and just cleaning it up but Rachel thought it needed a bit more than that to keep the stock clean and fresh smelling. Despite it being her and Gudrun’s day off, she decided to devote a day to it herself. It didn’t matter to anyone what the standard of finish was like because no-one would notice once it was full of stock.
Rachel dragged Nick away from something he was doing with the wall lights and took him downstairs to find out what she would need to buy to paint and freshen up the stockroom.
“We’ll have time to do that before we go, you don’t want to get into it do you?” He stood there with his arms crossed, looking at her with an amused smile.
“Even if you were going to have time, it’ll be too late by then because the stock will be here and it needs to go somewhere. As soon as this room’s full, there won’t be another opportunity. I don’t mind, it’ll only take a day to slap some paint on.”
“Well, okay then,” he said with a tone that sounded like ‘I told you so’. “You’ll need a couple of litres of white emulsion and I’d get a couple of litres of floor paint to cover that concrete so it’ll stop the dust and be easier to sweep over. You’ll probably want to fill the cracks between the ceiling and walls with some Polyfilla and put some in those holes from the shelving that was here before otherwise, you’ll get brick dust in the paint as soon as you start.”
It sounded like quite a lot of stuff to do in one day, but Rachel was undaunted.
“Brilliant, thanks. Where’s the best place to go for that then?”
“We’ve got an account at a builders’ merchants, it’s just off the motorway as you head out of town in the direction of the airport. You sure you want to?” She nodded. “I’d get a couple of rollers and trays as well.”
