21

GUDRUN WAS LOOKING out for Iris, and waved frantically as soon as she spotted her. Iris waved back and pointed to the bar, showing that she was buying a drink before she went over to sit down. She ordered a pint of locally brewed beer and made her way between the tables towards the other side of the room where the group was gathered around the same table they'd been at a couple of weeks ago. Iris recognised all the faces apart from one.

‘Iris, I think you know everyone except Anna and Ned?' said Gudrun. ‘Anna, this is Iris. She is working with the Icelandic Met Office. And she is a friend of Siggi.'

‘Nice to meet you,' said Anna with a warm smile. ‘And where is Siggi tonight?'

‘Apparently, he's gone camping,' Iris said, unable to keep the incredulity out of her voice.

‘God, really? What a nutter,' said Anna.

Olafur laughed and shook his head. ‘He has not gone camping, he has gone surfing. He is camping only to be there to surf at dawn.'

‘Oh, well, that makes total sense.' Anna rolled her eyes at Iris, and they all laughed. ‘That's Ned over on the stage, faffing around with the guitar.'

Iris looked over, expecting to recognise the global superstar, but with his tousled hair and glasses, he didn't look like the Ned Nokes she remembered from when he'd been part of boy band sensation The Rush.

‘I know,' said Anna. ‘He's let himself go.'

‘Oh, no,' began Iris, but Rachel swiftly interrupted her.

‘Anna's teasing. The fact that he doesn't look like Ned Nokes all the time is the only thing that keeps her sane.'

‘That's true,' Anna said wistfully. ‘It's a nightmare in London if he's tarted up for a night out. We get trailed around by mooning teenagers.'

Iris laughed. ‘Not much danger of that here.'

‘And that's why we love Iceland,' Anna said.

‘What's the latest in the world of volcanology?' Rachel asked.

‘They are evacuating Hraunvik,' Gudrun said.

‘Really? That's awful.'

‘They are building defences right now to try and direct the lava flow away from the town when it starts. Mostly to keep the main road open and keep the flow away from the power station,' Jonas said.

‘Will that work?' Anna asked.

‘It can work,' said Jonas, ‘but it has never been done in Iceland before on this scale.'

They all sat for a moment, sipping their drinks and contemplating the fate of Hraunvik.

‘Here's to saving the town,' said Olafur.

‘ Skál,' they all said somberly, raising their glasses towards each other.

‘Hey, what are we toasting?' Ned came over to the table, pushing his glasses up his nose with one finger.

Anna explained to him what was happening.

‘Christ, what a nightmare.' He lifted his glass to belatedly join in the toast. ‘It feels wrong to be playing tonight.'

‘I think the word is spreading,' Jonas said, nodding at the television at the opposite end of the room, which was muted, but tuned to a news channel which was showing pictures of Hraunvik. ‘If people are here, it is because they want distraction. At the moment, there is nothing we can do.'

‘So perhaps the show goes on. I'll ask Thor what he thinks,' said Ned. ‘Anyone want another drink while I'm at the bar?'

They all said yes. Iris was hesitant since she had half a pint left, but Anna said, ‘Same again, Iris?' So she nodded and thanked her, slightly stunned to be having a drink bought for her by Ned Nokes. Even her brothers would think that was cool.

‘Okay, we're on,' said Ned, coming back with a tray of drinks. ‘Thor says this kind of thing is something Icelanders take in their stride.'

Jonas and Olafur exchanged glances and a couple of words in Icelandic which made Iris think they may not entirely agree with Thor, but once the music started a few minutes later, everyone in the bar was enjoying themselves as if it were any normal Tuesday night.

‘Where has Siggi gone surfing?' Iris asked Olafur when they were chatting between songs.

‘I think to Sandvik. That is his usual spot.'

‘Is that north of here?'

‘No, it is south-west…'

Iris could see by Olafur's face that he knew she was about to put two and two together.

‘Near Hraunvik.'

He nodded. ‘Siggi knows the dangers. The road to Sandvik does not have to be through Hraunvik and the civil defence will have closed all the roads leading to that area. He will be safe.'

‘Right.' But it didn't sit well with Iris that he'd gone to that area, possibly not knowing what was happening in Hraunvik, and not making an informed decision. She imagined he'd gone to clear his head. That's what it sounded like. And perhaps if she'd messaged him earlier, he might be here now.

‘Iris. He will be back before they have finished evacuating Hraunvik. He is not in danger.'

She forced a smile. ‘Okay.' Perhaps she should text him. But how likely was he to heed anything she said? Like Olafur said, Siggi was well aware of the dangers. Or thought he was.

It turned out to be a great night and Iris was glad she'd bumped into Olafur and Gudrun. She recognised some performers from the week before, but the clear highlight was Ned. He sang one song she knew and one she didn't, which he said he'd only finished that afternoon.

‘He does all of his songwriting here now,' Anna explained. ‘I don't know why, but it works for him and we get to spend more time together in Iceland. In London, he's always getting dragged off to do PR stuff.'

‘Do you always go back to London with him?' Iris asked, interested in the dynamic of their relationship.

‘Mostly, but he spends more time here than I do. I need to be in London for work a lot of the time. I run a music PR company which is very UK based. And I learned early on that he needs his own space.' Anna smiled. ‘Are you and Siggi serious enough to have talked about this kind of thing yet? Are you wondering how it could work long term?'

Iris sighed, the beer having lowered her defences. ‘We haven't. But I'm not sure Siggi's the settling down type. I had a job offer from the Met Office here and he didn't take it well.'

‘Right. I don't know him very well, he's away a lot, but he's a nice guy. Perhaps just set in his ways?'

‘Maybe,' Iris said, gauging that Anna didn't know as much of Siggi's story as Gudrun. ‘Anyway, it's difficult now to think about the job knowing that he probably wouldn't want to carry on the relationship even if I stayed.'

Anna frowned. ‘I don't get why it would make any difference. If you guys like each other, a chance of carrying on seeing each other is great, isn't it?'

‘Maybe he feels pushed into it. We'd both agreed it was a short-term thing. A long-distance relationship isn't what either of us wants.'

‘And now things have changed, he's run off to surf.'

Iris couldn't help laughing. ‘It's fine. He needs time to think.'

‘Ned had a massive wobble when we were first seeing each other. I was here visiting Rachel when we met, and he went back to London just when things were starting to get serious. He panicked, I think. I mean, there was a lot of other stuff going on for him as well. He'd just left the band, but I still think it had more to do with the way we were heading. He was scared.'

That resonated with Iris. Siggi was scared. And the job offer had catapulted their relationship from something with a finite end to something else. Another possibility that neither of them could define as easily.

‘Hopefully when he gets back from the camping trip, we can have a proper talk about it.'

‘But don't turn that job down because of him if it's what you want. It's a small town, but there's room enough for both of you and he's hardly here most of the time. Saying that, neither are we. We're off to London in the morning.'

Anna made it sound so easy. And maybe it was. Being here tonight was a testament to the fact that Iris could find her own way without him by her side. Ignoring the fact that she was out with his friends, she was sure that she could find her own friends if she stayed. Having Bjarkey as a colleague was a good start.

Afterwards, Iris strolled home with Gudrun, Olafur, Anna and Ned. They all lived just beyond her hotel and it was nice to be part of a group when so often she headed home alone at the end of a rare night out.

‘Thanks for taking me out tonight,' she said to Gudrun.

‘I hope it will be the start of many nights out together.'

Iris wasn't sure whether Gudrun meant because of the job, or because she'd be with Siggi. Most likely, Gudrun hadn't been thinking so specifically.

She smiled and said good night to them all, then went inside.

‘Night,' she said to Bríet as she went past the desk.

‘Goodnight, Iris. Sleep well.'

Siggi paddled out as the sun was creeping over the horizon. He'd have loved to see it emerging from the sea as he had done in other places around the world, but he was facing southwest, so he had to settle for seeing it emerge over the mountainous terrain to the east. Still, it was spectacular to see, glowing deep red and orange before it cleared the horizon and brightened. This was what he'd needed. This balance. The solitude. The space.

His phone lost signal somewhere between Keflavik and Sandvik, so he'd heard nothing from Iris and he felt fine about that. Over the past twelve hours, he'd come to realise that he was at a crossroads. But whichever way he chose, he knew that how he felt about Iris was a constant. He loved her. He was sure of that. The only thing he wasn't sure of was whether that could endure in the face of the overwhelming fear he felt about the thought of commitment. Because that was what had driven him to push Iris away, and she hadn't been asking him for anything. She'd made it clear that her decision to stay in Reykjavik wasn't dependent on him, and he hadn't listened to her. He'd jumped to his own conclusion about what she was saying.

Sat astride his board, he let the building waves bob him around before he committed to choosing his first wave of the day. He imagined Iris waiting on the beach for him. It was a nice thought. They could share a flask of hot chocolate like they had on the Northern Lights excursion. That wasn't frightening at all. Being with her had never made him feel trapped. That was his brain working overtime, over thinking.

Glancing behind him, he could see that there were a series of good waves building. He put his hands on the board and flicked his legs up and back so that he was lying on his stomach. He began paddling until he felt the wave lift the board underneath him, then pressed his hands to the board and in one smooth motion, was on his feet. The cold air and spray hit his face as he concentrated on balancing; riding the wave for as long as he could before he jumped off the board into the shallows, whooping at the sheer joy of it all. And then he turned straight back around and started all over again.

It was late morning by the time he was too weary to think about paddling back out to catch another wave. It had been awesome, but despite his thermal wetsuit, he was feeling cold. He picked up his board and jogged up to the back of the beach where he'd parked his jeep. He opened the tailgate and pulled out a towel, stripping his wetsuit down to his waist to dry himself as quickly as he could and get some warm layers on. After doing the same with his bottom half, he then closed the boot and started the engine, putting the heater on full pelt. He loved the feeling of being warm and toasty after the cold of the surf. It was part of the whole experience. Once, when he'd been to the south of England, they'd had a sauna on the beach, which was the best idea ever. Perhaps he ought to call in at the Blue Lagoon on his way back and have a quick go in theirs. He chuckled to himself because that would feel far too much like going to work. The number of excursions he'd taken to the Blue Lagoon on the way to and from the airport was ridiculous.

Once he'd warmed up, he drove the short distance back to where he'd camped the night before. It had been too dark to pack up before he surfed. After a quick lunch of some soup that he heated through on his small stove, he packed everything up and headed towards Hraunvik. That wasn't the way he'd come, but it was a different way to drive back to Reykjavik and he wanted to see for himself if anything had changed since the last time he'd been with Iris. She'd mentioned some cracks beginning to appear in the main road.

He took the coast road towards the town, some eight miles to the east. After just a couple of miles, a roadblock stopped him.

‘ Hej ,' he said, rolling his window down to talk to the official.

‘The road is closed. You will need to turn around and go via Reykjavik.'

‘To get to Hraunvik?'

‘Yes. The town is being evacuated.'

Siggi's heart began banging in his chest. ‘My daughter is in Hraunvik.'

‘I cannot let you through. You are not a resident there.' The guy raised his eyebrows in question, giving him the chance to say if his assumption was wrong.

It crossed Siggi's mind to lie. But also, what was he going to do? Knock on their door and whisk Arna away? ‘I'm not. I just wanted to see if she is safe.'

‘I can radio in, see if they have left the residence. Do you have the address?'

‘Thank you,' Siggi said with a sigh of relief. He turned the engine off while he waited to hear. No one else had come along after him, which was also a sign that people knew what was going on.

‘That residence has been cleared.'

‘Thank you.'

He had no choice but to turn around, but as soon as his phone had a signal, he pulled over and texted Hekla. They barely corresponded, but she acknowledged Siggi enough to keep him in the loop about important things. Generally, that meant a photo on Arna's birthday and not much else. Siggi had never initiated contact with Hekla before, but he felt that this was important enough to break the rules. He needed to know that not only were they out of the house, they were out of the town.

A text back came almost immediately to say that they were staying with friends in the town. They were aware of the evacuation order and were getting ready to leave.

Siggi couldn't imagine why they wouldn't have left already. Presumably they'd salvaged everything of importance from the house when they'd left there. There was no reason for them to delay. His first instinct was to take another route into Hraunvik and escort them out himself. It was all very well leaving Arna to be brought up by another man, but if he wasn't looking after her, what choice did he have? It was down to him to make sure his daughter was safe.

He continued along the road towards Keflavik but took a right-hand turn onto a road that was barely more than a dirt track, going back east towards Hraunvik, this time with no chance of a road closure getting in his way.

There had been a text from Iris. In his haste to text Hekla, he had barely registered, but he remembered now. He pulled over again, leaving the engine running, and checked his phone. She was ready to talk. A wave of relief swept over him and he tapped out a reply.

I will be back later and would love to see you. I'll call x

When he pressed send, he realised he had no signal , and the send failed. There was nothing else he could do about that now, but he was buoyed by the thought of seeing Iris and explaining.