Mats: How did your work stuff go?
He sat and looked at that for a moment, feeling like this was the message he was going to go for.
‘Mats. Conference room,’ Ole said, popping his head around the door and not waiting for an answer.
He grabbed his laptop and headed for the conference room, leaving his phone on his desk. He could only allow himself to think about work now. The numbers he’d pored over since the meeting in London were at the forefront of his mind ready to explain to the team. He’d come away from the meeting in London with the business agreed and with the terms they’d wanted which was great. Now all they had to do was deliver on their promises, and that’s where Mats and his strategy came into play.
It wasn’t until mid-afternoon that they emerged, having sent out for sandwiches at lunchtime so that they could carry on.
‘You have some messages,’ Hanne said. ‘One from your sister.’
‘Ida?’ Mats said, groaning. Hopefully she hadn’t taken delivery of another chandelier.
‘No, Ingrid. She said it’s nothing urgent, and she’d message you instead.’
‘Thank you. And thanks for putting the slides together for today.’
‘No problem. Coffee?’
‘That’d be great.’
He sat at his desk and picked up his phone, only remembering then that he still hadn’t sent a message to Lotta. It was almost a whole day since she’d given him her number and he hoped she didn’t think that was an indication of his feelings towards her.
Mats: Sorry I’ve taken so long to message you. It’s been a busy day. How was your trip? Mats.
As well as his name, just in case she mistook him for someone else since he wasn’t in her contacts yet, he added a smiley face emoji at the end, then deleted it. Then he sent the message before he could second-guess himself anymore.
The message from Ingrid was a link to Lotta’s marketing agency website. He recognised her immediately from the photo on the homepage, but her hair was down, falling in glossy waves around her shoulders. It didn’t show her brightness, or the slightly rushed, tousled look she’d had both times he’d been with her. Here, she looked ultra-professional, and he liked that perhaps he had seen the Lotta not everyone else knew, in much the same way as she’d seen him at the airport.
Mats: How did you find this?
Ingrid: I’m excellent at stalking people online
He laughed at her explanation.
Mats: Thanks. This would have been useful two days ago.
Ingrid: Well you should have told me two days ago. Give my love to everyone in Bergen.
He texted back a thumbs-up and got up from his desk to speak to Hanne.
‘Would you see if there’s any way I can get on the earlier flight to Bergen today?’
‘You’d have to leave now,’ she said after a minute or so of looking.
‘Okay. Thank you, I’ll see you on Monday.’ He grabbed his bag, his laptop and his coat and left before anyone could ask him to do anything else.
As soon as the plane took off, he felt his shoulders drop. He loved these weekends where he got to check on the progress of his project, because even though there were plenty of teething issues and lots of problems to solve and overcome, he enjoyed all of that. This was a challenge he wanted and could see the point of. It was tangible, and it was for him.
He took a taxi from the airport to the family home in Loddefjord. The house hadn’t changed at all in the decades that the Larsen family had lived there. And now, even though their parents were gone, all of their things were still there as if they’d just popped out, because none of them knew how to let any of it go.
The house was perched high on the side of the fjord, with the back of the house and the garden looking out over the water and a winding path leading the way down to a small boathouse. It wasn’t unique, all the houses in the street had been the same to begin with but over the years, new owners had upgraded them, terracing the gardens to make huge patios, and building extensions with enormous windows to take in the wonderful views.
‘Hello?’ he called out as he let himself in. He dumped his bags in the hallway and headed through to the kitchen where he found his sister, Ida, making dinner. She had headphones on and didn’t hear him.
‘Oh my god!’ She smacked a hand onto her chest and dropped a wooden spoon on the floor. ‘I thought you were coming later?’
‘I got an earlier flight,’ he said, hugging her.
