All Roads Lead to Swatragh - Chapter 28

Grace was barely finished emptying the groceries from her bags when she heard a shout at the front door.

“Grace, are you in here?” Peter shouted.

“Back here in the kitchen, Peter,” Grace shouted back.

Peter strolled into the kitchen, smiling as he watched Grace put things in the fridge.

“What....,” asked Grace as she realized he was staring.

“Just have to say you look so natural doing that. It suits you fine.” Peter smiled.
“By the way those people from the other day are coming by again this weekend. There was nothing I could do to stop them. They said some friends had told them about the cottage and they were determined to be able to stay here. What are you going to do?” Peter was chattering a mile a minute.

“I don't know Peter. I guess if they only want to stay tonight, or tomorrow, I could probably let them stay. What would it hurt? I just can't be doing this all the time without some plan.” Grace was thinking as she talked that the people would probably not bother to come by, so she wasn't worried.

“So that means you will be taking in guests?” Peter seemed to have a glimmer of hope in his words.

“No, all I'm saying is that if they take the time to come here again, I could probably allow them to stay as I'm already here. Besides my friends Sue and Chloe are coming up this evening. They will be here for dinner, so I had better get started. Would you like to join us?” Grace knew there would always be more food than necessary and wanted to show Peter how much she appreciated all the help he was giving her by taking care of the cottage when she was gone.

“You know I'd never turn down one of Aine's recipes made by you. I have some errands to run and I'll be back at dinner time,” Peter turned and headed out of the cottage before Grace could even respond. She wondered what errands he had to do.

Grace had planned a pork roast with roasted potatoes and an Irish carrot and parsnip mash with some greens drizzled with a balsamic vinaigrette. The greens were her recipe, but the rest was from Aine's cookbook. The bottle of white wine would go well with the heavier meal. Once everything was cooking on the stove, Grace headed to the dining room to set the table for dinner.

As she worked to set the table she looked through the window to the garden outside. The roses were beautiful. Just as the peak of their blooms. Before she realized it she was out in the garden cutting some stems for a table arrangement. The china cabinet held a beautiful Tyrone Crystal vase that was perfect for the arrangement. The scent of the roses filled the dining room immediately and brought fond childhood memories back to mind.

As Grace got things ready for the girl's visit her mind wandered to what Peter had been saying about the people who had come by and wanted to book a room at the cottage. She didn't even have a business license. Did she need a business license? Did Aine have one? How much would she charge? What do most B&Bs in the area charge? Grace was curious about all this and since she had a little time until the girls arrived, she set up her computer and started to research.

Aine had an old business license posted in the office area near the desk. Grace was sure it had expired ages ago, but when she checked, evidently Aine had renewed it in the last year. It still had a couple of months before it needed to be renewed again. She had not realized this until now. Then again it was not at the top of her list of things to do since she had planned to sell the cottage.

Next Grace wondered how much she would need to charge if someone did end up staying there. This was more out of curiosity since she never expected to have anyone other than her friends staying at the cottage. Most of the B&Bs in the area, and there were not very many between Magherafelt and Coleraine, charged between 35 and 45 pounds sterling. This seemed a little expensive to Grace coming from Dublin with the Euro being the currency in the Republic.

As it was this drove her crazy as she had to make sure to have pounds sterling on hand when she traveled into Northern Ireland. Along the border she probably could have managed with either the Euro or pound, but here, in the heart of Northern Ireland, she had no choice. Grace looked to see if she could find some records from Aine that would help her figure out a cost, but it seemed that Aine allowed her guests to decide how much to pay. Some of the records showed payments of 60 pounds for a 2 night stay and some showed 60 pounds for a single night. In the end, Grace decided that she would ask 40 pounds and see if that was acceptable to anyone who wanted to stay.

Again, she was not expecting to have any guests other than her friends, and if they helped to pay for the food, she was happy. By the time she had figured all this out, she heard a car on the gravel drive and headed to the door to welcome her friends.