Page 44 of Meet Me Under the Northern Lights

CHLOE’S APARTMENT, REYKJAVIK

Chloe was buzzing. She had woken up early and while Kat had snored, kind of peacefully, she had reviewed everything she had done so far in Iceland and put it into documents with detailed notes, pricing, timescales, pros and cons and everything she knew Michelle liked to have before they pulled it all together for final pitching purposes.

She was also now three Icelandic coffees down and she was still daydreaming about the special time she had shared with Gunnar at the lighthouse.

‘Is it morning?’ Kat asked, sitting up in bed and looking like a cosy mess of bed hair and duvet.

‘Yes!’ Chloe announced. ‘And we need to get ready because we are going on a trip!’

‘Oh, wow, another one, so soon. I forgot you were an “all-in” kind of a girl who thinks every second should be filled with more steps than Fitbit can cope with.’

‘You really forgot the last time we went to London for the day?’

‘My feet definitely have the muscle memory ingrained; my mind is trying very hard to fight said memory.’

‘Well, I need to find a couple more things to add to my proposal for Sinclairz Chairs so they, and Michelle, can see how much attention to detail I’ve put into this.’ She closed the lid of her laptop.

‘As supportive as I am being with your business endeavours,’ Kat began with a yawn. ‘I’m only interested in the details from last night.’

Immediately Chloe smiled, no control over it happening, all those beautiful feelings flowing fast like one of the Icelandic waterfalls.

‘O-K, now I’m excited to know what’s made you react with whatever that glowy, dewy, soft-focus, romance movie end pose was.’

‘Well, it didn’t start out great, but the ending was…’ She sighed and didn’t even recognise the sound herself. Who was she right now?

‘And did you both have a great ending?’ Kat asked, eyes bulbous like a bush baby.

‘Not like that!’ Chloe exclaimed. ‘I mean… it’s way too soon for that, right?’

‘Is it? These days people are adding themselves to “free tonight” on dating apps and having sex with people they have absolutely no clue about.’

‘Well, good for them,’ Chloe said. ‘But I don’t work like that.’ But should she? The kisses had been steamy, but she hadn’t pushed for anything more and neither had he.

‘So, if you didn’t have sex, tell me, how did the not-talking the Icelandic language go at the meeting?’

Kirstin. And she was still no further forward in finding out exactly what had happened between her and Gunnar. She quickly filled Kat in on what she did know about the situation.

‘Oh my God, I mean, what are the chances?’ Kat asked. ‘His ex being part of Sinclairz Chairs? That’s insane. Or… fate.’

‘Stop,’ Chloe said. ‘In a second you’ll say it’s the huldufólk .’

‘Well, you have to admit it’s a very strange coincidence. So, what happened between them?’

‘I… don’t know,’ Chloe admitted, getting up from the table and beginning to gather things together for her bag.

‘You didn’t ask?’

‘I did ask but he didn’t altogether tell me.’

‘Hmm, that sounds dodgy.’ Kat got up from the bed, one arm out of her pyjamas.

‘No,’ Chloe said. ‘I don’t think it’s that. He said things about “joint goals” and “the unexpected”. I think it’s painful for him.’

‘And did you tell him about Michael? And how painful that was for you?’

Chloe dipped her head, would have put it inside the rucksack if she could. ‘No.’

‘Chloe! You need to let that out of you! And why not to Gunnar? The man who turned your face into mushy slushy.’

‘Because,’ Chloe said. ‘I wouldn’t know where to begin. And, you know, how do you just drop into conversation that you can’t have children? This soon. In what can only really be a Christmas holiday romance.’

‘But what if it turns out to be more than that? And you don’t say anything and months go by and then?—’

‘And then he wants children I can’t give him and leaves me,’ Chloe filled in. ‘Yes, I’m aware that, even if it’s not a first date conversation to have, it needs to be had before anyone gets feelings.’

‘And do you have feelings for Gunnar?’ Kat asked like it was the last, life-changing-money question on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire .

Chloe’s heart was thrumming a beat that couldn’t be clearer. ‘I feel something. And that’s much more than I’ve felt since Michael left.’

‘Then that’s great!’ Kat said, reaching out and slapping a hand of solidarity on Chloe’s shoulder. ‘We can work with that! I mean, obviously, you can work with that. So, tell me where we’re going so I can dress appropriately for whatever this bound-to-be-too-many-steps outing is.’

‘OK,’ Chloe said, smiling at her friend. ‘So, this is something I think Sinclairz Chairs are going to lap up because it hits so many “wants”.’ She inhaled fast and then slowly let the breath go bit by bit.

‘OK, what are you doing? You sound like something from Star Wars .’

‘We are going to do breathwork.’

‘I know that. Because I’ve been doing breathwork over many kilometres since we got here,’ Kat said with a shudder.

Chloe smiled. ‘Not like this. Dress warm.’