Page 30 of Meet Me Under the Northern Lights

KAFFI LOKI

‘Don’t look at it,’ Kat ordered, making a snatch for Chloe’s phone across the table at this traditional eatery they were nestled in, not too far away from their apartment.

It was almost nine in the evening now, the south coast tour concluded, everyone tired from the trip but their camera rolls bursting with videos and pictures and Gunnar’s tip tray full when she and Kat had disembarked the coach.

But now the high of the ending to the tour – a sunset view through the tumbling water of the waterfall – had depleted, Chloe was on Instagram seeing Michael’s baby news for herself.

And somehow Kat knew exactly what she was looking at.

‘It’s OK,’ Chloe said, sighing. ‘I actually don’t feel as bad about seeing it as I thought I would.’

‘No?’

‘No. I mean, yes, seeing him with someone pregnant is a bit weird when we tried for so long to achieve that but, it wasn’t meant to be for us.’

For you. It will never be for you. Chloe took a sip of her water.

It was her with the infertility issue, not Michael.

She couldn’t expect him to abstain from having a family with someone else just to what?

Save her feelings? She had had her moment where she had let it soak into her at the black sand beach.

Anger. Sadness. Disappointment. Gunnar had saved her from falling headfirst down a ravine.

It was time to pick herself back up again.

‘Good,’ Kat said. ‘Because I know, despite what you’ve been saying. Or, rather, what you haven’t been saying, that Michelle’s pregnancy hasn’t been easy either.’

‘That’s different,’ Chloe answered quickly, picking up a piece of her rye bread with herring.

‘Why?’

‘Because Michelle’s pregnancy is like managing a West End production. It’s making sure the right people have the correct roles and that all the props are in place and everything is running to schedule.’

That was exactly how she had dealt with it. It was an event, no different to any of the events the company planned. The only thing that set it apart was the grand finale was going to be a brand new human not fireworks or a huge five-tier cake.

‘Good! So we are free from babies now to enjoy this feast of sheep head jelly and fermented shark, yes?’

‘Absolutely,’ Chloe agreed. ‘And I think Sinclairz Chairs would like this traditional menu.’

‘It’s very cosy here,’ Kat agreed. ‘And the Christmas decorations are all sparkly and cutesy.’ She jammed a piece of bread into her mouth. ‘So, did you book the dog sledding yet?’

‘I did,’ Chloe said. ‘Eight o’clock tomorrow night.’

But she was already feeling nervous about it. She wanted to get to know Gunnar better, but should she want to? She was only here for a very limited time. Where was it really going to go?

‘I can see your mind working overtime and that needs to stop,’ Kat said sternly. ‘It doesn’t have to be anything serious. It doesn’t have to even mean anything. It can just be fun, you know.’

The concept of fun and light and not overthinking sounded good, possibly great, given that she was super busy in the midst of this vital organisational period for the biggest gig of her life.

However, the way Kat was selling it almost made Chloe feel that ‘fun’ and ‘nothing serious’ was all she could ever aim for.

Or was that just her reading too much into things? She took a bite of the mashed fish.

‘I mean, let’s not forget that the fun stuff, the sexy stuff, the stuff that you get excited about all happens at the beginning of any relationship.

’ Kat ate more bread then recommenced talking through chews.

‘After that’s worn off it’s trips to Ikea and the gastronomic delights of an extortionately priced pie at a pub that states Marco Pierre White once walked past. No one really wants that. That’s why I don’t date any more.’

Chloe crunched her face up. ‘What do you mean? You have Stephen.’

Kat laughed. ‘Stephen and I are friends with benefits. I keep telling you that and you keep forgetting.’

‘I don’t forget you said that, I just know he has clothes in your wardrobe and he keeps a toothbrush in your bathroom.’

‘Because sometimes he stays over.’

‘Which is kind of a relationship? I mean, he’s the only person that stays over, right?’

‘For now,’ Kat said, eating some bean salad.

‘It’s been that way ever since we’ve known each other.’

Kat shrugged. ‘We don’t need to put a label on it.’

‘And he feels the same?’

‘He knows how I feel. Anyway, this conversation isn’t about me, it’s about you and your new Icelandic hook up.’

Hook up. Was that what it was going to be? Was that what she wanted? Needed?

‘So, what do you know about him already?’ Kat asked.

What did she know about Gunnar? ‘Well, he’s an orphan, like me.’

‘Things in common! Great! Not that you necessarily need things in common to have an amazing time with someone.’

‘No, but, well, it’s good to be able to talk with guys about mutual interests.’

‘So do you have any? Mutual interests? Apart from eye contact and sexual chemistry?’

She didn’t know. She barely knew anything about him. She’d only just met him. She didn’t know what music he liked or his favourite colour.

‘OK,’ Kat said, leaning forward. ‘Your eyes are glazing over now. It doesn’t matter what you know or don’t know. It’s new. And that’s what dating is all about. The finding out. And you can find out when you’re dog sledding.’

Chloe nodded but the conviction that this was at all a good idea was fast fading. And then her phone rang. She saw immediately from the display that it was Michelle.

‘Of course it’s Michelle, late in the evening when we’re having a nice meal,’ Kat said, tutting as she got up. ‘Just going to the loo.’

Chloe didn’t hesitate to answer the call. She was hoping her boss was going to give her some feedback or pointers on the two varying proposals she’d briefly emailed.

‘Hello, Michelle. Is everything?—’

‘Hello, Chloe, I don’t have long, but this is very exciting and very important and I want you to rearrange anything you might have arranged already, yes?’

There was only one response Chloe could give. ‘Er, yes, OK. What?—’

‘So, tomorrow one of Lincoln’s trusted account managers is going to be in Iceland! Actually in Reykjavik! But only for twenty-four hours and they are going to make some time to meet with you and give their suggestions for the celebration event.’

‘O-K,’ Chloe said slowly.

It wasn’t OK. It didn’t feel OK for a few reasons.

Why was Michelle needing someone from Sinclairz Chairs to meet with Chloe to make suggestions?

Was this person an event planner like she was?

Why didn’t Michelle trust her competence and skill set?

What was with this third-party interference they’d never had before?

And they were still only pitching for the job; nothing was confirmed, was it?

‘I mean this is amazing, right? Lincoln must be almost absolutely certain he’s going to go with us for this event if he wants one of his people to meet with one of my people.’

It didn’t feel amazing to Chloe, it felt like someone was needing to oversee her, as if her boss didn’t trust her to make these calls.

Yes, she had sent Michelle some ideas, asked for a little more detail on whether she should go down the traditional themes route or the high-end festive cocktails being sipped by a steaming thermal spa way, but other than that she was in charge of this, she needed to be in charge of this.

And she should spell that out to Michelle.

‘Michelle, I mean, it’s great that Sinclairz Chairs want to have input from the beginning but that’s not usually how we work,’ Chloe began. ‘I’ve put together two very loose suggestions for itineraries for events and I just wanted to get your take on?—’

‘I’ll be honest. I haven’t had a chance to look at anything you’ve sent me, Chloe. Because I’m having a baby.’

The last sentence was said like this was akin to captaining a space craft into uncharted galaxies with no other crew and the threat of alien life forms ready to start a battle over a black hole or three.

Michelle had always demanded that it was business as usual but now it was a company gamechanger that was going to alter the way they worked.

There was only one way to handle Michelle when she was like this. Flattery.

‘I know that,’ Chloe said. ‘Of course I know that and you are doing such an incredible job of seamlessly growing the next Baroness Brady and handling everything that?—’

‘So, you’re going to meet her and be really nice to her, Chloe, because she’s going to be reporting back to Lincoln and I can’t tell you how much I want this job.’

Be really nice to her, Chloe. When wasn’t she nice? When did she start needing to be told how to behave in business? Her hackles were really starting to raise now.

‘I know, Michelle,’ Chloe said firmly. ‘I want this job too. That’s why I dropped everything to fly to?—’

‘So, bend the expenses account just a little and, as I said, be really nice.’

If she heard the words ‘really nice’ once more she might vomit. She looked at the glittery angel at the top of the Christmas tree channelling inner peace then opened her mouth to say something but Michelle beat her to it.

‘And the fact you speak her language will be the icing on the cake that not even Dress Code will be able to compete with.’

‘Her language?’ Now there was a lump in Chloe’s throat. She meant the language of business, right? Two people invested in making this event for Sinclairz Chairs the best it could possibly be. Except dread was suddenly drowning her on the inside.

‘Icelandic, silly! She’s originally from Iceland. And her name is Kirstin.’

Chloe slapped a hand to her mouth to stop the fermented shark escaping.