‘No. More of a nervous airport lounge user. This is the first time I’ve done this.’
‘It is supposed to make flying more relaxing.’
She smiled, looking the absolute opposite of relaxed. The waiter came over and took her order for a glass of wine and some nibbles.
‘Could I get a plate of mezze too, please? And another beer,’ Mats said. ‘Thanks.’
‘Do you even have a flight to catch?’
‘I got here too early.’ He’d had time to kill, and he didn’t want to do it wandering aimlessly around London when he was relaxed for once.
‘You look like you’re used to this.’ She undid her hair and let it flow over her shoulders for a moment before she gathered it in her hands and tied it up, no more neatly than before, but Mats thought it looked great. In fact, she looked great.
‘Not my first time,’ he said, unwilling to explain that his company paid for it, since then she’d ask what he did and then she’d have a different impression of him that he didn’t want her to have.
‘Where are you from?’
He put his phone down and leant forward. Maybe it would be nice to have some company. ‘Norway.’
‘Oh, I’m flying to Oslo.’
He nodded. ‘Me too. You’re from London?’
‘Yes, but I did have a Norwegian grandfather.’
‘Well, we’re practically related then,’ said Mats, although the last thing he wanted was to be related to her. ‘I’m Mats. Nice to meet you.’
‘Lotta.’ She smiled and her face lit up, her blue eyes sparkled, and he knew in that instant that he liked her.
Their drinks and food arrived, and they paused their conversation while the waiter placed everything on the table.
He watched as Lotta took a sip of wine, then closed her eyes and sighed. ‘Oh, that is nice.’
‘Busy day?’
‘Yes. This trip was planned at short notice, so I had quite a lot to do before I came.’
‘And what do you do?’
‘I run a marketing agency.’
‘Wow, impressive.’
‘I mean, it’s really only me, but my clients don’t know that. I have a couple of people I can call on to help me out with different things, but this new campaign I’m working on is huge. I wanted the contract so badly, and now I wonder if I can pull it off.’
Mats was surprised that she would confide in him like this, but then who better to offload onto than someone you would never see again? ‘I’m sure you wouldn’t have won the business if they didn’t think you were the right person for the job.’
‘Maybe.’ She took another sip of wine. ‘I’ve wanted a big campaign like this for years. It’s what I’ve been working towards the whole time, but now I have it, it’s daunting.’
‘I have a similar project myself. I’m renovating an old building in a place that is difficult to get to. Every single thing isa challenge, but I wanted it so badly, and I still do, but I have to keep reminding myself of that.’
‘You know, I should be sitting here thrilled that I’m travelling business class for the first time in my life, someone else is paying for it and I’ve landed the contract of my dreams.’
‘Sometimes living the dream isn’t always how you think it will be. I think for us, the journey is difficult but something that you need to go through to enjoy the dream in the end.’
‘Mats, you’re very wise,’ she said, grinning.
He laughed. ‘I don’t know where that came from. Too profound for a Wednesday afternoon in an airport lounge.’
