He dropped his head. ‘I was eighteen. I need to redecorate.’
Lotta laughed. ‘Your room is the same as when you were eighteen?’
‘Yes. Isn’t yours?’ He pretended to peer into the camera.
‘I’ve taken down my One Direction poster for the duration of this call.’
He laughed. ‘Noted. So you’ve been hanging out with your sisters today?’
‘Yes, but you went to an island.’ She’d been dying to know what that was about.
‘I inherited a farm. The farmhouse is on an island in a fjord near Bergen, and I’m going to turn it into a hotel.’
‘That’s what the chandelier’s for?’
‘Yes,’ he said, smiling. ‘I wanted to tell you. It’s important that you know this is who I am, not the guy in a suit in Oslo.’
She could hear the words he didn’t say as well. The ones telling her that if she wants the guy in the suit, he’s not the man for her.
‘I like the guy I met in the airport.’
He smiled again, and she felt as if they’d both made a choice in that moment.
‘So what did you do on the island?’
‘I met with a builder who can start next month, so suddenly it’s really happening.’
‘So you won’t be living in Oslo for much longer?’
‘I hope not. It’s a stressful job, not great if you want to do other things with your life aside from work.’
‘That sounds so exciting. A proper life-changing thing.’
‘And how about you? Will you need to come back to Oslo? I’d love to see you again.’
Lotta’s stomach flipped. She’d be on a plane to Oslo somehow, even if it wasn’t for Snug. ‘Yes, I think I’ll be there the week after next. Will you?’ Her heart was going nineteen to the dozen, partly because he’d been brave enough to say he wanted to see her again and partly because she hoped so hard that he would be in Oslo too.
‘I’ll make sure of it. It’s only right that we go on a proper date.’
‘Good. This bumping into each other approach isn’t working for me,’ she said.
He threw his head back and laughed. ‘Leave it with me. I’ll come up with a plan.’
By the time they hung up, Lotta was completely smitten. If she hadn’t realised before just how much she liked Mats, she did now and she couldn’t wait for their date when she got to Oslo.
She waited a couple of minutes until she’d stopped smiling and hugging her phone to her chest as if it were a miniature Mats, then went back into the living room. Her sisters both turned to look at her.
‘So how was it?’ Freya asked, putting the television on mute.
‘Great. We’re meeting up next time I go to Oslo.’
‘That’s exciting,’ Jo said. ‘But is that going to work in the end? Dating someone who lives in a different country? I know you might be back and forth to Oslo at the moment, but that’s not going to be the case for very long, is it?’
‘I don’t care.’ There was no point trying to construct an argument that would make any sense at all, because there wasn’t one. Mats lived in Norway; she lived in London. ‘He’s the first person I’ve met for… maybe ever, who is a normal, nice guy. Yes, it’s unfortunate that he doesn’t live in London, but frankly, I’d rather date a gorgeous guy who lives in Norway and likes me enough to call when he says he will than someone from around the corner who doesn’t.’
‘Good for you,’ said Jo.
‘How gorgeous is he?’ Freya asked.
