Lotta picked up a turned wooden bowl, the surface so smooth it invited fingers to run across it. A flower was painted in the centre at the bottom and a pretty leaf design ran around the rim. She passed it to Sophia, thinking that the texture would win her over. Sophia barely looked at it before she put it down.
‘I love this sconce,’ Clemmie said. It was a simple black metal candle holder with a loop so it could be hung on the wall, and the painted design was equally pretty.
Sophia ignored her and picked up a circular frame, meant for a mirror but empty at the moment. The wood was stained black and adorned with traditional, stylised flowers, but in colours that were not traditional, like vibrant neon pink and lime green alongside reds, blues, and greens. It gave the whole thing a modern twist but with no doubt of where its roots lay.
‘This is based on some paintings we saw on a chest of drawers at the Folk Museum,’ Lotta said. ‘They know the family who owned it, where it came from, everything, so the storytelling element is strong if we went for this.’
Sophia raised an eyebrow. ‘The sconce is a nice piece but we’ll do better with the mirror. The price point can be higher, and we can ask the maker to do a simpler version for general stock after the collab.’
‘Okay, you’re the boss,’ Clemmie said, smiling. ‘I love everything she’s done. You’ve done so well to get her on board, Lotta.’
Lotta was just relieved that Sophia had chosen one of the options in the end. She’d have been mortified if she’d had to go back to Oda for more ideas.
‘Oda’s great to work with,’ Lotta said. ‘We’ve already got some footage of her at the Folk Museum so I’ll have a look at that now we’ve decided on the product and send over a couple of preliminary reels for you to approve, Clemmie.’
‘Before the end of the week would be amazing,’ said Clemmie, as if it wasn’t Thursday.
‘Of course, no problem at all,’ Lotta said, smiling.
Lotta headed home feeling as if she’d nailed it. The hardest part was over; the client was pleased, and she had twenty-four hours to polish the content she’d already prepared.
She changed into leggings and a sweatshirt, made herself a quick dinner of pasta with pesto and vine tomatoes, and sat on the sofa with her laptop on her knees, working, while the television played back-to-back episodes of Friends.
By the time she went to bed, too tired to see what she was doing anymore, she’d got everything ready to review with fresh eyes in the morning before she sent it to Clemmie. It had been a good day, with significant progress made and reminded Lotta why she loved her job. She was doing this. She’d won that contract and, okay, maybe she’d been a little manipulated into doing more than she should have for the Oslo store because Elin wouldn’t have found someone like Oda on her own. It had worked out better than she could have imagined, and Clemmie couldn’t be happier.
The following morning, she let herself sleep, waking up naturally, feeling well-rested. She reached for her phone and smiled when she saw a message from Mats.
Mats: Ida was driving me crazy so I am staying on the island. Made a start on the new wing.
Lotta: Already?
He replied straight away.
Mats: No more peeing in a bucket for us.
She hit the call button.
‘Hey. How’s London?’
‘Grey. But good. I had a great meeting yesterday with Snug. They love Oda’s pieces, so it’s all go to launch as soon as we can.’
‘That’s great news. You’ve worked so hard, I’m glad they love it.’
She could hear the warmth in his voice and wished he was here, next to her.
‘I miss you,’ she said.
‘I miss you. The bed in the cabin is useless without you. I might as well be sleeping on the floor. It needs another person to balance it.’
She laughed. ‘You could commute.’
‘The bed is better than staying with Ida,’ he said, with a low laugh.
‘I love Ida.’
‘Me too, but I don’t love being bossed around all the time. It’s like she thinks I have no idea what I’m doing. Like I haven’t been pretty successfully living alone in Oslo for fifteen years.’
They were both quiet for a moment. Lotta wasn’t sure whether to ask about how he was feeling about his job or if it was better to concentrate on the present.
