‘Small world. I’ve heard a lot about Anders and Becca but we haven’t met yet.’
‘Let’s go and find Mats,’ Gudrun said, linking her arm through Lotta’s.
‘See you later,’ Hedda said.
‘Congratulations,’ Lotta said to her. ‘You deserve to be store manager.’
‘Thank you,’ Hedda said beaming.
Lotta and Gudrun headed outside. The cool evening air was refreshing after being inside, and the view, similar but not identical to the one from Mats’ apartment, was stunning.
‘So you know Elin was fired?’ Gudrun said.
Lotta laughed, loving Gudrun’s directness. ‘I didn’t know that, but I could have guessed. So you’re showing Hedda the way a Snug store should be run?’
‘Exactly,’ said Gudrun. ‘Hedda already knows, so it’s actually fun to hang out in Oslo for a few weeks. I used to work here before I moved back to Iceland.’
‘It’s a great place to live.’
‘Any plans to move here?’
On a night like tonight, it would be easy to say yes. Imagine living this life all the time. ‘Maybe. We’ll see how it goes.’
‘I hear from Anders that Mats is a hard man to pin down and yet you have.’
Lotta didn’t know what that meant. What about Mats made him hard to pin down?
‘Is that him?’ Gudrun said, nodding to where Mats had one elbow leaning on the balustrade as he chatted to a couple.
‘How did you know?’
Gudrun shrugged. ‘I can tell. He looks like the kind of man you should be with.’
Lotta wasn’t sure what that meant either, but she decided to take it as a compliment since Mats looked so dashing. She smiled at Gudrun and led her over to Mats.
Mats’ face lit up when he saw them. ‘Hey, Lotta this is Hanne. We used to work together. Her husband works for the trade association in Oslo.’
‘It’s lovely to meet you,’ said Hanne, as they kissed on both cheeks. ‘This is Morton.’
Lotta had never been anywhere where she’d had to do this kissing on the cheek thing so much. It was exhausting.
‘This is Gudrun, she’s the manager of Snug Reykjavik, and a friend of Anders.’
‘I’ve heard a lot about you,’ Mats said, launching into the kissing. ‘What brings you to Oslo?’
‘They have a new store manager here, so I’m just lending a hand for the campaign launch.’
While Mats and Gudrun began talking about Anders and Becca, Lotta turned to Hanne and Morton.
‘How has Mats been?’ Hanne asked her. ‘I mean, he looks happy tonight, but he’s very good at this kind of thing.’
‘He is,’ Lotta said, smiling, wondering whether Mats’ ability to hide his emotions for an event like this ever spilled over into the rest of his life? ‘He’s been in Bergen until today. It was a massive shock leaving the bank but I think having the island has been a good distraction.’
‘I know he was planning to leave anyway, but for them to treat him like that…’
‘You don’t want to work for people like that,’ Morton said to his wife.
‘You’ve left as well?’
