Clemmie was by herself. ‘Lotta, thanks so much for waiting. We’ve already had some very positive feedback from the store managers about your presentation. It couldn’t have gone better.’
‘That’s great.’
‘Working with you has made us realise that we’re lacking any internal expertise in social media. What I don’t want is to gain a ton of traction through this campaign only to have it fizzle out afterwards. We need to see this as an opportunity to grow our visibility on the socials and we’d like you to help.’
Lotta didn’t say anything. She was buzzing inside. This could be a game-changer for her and she didn’t want to say the wrong thing.
‘So, would you be interested in a long-term contract working a few hours a week on managing our social media? We’d like you to build prompts and templates for the stores, keep an eye on the stats, do regular audits, that kind of thing.’
‘You’re talking about hiring me on retainer?’
‘Exactly.’
Clemmie’s air of confidence wavered as she waited for Lotta’s response. The pressure to answer was immense, but Lotta held her nerve.
‘Would you mind putting that in an email? I’ll need to see what scope we have to accommodate an ongoing arrangement before I can commit.’
‘Oh, yes. Of course. I’ll send something over this morning. We love what you’ve done, Lotta, and we don’t want to lose your expertise.’
Wasn’t it funny, Lotta thought as she walked back to the station in the warm spring sunshine, how life could change so quickly? One thing, winning the Snug contract, that was all it had taken, and now, off the back of that, she potentially had a new client and was on a retainer, something she would never have dreamed could happen a few months ago. It had been hard work to get here, but perhaps now she had broken through and could enjoy some success with her business on a secure footing for the first time in years. It felt too good to be true.
Back at her flat, she made a cup of tea and sat at her desk. Opening her laptop, knowing that the Norwegian email was there, waiting to be answered and probably one from Clemmie, felt like a landmark moment.
‘Oh my god,’ Lotta said, clamping her hand over her mouth when she saw the offer from Snug. It was a ridiculous amount of money for something she could do in her sleep. They didn’t even want a campaign for that; it was just a glorified social media manager, something she could fit around anything else she was doing. It would pay the bills even if she had no other work.
She couldn’t reply yet. It was too soon. She’d already gone against every fibre of her being in not biting Clemmie’s hand off earlier at the office, and she didn’t want to appear too thirsty now either.
After replying to the Norwegian email, saying that she’d love to work with them and proposing an online meeting for the following week, she made herself some lunch and called Mats. They’d hardly spoken over the past two weeks, and Lotta hadbeen grateful for the space to concentrate on her work. She missed him, of course she did, and she couldn’t wait to see him tomorrow.
‘Hei, min kjære,’Mats said.
She could hear the smile in his voice, and her heart melted a little.
‘Hey. What are you up to?’
‘I’m on the island. I’ve brought some stuff over from my apartment.’ He’d started packing up his place in Oslo and was gradually moving everything to Bergen. Fredrik was back and forth between the two cities and was proving a useful removals man since Mats didn’t own a car.
‘What kind of stuff?’ Anything that had been in his apartment would look out of place on the island.
‘Oh, you know, the sofa, coffee table, TV, that kind of thing.’
She laughed. ‘Okay. But really.’
‘You’ll have to wait and see.’
‘You’re still coming tomorrow?’
He harrumphed. ‘Of course. I can’t wait to see you.’
‘Me too.’ She thought about sharing her news, but it felt that if she told anyone, maybe the bubble would burst, it would be jinxed, so she kept it to herself. ‘See you at Heathrow.’
‘I’m happy to get an Uber or something.’
‘Absolutely not! I’m looking forward to the whole airport reunion.’
‘So am I, Lotta. I love you.’
‘I love you, too.’ She hung up, feeling bad for not sharing her excitement but somehow still feeling she’d done the right thing by not. If Mats thought she had the Norway job, or that she had regular hours with Snug, both of those things lent themselves to the possibility of her moving to Norway and she needed time to think about what she wanted before they discussed anything like that again.
