‘Here we are,’ Mats said, once they reached the clearing and the farmhouse. ‘The veranda is rotten so stick to walking on the beams until we’re inside,’ he said, leading the way up the wooden steps towards the front door.
‘Wow, this is a time warp,’ said Lars once they were all standing in the hallway.
‘Have a look round and then we can talk through what we have planned,’ said Mats.
In the kitchen, the old table was covered with the plans drawn up by an architect friend of Knut’s. They all gathered around while Mats explained the plans with reference to where they were standing.
‘There will be a double height extension on this side of the building to give us a purpose-built kitchen. The upper floor of the extension will give us two big suites and two smaller guest rooms. We’ll raise the height of the roof so that we can get four guest rooms on the top floor, and the rest of the work will be internal to reconfigure the layout for more guest rooms and en-suite bathrooms.’
Mats looked at Lars’ face, trying to read him.
‘It is as I expected from the tender document,’ he said. ‘It’s easy to translate these plans into what you want, but I think it’s important to do that with great respect for what is here already.’
Mats wondered if Lars heard his sigh of relief. ‘That’s exactly it. It should feel the same afterwards even with new parts.’
‘I know this might seem fast, but I have another client who is delayed because of a planning issue. We could start next month if that works for you? I don’t know where you are with ordering materials or if this fits in with you at all, but otherwise it would be the other end of the summer if you went with us.’
Knut raised an eyebrow. ‘Lars, would you mind giving us a minute. Maybe take a walk into the wood, have a look at the cabins that will be part of the second phase.’
They all waited in silence until Lars had left.
‘That’s an amazing offer,’ said Anders.
‘Is that true about his client, though? It seems too convenient,’ said Becca.
‘I can ask around,’ said Knut. ‘But originally he’d said the earliest he could start would be August so it stacks up.’
‘It means we could get the building work finished over the summer. The weather should be on our side, then we canconcentrate on the interiors over the winter ready for a spring opening,’ said Mats.
‘That works for me,’ said Becca. ‘I’m finished with my Reykjavik project by the end of May.’
‘It feels too good to be true,’ said Mats. ‘After having to wait for months for the approvals, I thought it would be months before we could get started. Can we get the materials in time for next month?’
‘The biggest problem isn’t ordering the materials, it’s getting them here,’ said Knut. ‘We have a plan for that already, we’d just need to put it into action sooner than we thought. The biggest thing you need to worry about is making sure the unit is clear of everything that came out of here, otherwise there won’t be room to store the materials while they wait to get ferried over here.’
‘Okay. So we’ll take Lars up on it,’ Mats said, feeling a rush of adrenaline. This was it. His project was actually about to become a reality.
‘The quicker you can do it, the cheaper it will be in the long run,’ said Anders. ‘Weather delays can cost money while people are waiting around, unable to work. This gives you the best chance of avoiding that. It’s an excellent decision to take Lars on.’
By the time they left the island, having shaken on the deal with Lars and ironed out a few other details, Mats felt as if the end was in sight when, really, nothing had changed since that morning.
‘If you need some help to clear the unit, I could work from here for a week,’ said Becca. ‘The snow in Reykjavik has delayed the floor installation at the restaurant, and everything else I need to do I can do online.’
‘That would be amazing, thank you. I know Ida said she’d deal with it, but time isn’t on our side anymore, and I can’t get away from work at the moment,’ said Mats.
‘I’ll stay if you are,’ Anders said, putting his arm around Becca’s shoulders. ‘Embla will be happy to have some peace for a week or so.’
Mats felt quite emotional at his friends’ willingness to help. Going through everything that had been emptied out of the house was going to take a while.
That evening, the four of them went into Bergen to eat. They’d booked a table at a fish restaurant on the harbour and headed to a bar for a drink beforehand.
‘Have you seen how much stuff was in that house?’ Ida said when Mats mentioned that the sorting out needed to happen now, and quickly.
‘We can start with the furniture,’ Becca said. ‘I already know which pieces we’ll keep, and the rest can be sold or given away. That clears most of the space almost straight away. You should concentrate on the personal items, Ida. Things that mean something to your family. Anders and I can sort the rest between us.’
‘It sounds like a five-minute job when you put it like that,’ said Mats.
‘I can’t believe you’ve delegated the worst part of the whole project to us and you’re not even going to help,’ said Ida.
