The weeks flew by with keeping busy at work and working on bookings for the cottage, there was little time left for much else. Each Monday morning Chloe would stop by catching Grace up on happenings at the cottage over the weekend and turning in money collected from guests. Grace, in turn, would give Chloe the allotted money for food for the next weekend. It was a small profit, but nonetheless, a profit.
A three weeks had passed and Grace prepared to drive up to the cottage that Friday morning. Sue had other obligations so she stayed behind. Grace actually enjoyed having Fridays off when she was still in Dublin, but looked forward to her drive up to Swatragh and the cottage. Chloe had shared that she would also enjoy having the weekend off after having worked the last three and not being able to spend as much time with Peter as she had hoped. The two of them were still going strong.
It was a rainy summer day, as happened often in Ireland, but Grace enjoyed the early morning drive out of the city. She planned to stop at least once at a farmer's market to pick up some additional groceries for dinners over the weekend. Grace continued to study Aine's recipes and found a few more that she wanted to try. She figured if she could simplify a few dinners, and standard foods, she could also offer a supper supplement to guests. But Chloe would have to be able to make these dinners. It would be a fixed menu each weekend rather than a menu of choice.
As she drove down the narrow road and spotted the cottage, she noticed Donovan outside his place across from the cottage. She waved as she pulled in, and headed over to say hello when she got out of the car.
“I see you've changed your mind about selling the cottage,” Donovan retorted, as she approached.
“Hello, and I see you are in good health too, Donovan,” Grace responded chuckling.
“So is this a temporary thing? Or just until you can sell? I want to be prepared this time,” Donovan was his usual terse self.
“Donovan, things seem to be sorting themselves out for me. For now, if all goes well, I'll be keeping the cottage open for guests on weekends. My friend will be here most of the time, and I'll be up once a month,” Grace explained.
“Just doesn't seem to have the same energy as when Aine was running it. Less of a home, more just a business,” Donovan responded.
“I guess that's something we'll have to work on. It's only been a month,” Grace understood exactly what Donovan meant. Aine made people feel like they were coming home when they stayed at the cottage. That comfort made them return again and again.
“Just nice to see you up here. Seems Peter is quite taken with your friend. He is practically living at the cottage. But he does take good care of it,” Donovan was once again being his old self.
“Good to hear he's earning his wage, even though it's not much,” Grace chuckled. She had noticed how beautiful the garden looked, and how well the plants and flowers were doing.
Grace bid her farewell to Donovan and grabbed the groceries from the car. Chloe came to the door as she approached.
“I'm so glad you are here. This is the first weekend where the place is going to be packed. It's going to take both of us to keep up with everything!” Chloe explained.
“But this is supposed to be your weekend off.”
“I'll still be here, and I'll help whenever I can. Let's get this unloaded and we can get organized. The rooms are all ready, so we're all set there. It's just making sure we have enough groceries. And, if it's okay, Peter and I will go out tonight. We've really haven't gone out for ages. Mostly he spends time here with me in the evening.” Grace could see that Chloe was happy to have some private time with Peter. “We're starting to feel like an old married couple, and I'm not quite ready for that yet!” Both Chloe and Grace laughed.
The girls organized and put away the groceries as they talked about the guest list for the weekend. The upstairs had a single room, a twin room and two double rooms, along with an unfinished dormer room, currently used for storage. The single room was where Peter stayed the night, and would be where Grace would stay for the weekend. Since Chloe had been coming up the other weekends, she had set up Aine's downstairs bedroom as her own, and Grace didn't want her to have to move for one weekend. Six guests were expected that weekend. Grace had handled this before with six of her friends visiting, but they also pitched in and helped with all the needs of the cottage. This weekend would be a challenge.
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