‘I need to get on the boat now,’ Chloe said quickly. ‘I will let you know how it all goes.’
‘The same with my sheep piss shake. Bye.’
Chloe ended the call, pocketed her phone and was just about to put her glove back on when there was a queue surge and she found herself being barrelled through the door of the boat and arriving on board at pace.
And then, suddenly, she was covered in coffee.
11
‘This was not my fault. You walked into me and…’ Gunnar stopped talking, his now empty cardboard cup of coffee still in his hand, as he looked at the woman wearing the contents down her coat. ‘Chloe.’
‘But, honestly, you may as well call me Americano, Olga! I’m covered in it!’
‘I see,’ he answered, rather pathetically even he had to admit. ‘And there is some on the floor. Listen, everybody!’ He was using his outside instructional voice now. ‘Please take care coming through the door until this is cleaned up!’ He took Chloe’s arm and led her away from the spillage. ‘Sit here. I will be back.’ He patted the edge of a bench next to a set of stairs going upwards.
He was going to get some paper towels to mop the floor up with and then he was going to think about how to clean coffee from a coat that unfortunately wasn’t black. Why was everything going wrong today? Why couldn’t he just have some plain, no-drama routine?
With the spill on the floor cleaned, a plastic bottle in his hands, he went to turn his attention to Chloe and her coat but when he looked back to the bench she was gone. There was only one place she could be. Without thinking too hard, he headed towards the door to the ladies toilets.
‘What the hell are you doing?’ Chloe erupted as he rushed into the small space.
‘I could ask you the same question,’ he said. She had her coat off and the large stain down the front was being held under running water. ‘Is that hand soap you have on there?’
‘What else is there?’
‘It will not work with that. Here.’ Before she could suggest any alternative, he had squeezed from the bottle he was holding and bright blue liquid squirted on to the coat.
‘Oh my God, you’ve made it worse!’
‘Give it to me,’ Gunnar said, hands on her coat.
‘No! You’re actually insane.’ She tugged the coat back.
He let go. ‘OK but, I am being honest with you. This liquid is very good. In Iceland we put it on any stain and it is like magic. Just rub it into the fabric and the blue will disappear and the foam will start and you will see the coffee go away.’
He almost breathed a sigh of relief when she worked the detergent into the material and it started to lift the brown as he’d described.
‘See, it is working,’ he said.
‘Lucky for you,’ Chloe answered. ‘I was drafting the one-star review of this trip in my head already.’
‘Really?’ Gunnar exclaimed. ‘On a trip to see Iceland’s most famous sight, you would give one star before the boat has left the harbour? Because of an accident?’
She turned the tap off and drew out the portion of her coat that was wet. Instinctively, he pulled some paper towels from the dispenser and began to dab the damp.
‘A lot of accidents seem to happen when you’re around,’ she remarked. ‘What are you doing here anyway?’
‘I am working.’ He smiled, still dabbing her coat. ‘It is nice to see you too.’
She laughed. ‘I did not say it was nice to see you.’
‘But you will think it. Now that I have saved your coat with the washing liquid and… when I buy you a drink to apologise.’
Why had he said that? And buying a woman a drink when he was working and on a very fine line with Erik wasn’t wise either. Suddenly the small bathroom felt even smaller as he realised how close together they were standing. He stopped wiping at the coat, inched back. What was she going to say?
‘Áttu vin?’ she asked.
He laughed. ‘Yes, there is wine.’
