Chloe sighed. ‘OK, let me be straight with you.’ She sat down again, lowered her voice. ‘I don’t have laryngitis.’
‘Oh really,’ Kirstin said, sounding unsurprised.
‘And I don’t speak Icelandic either.’ She sighed. ‘I know my boss, Michelle, told you I did and she didn’t lie, she thinks I do speak Icelandic, so the lie is on me.’ She took a breath. ‘And that’s why Gunnar is here, but he’s apparently talking and arguing with you in English so, if you don’t mind, perhaps we could continue this discussion in my native tongue rather than yours, and make it about the Sinclairz Chairs anniversary event, not whatever Gunnar turned it into. If that’s OK with you.’
Chloe picked up her latte cup and took a large swig before putting the cup back down on the table. She hoped it wasn’t too late, that her lie and whatever performance Gunnar had put on wasn’t going to have scuppered the whole thing.
‘OK,’ Kirstin said, finally. ‘But I only have perhaps thirty more minutes so we should not waste any more time.’
‘Fine by me,’ Chloe said, tapping some keys on her laptop.
‘And it is definitely fine with me,’ Gunnar said nodding. He picked up his Americano and headed towards the bar.
‘So, Chloe,’ Kirstin said. ‘Let us start again, yes?’
‘Yes,’ Chloe said, a sigh of relief leaving her. She held out her hand. ‘I’m Chloe and I am really excited to be planning out this event for Sinclairz Chairs. Honestly, it’s an honour.’
Kirstin shook her hand. ‘It is very nice to meet you. Or, as we say in Icelandic,gaman að hitta þig.’
‘Yes,’ Chloe answered. ‘A phrase I am completely unfamiliar with. Let’s get started. I have made a short PowerPoint.’
38
Gunnar was working his way through a large bowl of nuts on the bar that didn’t really go with the strong, slightly bitter taste of his coffee. Bitter. That was how he was feeling if he was honest. Seeing Kirstin again had thrown him. And, for some reason, everything about her being here had made him angry. Why was she back in Iceland? Why was she here in this moment? Why was she the person that Chloe had to impress? What was the universe trying to get across to him? That Kirstin had moved on and her life was so much better without him in it? That he still had some kind of feelings towards Kirstin or had unresolved resentment about how their relationship had ended? That he wasn’t in the right place to consider moving on romantically? Maybe it was some kind of amalgamation of all of those. He took a sip of his coffee, swallowed a few more nuts. He didn’t like how he was feeling because there was emotion involved and it was bouncing inside him begging for him to address it instead of his usual game of hide and not ever seek. He glanced over at the table Chloe and Kirstin were sitting at. They were hunched over Chloe’s laptop, looking at it, and then there would be talking from each one of them, hand gestures, note taking, now some laughter… He hoped it was going well. And, if it was, that was no thanks to him.
A few minutes later Kirstin was getting to her feet, putting her bag on her shoulder and looking like she was bidding Chloe goodbye. Gunnar sat taller in his seat as Kirstin turned towards him then began making her way over.
‘So, Chloe and I have finished our meeting,’ Kirstin said once she had reached him.
‘It went well?’ he asked, palming some more nuts.
‘She is a nice person.’
‘I know she is a nice person,’ Gunnar said. ‘That is not what I asked.’
‘It’s business, Gunnar. Confidential.’
He nodded. ‘The same as it always was.’
Kirstin sighed. ‘You have not changed.’
‘Neither have you.’
‘Oh, I disagree. I think I have grown since I left this island and the closed community mindset.’
He nodded. ‘It must be nice to have that freedom. To leave whenever you feel like it, see new places, meet new people, think only of yourself.’
‘Gunnar, there is no point in us having this conversation. What happened, happened.’
‘What happened,’ Gunnar stated, ‘is that I told you I was responsible for a child and you told me it was over.’
He hadn’t meant the words to come out so hard or so loud and he flicked a surreptitious glance over to Chloe who seemed to still be looking at her computer.
Kirstin sighed. ‘Gunnar, if you think it was just about that then you’re wrong. You knew I wanted to travel, explore my career options and?—’
‘And there was no reason that you couldn’t do that and for us to still carry on. People who care about each other can make anything work if they really want to.’
‘If they have the same goals,’ Kirstin stated.
