Grace stretched as she woke up and realized that she was still in her clothes from the night before and not in her bed either. She remembered going out to dinner with Quinn, but somewhere along the way things seemed to get a little fuzzy. She ached all over from sleeping in the over-sized chair in the front room. Barely able to open her eyes to the sun streaming in, she realized that she was being watched. Quinn was standing in the doorway with a tray of tea.
“Oh, I'm sorry, I must have overslept, I should be getting that for you,” Grace started to get up from the chair but her head was reeling.
“Stop right there, Grace,” ordered Quinn. “It's my turn to do a little taking care of you.” And he put the tray with the pot of tea down on the table next to Grace. “First off, let's get you some ibuprofen to start working on that headache.”
“What happened to me last night?” asked Grace as she downed the ibuprofen.
“I don't think you have much of a tolerance for more than one pint. By the time we headed back here, you were pretty much as relaxed as anyone could be. And quite friendly too,” Quinn winked at Grace.
Grace blushed, “Oh my, did I... I mean...I hope I didn't embarrass myself too much.”
Quinn decided to leave out the torrid embrace and kiss, “You were fine. Just really relaxed. I couldn't carry you upstairs, so I left you here. I hope that was okay?”
Grace sipped her hot tea and closed her eyes as she swallowed, “How could I let that happen? Not professional at all of me.”
“Grace, you have to let your hair down once in a while. You have been under so much stress lately. Last night was good for you. We had a great time,” Quinn was being honest as he had not had such a relaxed time out like this in ages.
Grace wanted to get up and make some breakfast for Quinn, but he declined. He needed to get back to Dublin today, and Grace needed to get over her headache and make last minute preparations for her musical guests arriving later that afternoon. She hoped to fit a short nap in before all the arrivals. At least she could head to bed early that night and be back in her own room.
Quinn made sure Grace was feeling a bit better before he headed back to Dublin with a promise to be in touch through email or phone calls once Grace was back there the following week. He was not sure he could wait that long, but he had been gone from work and not only needed to catch up there, but needed to deal with his brother Tommy also.
Once Quinn was gone Grace busied herself with the chores of the day taking short breaks just to help clear her head. She was happy not to be making dinner for the next two evenings as it would give her a break. Her weekend guests had asked for dinner on Friday and Saturday, so she worked on a plan for then.
The days flew by. With musicians in the cottage during the afternoons warming up and practicing for the evening, the cottage was full of music. Grace sang along as she worked in the kitchen, or set tables for the morning. By evening, it was quiet and Grace worked on reservations and plans for the coming months. Each day she received a short note from Quinn asking how she was doing, and telling her how anxious he was to see her again. She responded in kind and found herself looking forward to these daily notes. When she opened up her email during the day, seeing a message from Quinn brought a smile to her.
Sunday came and it was time to shut down the cottage for the next week. Grace had left the following week days unbooked so she could return to Dublin and take care of those things that needed to be done and meet with her boss. During the time she was gone, she was also receiving emails from friends as to the fact that the business was not going well, and that they expected another round of redundancy notes coming around. Grace knew this was the time to make the toughest decision she had to make.
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