It sounded so trivial when she said it out loud, but there was no hint in Mats’ eyes that he thought that. He listened, properly listened to her. And aside from her sisters, if they were in the right place at the right time, it was the first time anyone had been there for her like that. Certainly not Curtis.
‘And I don’t think it’s going to work in the way I planned,’ she said, blowing her nose and wishing she’d had more than one date with Mats before he saw the reality of her life.
‘The main issue is you don’t have a maker. If that was sorted, you would be okay.’
He wasn’t asking her so much as setting out the problem.
‘The main issue is I’ve bitten off more than I can chew. I’m not going to pull this off, Mats. This is literally the first part of my plan, and it’s already failing.’
‘The first part was the strategy, which must be solid or you wouldn’t have won the business,’ he said, while he looked at her intently, trying to make his words sink in. ‘This is the execution. It’s a distinct thing, and it sounds as if you are up against problems that not even the head office of Snug was aware of. If you thought, and they thought, there were already makers on the books, finding a new one to work with was not part of the strategy. And that is why the execution is failing.’
Lotta looked at him in awe. ‘That’s it exactly. I’m getting bogged down in this when it was never part of the plan.’
He smiled and hugged her to his side. ‘So you acknowledge that and then move on to problem-solving this. Because I am guessing there is no one you can ask to do it for you?’
She shook her head. Perhaps she should have batted this back to Clemmie straight away. Told her that there were no makers to choose from in the Oslo store and asked her to get Elin’s head in the game to help. But it was too late for that now. She’d thought it would be an easy win to find someone to work with, and she’d underestimated how hard that would be. And now she had to fix the mess by herself.
‘I wanted this to be the contract that changed the fortunes of my business, and it could have done if everything had gone smoothly.’
‘You don’t have anyone else you work with?’
‘Not at the moment. I have a website person and a graphic designer who work freelance for me, but it’s just me.’
He chuckled. ‘It’s impressive, Lotta. Just to get to this point as a one-person business, to win a contract for a brand like Snug. You have to have some belief in yourself to even pitch for that.’
‘It was a rare moment that was probably more self-delusion than self-belief,’ she said, smiling at him.
‘Would you let me help you?’
What could he possibly do to help? Start trawling websites like she’d been all afternoon? ‘That’s so kind of you, but it’s okay. I’ll find someone.’
‘I think I know someone. Well, my sister does.’
Could she let him? Aside from the fact that it felt like a cop-out, the last time she’d listened to someone who’d said they would help her, it had backfired spectacularly. But then like he said, what she was trying to do now was never part of the plan. What harm was there in taking a tip-off if it put her back on track? ‘What do they make?’
‘She specialises in traditional folk painting,rosemaling, it’s called. Decorative painting, usually on wood.’
Lotta sat up straighter. He could be onto something here. ‘I saw the exhibition of chests at the Folk Museum showing how a couple of centuries ago they were often the only thing people owned and they kept all their worldly possessions in them and decorated them beautifully with paintings of flowers, that kind of thing.’
‘Exactly. Would you like me to make the call? Ask Ingrid for her email address?’
‘I’d love that, thank you. Do you think your sister could give her a heads-up to expect an email from me?’
‘Sure. Do you still want to go out, or shall I go out for something we can eat here?’
‘Let’s go out. But somewhere… easy.’
He laughed. ‘See you downstairs. I’ll call Ingrid while you’re getting ready.’
Lotta exhaled, feeling some of the tension leave her now that she had a potential lead. ‘Thank you so much.’ She kissed him, wondering whether this was what it was like to be in a normalrelationship with Mats or whether he was going above and beyond because he was trying to impress her.
Mats left, and back in the bathroom she laughed when she saw herself in the mirror. Red-nosed and red-eyed, there was absolutely no reason Mats would try to impress her. She’d be surprised if he were even waiting downstairs for her. He’d probably taken the opportunity to run a mile. But she didn’t believe that. At least she could enjoy the rest of the evening without the pressure of having to come up with another lead.
Of course he was waiting when she went downstairs a few minutes later.
‘Ingrid was very excited about your project, so I think she’ll talk Oda into helping you.’
‘I hope you’re joking,’ Lotta said.
