‘Really?’ he asked. ‘That is exactly what a compulsive liar would say.’
‘Bite me again,’ Chloe whispered in his ear. ‘Make it look as far from a chisel shape as you can.’
He laughed and kissed her lips instead until they were again so wrapped up in the passion she started to shiver.
‘You are cold,’ he said. ‘We should not stay here too long.’
‘Just hug me warmer,’ Chloe said, burrowing into him again. ‘And talk to me. Tell me about Magnús and how long you’ve been looking after him.’
‘The volcano, it was not expected to happen. And I know that these things do not follow a precise calendar, but the volcanologists can predict a close approximation. But not this time.’ He sighed, remembering back. ‘A friend, he texted me about the eruption, and I got in my truck and I drove there.’
‘You drove towards the volcano?’ Chloe asked.
He nodded. ‘What was I going to do? Sit in my safe home and wait for news about the deaths of people, the loss of animals and nature?’
‘Most people would have done exactly that or, I don’t know, tried to help from a distance. Not put themselves in danger.’
‘I think I was just confident that, knowing the area very well, having experienced eruptions before, it was my duty as an Icelander to try to help.’
‘And there was Magnús?’ Chloe asked. ‘On the road? In a field?’
‘Actually, Magnús was underneath a wheelbarrow. And he was terrified. He was covered in ash, he had burns, it really is a miracle that he survived.’
‘So, you just took him to the hospital and then gave him a home?’
Chloe’s outside perspective was making it sound like it had been easy but it had been anything but. It had taken Magnús weeks to get out of the hospital, longer to even speak about what had happened, and all the while, in the background, Gunnar was working with the authorities to be able to become his guardian.
‘He was in hospital a long time and then the papers for me to become his guardian were taking even longer. I do not know if it was because I was a single man and that usually these things are done by a couple, but I decided I needed to ask someone for help for Magnús’s sake.’
‘Who?’ Chloe asked.
‘Someone else I should have told you about much sooner,’ Gunnar said, sighing. ‘Her name is Hildur and she is the most cranky, irritating, opinionated woman I have ever met. But she is also one of the wisest, kindest people I know too. She was my mother’s friend and I fear she is someone my mother set the task of looking out for me after she died.’ He paused before continuing. ‘Hildur offered to move into my house and help with Magnús. She thought that having a woman in the home would make the paperwork on Magnús’s guardianship speed up.’
‘And was she right?’ Chloe asked him.
He nodded. ‘Yes, she was. She is right about most things. Except she is very bad with spatial awareness when it comes to roofs.’
‘What?’
‘It is a long story,’ Gunnar said. ‘Thankfully one that everyone has survived to be able to tell the tale of over dinner.’
‘I don’t understand,’ Chloe said, looking bemused.
‘I know,’ Gunnar replied, holding her hands again. ‘But I want you to. Will you come to dinner with me? To my home. Meet Magnús and Hildur, when she gets out of hospital.’
‘Hospital?’ Chloe exclaimed. ‘Well, is she OK?’
‘Yes, she is OK,’ Gunnar said. ‘But my life is currently a lot of drama. I will understand if it is all too much and?—’
‘No,’ Chloe said. ‘We aren’t going to let honesty and the truth of things change how we feel towards each other, remember?’
‘I remember,krúttio mitt,’ Gunnar said, cuddling her to him. ‘I also remember that you like it when I kiss you… here.’
He put his lips to the space just behind her ear and he felt her weaken against him like she had in the water before.
‘I do like that,’ she breathed. ‘And do you know what else I’m going to like?’
‘What?’
