“No, it’s fine. What can I do for you?” Rachel could see Gudrun watching as she loitered over by the door of the studio, turning away when she saw Rachel looking.
“I wondered if you’d like to go out for a drink tonight?”
Judging by Gudrun’s behaviour, Rachel guessed that news of her break-up with Adam had reached Jonas via Olafur. At least she could say yes with a clear conscience with no need to bother justifying it to herself.
“That would be great. Where shall I meet you?”
“I’ll come to the hotel for you. Is 8.30 okay?” Ever the gentleman.
“Perfect. See you later.”
Rachel walked over to where Gudrun was grinning like a loon.
“So, was that Jonas?” she asked.
“You know it was. I assume he’s heard about me and Adam?”
“Who knows?” said Gudrun, attempting an expression of innocence before she turned and went inside.
*
At just before 8.30 pm Rachel went downstairs and waited inside the hotel lobby for Jonas. Right on time he came around the corner, grinned at her and kissed her on the cheek once she’d skipped down the steps to meet him. His affectionate greetings made her feel really special. And he was never late.
“Ready?” he asked, taking her mittened hand.
“Yes, lead the way.”
Rachel had guessed they might go to Islenski Barinn but instead of turning up towards Laugavegur, they carried on towards the harbour. Aside from visiting the Harpa, Rachel hadn’t ventured around that part of town at all, assuming that all there was to see were fishing boats and buildings to do with fishing and that is exactly how it looked to her now.
“Really?” She looked at Jonas with her eyebrows raised, seriously doubting that there could be anywhere in this area to find a drink.
“Really. Have you not realised yet that I know all the best places to go?”
He squeezed her hand and they carried on, walking on the quayside, towards the black of the sea, between the boats and the buildings. The sky was clear and the moon was almost full so they could easily see where they were going; right to the end of the quay by the looks of it.
As they reached the corner where the quayside turned to the left, Rachel could see that there was a building with lights on, the only one. It looked like all the other buildings on the quay in that it was white, tall but single-storey with just a few small windows fairly high up. She guessed that it must have been a warehouse or something similar. Whatever it was now, the exterior wasn’t giving anything away. The doorway was lit by two storm lanterns hung either side. Jonas held the door open for her and she stepped into the warmth.
The whole place seemed to be lit almost entirely by fairy lights with storm lanterns hanging in between. It was very atmospheric and cosy. There was a wide balcony, like a mezzanine level, running around three walls which made the underneath very intimate and the only wall which had the full height of the building was where the bar was. It ran the full width of the building and had shelves which no-one could possibly reach, right up to the ceiling, full of bottles of clear liquid. It was beyond cool; the shelves were lit with colour-changing lights so that the bottles seemed to be full of colour-changing liquid.
They found a table, a booth really, with wooden high back benches which had reindeer skin throws over the seats. Rachel found that a bit disconcerting but Jonas explained that they were a by-product of the meat industry in other Scandinavian countries.
The bar was dedicated to gin and tonic and offered a huge range. Rachel had no idea what to choose so she left it to Jonas. Her drink ended up being a gin and tonic, obviously, with some pink ice cubes that gradually turned the drink pink and subtly enhanced the flavour.
“This place is cool, those shelves behind the bar look amazing,” she said, once Jonas had sat down opposite her.
“One of my friends opened it about six months ago. His family used to fish and owned this building but now they land the fish in a more modern port north of the city so the building wasn’t needed any more.”
After a minute, he reached for her hand across the table and looked at her very seriously.
“Jonas,” she began.
“No, Rachel,” he said softly. “Don’t say anything. I know you have split up with your partner and I’m sorry about that. It must have been difficult for you. I think you know how I feel about you and I think you feel the same. I’m not asking you to choose me forever but for tonight at least and as many days as we can get. Thinking about what would happen when you leave will just spoil the time we have now. Let’s just accept that we like each other and enjoy being with each other and there’s nothing wrong with that if it makes us happy.”
He made it sound so straightforward. Maybe itwasstraightforward.
“Well, I can’t say it’s not a good idea,” Rachel said, smiling at him as she looked into his blue eyes that could not have looked more longing, “but it’s not really ‘me’ to have a fling. It’s like a holiday romance except I’m not on holiday.”
“It’s more than that for me,” Jonas said softly.
