24

IRIS WAS ON cloud nine. Everything was coming together. Less than an hour after she'd been dropped back at her hotel, the HR department at the IMO had sent over a formal job offer. From the speed of that happening, she had a hunch that Bjarkey had set that in motion before she'd even said yes. The job was as good as hers and the offer was amazing. After only a minute's hesitation, she'd sent a resignation email to HR at British Geology Labs, trying not to feel let down that no one had responded yet to her email about Jay threatening to sack her. It would have been nice to feel like anyone there understood her and what she'd been up against with him as a boss.

Now, she was waiting, never more restlessly, for her phone to ring. She was desperate to see Siggi and make things right with him. Since she had decided what she was doing, she could at least tell him what her plans were. Then it was up to him. But she'd missed him so much that she had decided to be clear with him about her feelings. He'd told her she was his love. Whether that meant he was in love with her, Iris wasn't sure. But she knew she was in love with him and she needed to tell him. It felt important to seize the chance of a future with everything in that she wanted, rather than have the career but lose the man she loved because she was too scared to tell him how she felt. For now, she was putting out of her mind the thought that she could face rejection. It was a small price to pay for being able to move forward knowing that she'd done everything she could, to be honest with Siggi.

Tucking her phone into her pocket, she ventured downstairs to the bar, something she hadn't done before, but she felt like celebrating. Hopefully, as soon as Siggi called, she could invite him to come and join in. That would be okay. She was sure he'd be happy for her about the job, even if he decided it didn't change anything between them.

Anders was behind the bar. ‘What can I get for you?'

‘A glass of red wine, please.' She perched on a bar stool. There was no one else there, so it seemed inevitable she would end up chatting to Anders.

‘Merlot?' he asked, smiling.

‘Merlot's great, thank you.'

He poured the wine and set it on the bar in front of her. ‘How have you been enjoying Iceland?' He began chopping some lemons and limes into segments.

‘You're the first person I've told, but I've just got a job here.'

‘You are moving here? Congratulations,' he said, stopping his chopping. He poured a tiny amount of wine into the bottom of a glass and held it up. ‘ Skál!'

‘ Skál!' Iris said, clinking her glass against his.

‘Is that why you are here? For the job?'

‘No, but I've been working with the team at the Met Office and they offered me a job. It's in my field and will give me opportunities I wouldn't have where I am now.'

‘That's great news. I hear from Embla that you and Siggi have been seeing a lot of each other, so I guess that is also a reason to stay.'

Iris could tell by the look on his face that what he'd just said wasn't the question he actually wanted to ask. If he was good friends with Siggi, presumably he knew all about his ex- girlfriend, or at least would know that Siggi wasn't the settling down type.

‘I'm not sure whether we're in that kind of relationship,' she said, smiling. ‘We'll see what happens.'

‘Siggi's a great guy. Embla says he is different with you.'

‘Did she?' Iris couldn't help herself. In the absence of knowing what Siggi's current thoughts about their relationship were, anything anyone else had to say about it was incredibly interesting. Especially Embla.

Anders nodded, downed the last of his wine, and resumed chopping. ‘She told me you had a disagreement and that he was devastated. He left you a note that took him a long time to write.'

Devastated? She hadn't expected that after how cold he'd been to her at breakfast yesterday. His note had barely been an apology, but she had hoped from the tone of it, and the text message he'd sent, that he was feeling differently now. And now, the report from Embla helped her think she was right, and he felt as awful about the whole thing as she did.

‘We're supposed to be meeting tonight when he gets back from his surfing trip.'

Anders laughed. ‘That is so like Siggi to take off. I hope it works out for you. Embla thinks he is actually happy for once.'

‘We'll see,' said Iris again, smiling at Anders.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket. ‘Message from Siggi,' she said.

‘Ah, he is on his way.'

‘This is weird. He's messaged me in Icelandic.'

‘Want me to look?'

Iris nodded, hoping she wouldn't live to regret it.

Anders frowned. ‘It is saying he needs help and that you know where he is.'

‘What? How would he think I know where he is?'

‘The message is in Icelandic. Perhaps it is meant for someone else?'

‘If he's asking for help, it'll be Olafur or Jonas. They knew where he was going.'

Before Anders could say anything else. Iris had run out of the hotel, heading to the Icelandic Adventures office.

She burst in, finding Jonas at the desk.

‘I think Siggi's in trouble,' she said, thrusting her phone at him.

He scanned the message. ‘I think he meant to send this to me. I have a message from him saying he'd taken a wrong turn and had to leave his jeep. He was heading for the main road to get a lift back to town, but with everything that is going on in Hraunvik, he wanted me to know where he was.'

‘We need to find him,' she said desperately. ‘If he's had an accident, he might be hurt.'

Jonas nodded. ‘Let me call Olafur. We will go to the location he told me and start from there. I will also let the civil defence know because he was inside the cordon around Hraunvik.'

‘Why? I didn't think he had to go that way to the beach?'

‘I don't know,' Jonas said calmly. He made a brief call to Olafur. ‘Gudrun is coming to the office to cancel the Northern Lights tour for tonight. You should wait here with her.'

‘No, I want to come with you.'

Jonas shook his head. ‘No. Stay with Gudrun. Please. If he calls or messages you again, there is a better chance for you to receive it here than out with us where there is no signal.'

He said it gently but firmly, and Iris nodded. It made sense.

The few minutes they waited for Olafur and Gudrun to arrive were interminable. Iris was imagining all kinds of things.

‘Siggi is smart.' Jonas said. ‘Try not to worry.'

But Jonas looked worried, which told Iris everything. At least the fissures weren't due to erupt for another twenty-four hours, according to the data she'd pored over that afternoon with Kári. If she thought that was about to happen, it would be so much worse.

When Olafur and Gudrun arrived, Jonas was ready to leave, crossing Gudrun in the doorway.

‘ Takk, Gudrun. You know what to do. We'll use the sat phone to call if anything happens.'

She nodded. ‘You go.'

Olafur and Jonas set off, jogging along the street to wherever the vehicle they were taking was parked.

‘They will find him,' Gudrun said, with such certainty it was comforting.

‘Jonas knows where he is.' Although whether the place Siggi had told him was where he was now, none of them would know until they looked. Iris needed to believe that he was right where he'd said he was because what else was there to cling to?

‘He might be alright. The phone signal is terrible. Maybe he lost contact?'

Iris held out her phone so that Gudrun could read the message.

‘An accident could mean anything,' she said, but they exchanged a glance that told Iris they were both thinking the same.

‘Can I help you with the Northern Lights cancellations?' she asked.

‘We could split it between us,' said Gudrun. They went over the details, knowing who they would offer a rain check to the following night and who would need a refund because tonight was their last chance. ‘The forecast is terrible, anyway,' said Gudrun. ‘It has been cloudy all day, so no one will be surprised.'

It took them an hour to rearrange all the clients, and by the time they'd finished, there was still no word.

‘They must be there by now,' Iris said, looking from her phone to Gudrun's, which was lying on the desk.

‘They will call when there is something to tell us. They know we are waiting.'

‘Could we —?'

‘No,' said Gudrun, interrupting Iris before she could get any further. ‘They are searching. We can't bother them.'

Iris knew she was right, but every minute felt like an hour.

‘We must wait,' Gudrun said gently. ‘But we can do something to help pass the time.'

They locked up the office, and Gudrun led the way to the Snug store.

‘This might seem like I am taking advantage of you, but it is the best distraction I know,' she said, unlocking the door.

She led the way inside. The only lights that were on were the ones in the window. They walked to the back of the store, where Gudrun shrugged her coat off and laid it across the counter, and Iris followed.

‘It's quite exciting being here when it's closed,' Iris said. ‘It feels like we're being naughty.'

Gudrun laughed. ‘I still feel like that when I'm here by myself, even though I am in charge.'

‘What are we going to do?' Iris asked.

‘We are going to decorate for Easter,' Gudrun said. ‘But first, we are going to pour ourselves a glass of wine.' She opened a cupboard underneath a kitchen island that sat to one side of the counter, displaying all manner of crockery and other kitchen paraphernalia like wooden chopping boards, and pulled out a bottle of wine and two glasses. ‘This always takes the sting out of a late-night job,' she said.

‘Would you be doing this tonight anyway?' Iris asked.

Gudrun shrugged. ‘It needs to be in the next few days, but now is the perfect time. I will fetch everything we need.' She disappeared down the stairs to the basement.

Iris took her glass of red wine and perched on the edge of a navy blue velvet chair that had several cushions artfully arranged on it.

When she came back upstairs, Gudrun was carrying a large cardboard box and the better part of a tree balanced on the top. She put it all on the counter, then took a sip of wine before she began pulling out various decorations.

‘Okay, we will put these pieces of tree in vases and then decorate them,' she announced, pulling a few vases of various types out of the same cupboard the wine had come from.

Iris watched as Gudrun sorted through the branches, choosing the best twigs to stick in the vases. As she waited for the perfect tree to be assembled, she picked through the box of decorations. ‘Wow, these are beautiful.'

‘The first year we were open at Easter, we commissioned some of our artists to make decorations for us. We did the same at Christmas and it is a great way to celebrate and show off their talents at the same time.'

There were solid wooden eggs, which were intricately carved with Icelandic words and small flowers, hand-blown glass eggs, eggs knitted with the tiniest of stitches, delicate ceramic eggs with beautiful designs painted on them. It was incredible.

‘Don't mix different kids of eggs on one tree,' Gudrun advised. ‘It will look terrible.'

‘That's exactly what the Christmas tree at my parents' house looks like. It's just a mish-mash of all sorts of baubles, stuff we all made when we were kids, naff tinsel, but it always looks amazing.'

‘My tree is also like that,' Gudrun grinned. ‘But we have to be boring and tasteful here.'

Iris chose the glass eggs to hang on her first tree. ‘I love these. What does this person make?'

‘Ah, Sigrid's speciality is hand-blown shot glasses that sell out almost the minute they go on the shelves.' Gudrun rummaged in the cupboard again and pulled out a small vase. ‘This one is hers, but it is chipped on the rim. We use it sometimes anyway because it is so pretty.'

It was cobalt blue glass with swirls of opaque white that spiralled around it from top to bottom. The bulbous shape appealed to Iris. ‘It's gorgeous. Could I buy it from you? I don't mind that it's chipped.'

‘It's yours, and it is just sat in the cupboard so if you want to give it a home, there is no charge.'

‘Thank you. It'll look great in my new place.'

Gudrun didn't need it spelled out. ‘You took the job! Congratulations!' She came round and hugged Iris.

Iris hugged her back, then something inside her broke. Before she knew what was happening, she was sobbing into Gudrun's shoulder. Gudrun didn't say anything, and she didn't pull away. She held Iris until she had cried herself out.

‘I'm sorry,' she said, sniffing and wiping her eyes as she pulled away.

‘Don't apologise. There is only so much some Easter decorating can do.'

Iris laughed, wiping her cheeks with the palms of her hands. ‘I know I've made the right decision, but it's so hard to think about being here without Siggi.'

‘Siggi is going to be okay,' said Gudrun.

‘Even if he is, he might not want me.'

‘You don't know that, and there is nothing to be gained from guessing what is going to happen.'

‘I need to talk to him.'

‘I know,' Gudrun said gently, pushing Iris's glass towards her. ‘I am sure there will be some news soon.'

Iris took a deep breath. ‘I'll do the wooden ones next.'