‘I think,’ Chloe began, inching closer towards him. ‘That you might have underestimated my strategy. Maybe from the very beginning.’
‘Oh really,’ he countered quickly. ‘In that case, I feel I need to question why, when we first met, we ended up on top of each other.’
She had no answer, but his words were sizzling between them and all she had to do was move ever so slightly more and…
‘Gunnar?’
* * *
That voice saying his name had Gunnar stepping back like he’d been zapped by a Taser. He had to have imagined it, right? Except, when he turned around the truth was right there in front of him. Kirstin.
‘Hello,’ he replied, the word never having sounded so awkward on his lips. ‘Kirstin.’ That felt odd too.
‘This is so crazy! Isn’t it? I am here for one night only and we bump into each other like time has not passed.’
‘So crazy, yes.’
He wanted to leave. Or Kirstin to leave. Because he had business to attend to with Chloe and not whatever may or may not have been about to happen on the street between them that had him more flustered than he currently wanted to admit, but an actual, real business meeting.
‘Should we hug? I don’t know,’ Kirstin said. Then: ‘We should hug, right?’
Before Gunnar had any chance to do anything else, his ex-girlfriend had put her arms around him and hugged him exactly how she had when they had said goodbye. And then she let go exactly the same way too.
‘So, what brings you to town tonight?’ Kirstin asked. And then it was like Kirstin only just noticed Chloe standing on the street. ‘Oh,halló.’
Chloe waved a hand but the expression on her face wasn’t a warm and welcoming smile for a new acquaintance, it was panicked, wide eyed and completely directed at him. And she hadn’t replied to Kirstin’s salutation.
‘Kirstin, this is Chloe,’ Gunnar introduced.
‘Chloe,’ Kirstin said, an odd expression suddenly on her face.
Chloe still wasn’t saying anything. And that was when the penny finally dropped. Kirstin was who Chloe was meeting. Gunnar was about to have a discussion with his ex-girlfriend about the event Chloe was in charge of planning. How was this possible?
‘You are the Chloe I am meeting. From the events company,’ Kirstin stated, hand held out for greeting.
Chloe made some kind of throaty noise and nodded. Gunnar needed to stop thinking about his feelings in this situation and start focussing on what he needed to do for Chloe.
‘And that is why I am here,’ Gunnar told Kirstin in English for Chloe’s benefit. ‘Unfortunately, Chloe cannot speak today. She has a… virus.’
Chloe shook her head at speed, like if she carried on doing it at that level it might fly off and drop to the ground. Think, Gunnar.
‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘Not a virus, obviously, because it would not be good to spread illness. It is laryngitis, non-contagious, but no speaking.’
‘Oh,’ Kirstin said. ‘That is disappointing.’
She was now looking at Chloe as if she was something potentially hazardous.
‘For Chloe it is more than disappointing,’ Gunnar stated firmly. ‘To unfortunately be unwell. But, she is a professional. There was no way she was going to cancel something so important.’
‘But, how will we communicate?’ Kirstin asked, frowning like this situation was one of the most complicated she had ever encountered. ‘And why are you speaking English?’
Chloe was already pulling her laptop out of her bag.
‘Chloe can show you the ideas she has and I can talk you through everything,’ Gunnar said as calmly as if this had always been the plan. ‘Sorry, I speak English because all day I speak English to the tourists. A habit. And I like to practice. This is OK?’
‘I guess it will be?—’
‘But, let us go inside the hotel,’ Gunnar interrupted quickly. ‘It is so cold tonight and we do not want Chloe’s throat to get any worse, no?’
