The weekend flew by with guests to be taken care of and a trip to the market to pick up food for Sunday dinner. Grace wanted to make something special to impress Donovan and surprise both Donovan and Quinn with a special dessert.
The menu included lamb stew with carrots and potatoes and a dessert of banofee pie. The pie was not difficult but did take quite a bit of time in the refrigerator. It had been years since Grace had enjoyed a banoffee pie, and she thought it would be perfect to impress both men.
Quinn busied himself with some work in the office and checking out the website for the B&B. Grace didn't want to take advantage of her relationship with Quinn, but he had offered, so she took him up on the offer. He made notes of all his suggestions for when he talked about it later with Grace. There were many ways that she could market the cottage better, and make taking reservations easier on herself that Quinn could help with. He also did a little of his networking for some of the businesses in Swatragh. He was finding that doing this freelance work was quite rewarding for him. Something he had not done for a long time.
Dinner time arrive and the cottage smelled of seasonings and warm cooked meat. Donovan arrived and Quinn greeted him at the door. After some introductions and the offer of a cold pint Donovan seemed to warm up to the idea of Quinn being around the cottage. Donovan could see the connection between Quinn and Grace and thought to himself how much the two of them reminded him of himself and Aine early on. Grace noticed Donovan looking at the two of them with a slight smile. She knew that Quinn met with Donovan's approval.
Dinner was everything that Grace had planned. The two men ate heartily sopping up the gravy from the stew with a fresh loaf of soda bread. Grace had thought there would be some leftovers for the next day, but not with these two. As they finished the main course, she was sure they would be too full for her dessert and was a bit disappointed.
“So what have you got for dessert?” Donovan asked as he was leaning back in his chair. “A cuppa would be nice, you know.”
“Of course I have some tea, Donovan,” Grace responded. “I don't expect you'll have any room there for a special dessert, eh?”
“I've always got some room for dessert.” Donovan touted. “Not that I do that everyday. Must be something really good for you to be pushing it on us.”
“Donovan, I'm surprised at your attitude. Maybe I'll keep my banoffee pie for myself!” Grace teased back.
“Holy cow! Banoffee pie! It's been....” and Donovan's voice trailed off.
“I'm always up for dessert,” Quinn popped in with his two cents.
Grace brought out the tea and banoffe pie to “oohhs” and “ahhs” from Quinn and Donovan. At least they held themselves to one piece of the sweet rich dessert, raving about how much they enjoyed it as they ate. Grace was pleased with her choice.
Dinner was followed by some discussion about how things were planned for the cottage for the foreseeable future. Donovan was courteous enough not to pry into Grace and Quinn's relationship, but could see that it appeared to be something that might become very permanent. He was pleased to hear how much Quinn enjoyed his time in Swatragh.
Donovan left a happy man, full to the gills, knowing things would be what he had hoped for. Grace and Quinn finished cleaning up from dinner and sat down on the sofa again, as if they had been doing this for years. They discussed the website for the cottage and talked about how Quinn would have to leave early the next morning to head back to Dublin. He planned to work a full week but leave early on Friday to return to Swatragh on Friday evening. The following week he would stay a little longer to meet with some business in Swatragh about their websites. He was glad to find the excuse to spend more time with Grace at the cottage. In fact, while he had not told Grace yet, he was working on a plan to spend as much time as possible in Swatragh.
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