‘What did you pick?’ Leifur asked, welcoming her back into the bed and opening his arms out so that she could lie next to him with her head on his shoulder.
‘I don’t know. But your mother’s a good cook, right?’
‘I’d say so.’
‘It’ll be fine then.’ She reached over and grabbed her phone, setting a timer for twenty minutes. Being with Leifur was like a time warp. It felt like days since they’d been on the boat, and it was only a few hours ago. ‘This is so nice.’
‘Having the day off or spending it in bed with me?’
‘Both, but mainly this. What will we do tomorrow?’
‘I want to have a lie in and I know we’d planned to spend the night together, but I need to go and see my mother in the morning before she goes to her mahjong group. Sorry.’
‘I don’t mind. Can I come with you?’
‘You don’t have to. And you can stay here if you want to.’
‘I liked your mother. It’d be great to meet her properly.’
‘She’s going to read more into it than there is.’
That would have been enough to make Astrid rethink her offer a week or so ago, but she wanted to visit Peta, and she liked Leifur far too much to be worried that anyone might get the wrong idea about their relationship, even his mother.
‘I’m not sure she can read much more into it than there actually is,’ she said, turning to look at Leifur, making sure he understood what she meant.
He grinned. ‘We’re there already? Even though it’s only for the summer?’
Astrid propped herself up on her elbow and laid her other hand on his chest. ‘Have you ever heard that the best things happen when your plans go wrong?’
‘No, but I like it.’
‘So do I. And I didn’t have a plan anyway other than to come back to Iceland while I found a job. And now I have a job, and it’s so much more than a job. I hadn’t expected to love working on the tour boat, but I really do.’
‘I want to make sure I’m not misunderstanding you. You’re saying you might stay longer? Keep working on the tours?’
She took a deep breath. It felt as if she was about to make one of the biggest commitments of her life. But she was ready for it. ‘I’m going to stay for as long as I can, if Jonas will have me.’
‘Never mind about Jonas. I’ll have you.’
By the time they left the bed, the food had been in the oven longer than was ideal, but neither of them cared. It felt like they’d reached a milestone in their relationship. As they gazed at each other with grins on their faces, eating food they still couldn’t identify but which was surprisingly delicious despite being half charred, Astrid didn’t have any regrets.
‘You don’t think you’ll get bored with looking for whalesall the time in the same place instead of being off around the world?’ Leifur asked her later, when they were back in bed and supposedly going to sleep.
‘I don’t think so. I’ve loved this week. And I know it’s too early to make a proper assessment, but I like the interaction with the guests. It’s so immediate. I’ve never worked in a job where you’re with customers like that and you get to see the difference your job is making to them. I won’t get tired of that.’
‘I’m not looking forward to the day when we don’t see a whale. Imagine the backlash.’
Astrid giggled. ‘That’d be awful. But I suppose the day will come when they move away from the feeding grounds and head south to breed. Do you think that’s how we’ll know the season is over?’
‘We can probably switch to something else in the winter. We would still see whales, but the chances would be lower. Perhaps we can run northern lights boat trips instead.’ He paused and then said softly, ‘Do you think you would still want to be here then?’
The northern lights didn’t hold as much appeal for Astrid as the whales, but now, neither of those were what was keeping her in Iceland.
‘You come out as the top reason why I would want to be here, Leifur.’
‘You like me more than the whales?’ He shifted, so that they were facing each other.
‘Yes,’ she said softly. ‘Although if I saw a blue whale, that might trump you.’
