Page 42 of An Irish Summer

I was at the reception desk a few days after my night with Collin when my phone rang. I’d been floating in a heady cloud since

then, vaguely disconnected from reality, so the professional tone on the other end of the line came as a shock.

“Good morning. This is Bridgette Gantz, hiring manager at Hotel Blue, calling for Ms. Chelsea Gold, please.”

“This is she,” I said, sitting bolt upright in the chair and trying to make sense of what I was hearing.

“Ms. Gold, hi.” Her deep voice sounded like honey through the phone. “I’m glad I caught you. Do you have a minute?”

“I, uh, yes,” I said, turning on the answering machine and stepping outside. “I do. Thanks so much for calling.” I steeled

myself for a rejection. It had been ages since I’d applied for the senior events planner job, and, surely, she was calling

to inform me they’d given it to someone else.

“The pleasure is all mine. I want to apologize for the delay in our reaching back out to you regarding the senior events planner

position. We had to put our hiring process on hold for some unforeseen renovations, but I hope you’re still interested.”

“I am, very much so,” I assured her automatically, before I could consider the weight of my words. The new plan was only pursuing jobs I really wanted, wasn’t it? And hadn’t this been the job?

“Excellent,” she said, her relief audible. “When will you be back in the country? Given the innately personal nature of our

business, we generally do not conduct virtual interviews. We’d love to have you in for an interview on Friday, if at all possible.”

Friday. Three days from today. Three days earlier than I’d planned to leave.

For the one job I’d been dreaming of since I’d seen the posting at the start of the summer.

“Friday sounds great,” I assured her. “I’ll be back by then, and I’m very much looking forward to it.”

“As am I,” she said. “I’ll reach out via email this afternoon to confirm the timing. Between now and then, if you have any

questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.”

“Thank you.”

“Thank you for your understanding and flexibility. I’ll see you Friday. Safe travels home.”

Home.

I wasn’t sure how exactly we ended the call, because I nearly blacked out as reality set in. If I was going to fly home in

time for the interview, that meant today was my last day working at the Wanderer.

I walked back inside on autopilot, returning to my body only when I registered Flo calling my name.

“Chelsea, hey.” She put her hand to my elbow like she was approaching a wild animal. “What’s going on?”

“I can’t tell you,” I whispered, looking around the lobby to see if anyone was listening.

“What do you mean you can’t tell me? We keep secrets now?”

“I just can’t,” I said.

“Can you tell me why you can’t?”

“Because I will cry at this desk and I’m so not prepared to cry at this desk today,” I said, voice already wobbly. Her expression

softened, which didn’t help my case.

“Put the answering machine on,” she said, abruptly grabbing my hand and pulling me around from the back of the desk. “We need

pastries for this.”

I did as I was told, letting her drag me down the hallway and into the kitchen.

In the kitchen, she shooed a prep cook out the side door, handed me a pain au chocolat, and hopped up on the steel workbench.

“Okay,” she said. “Talk to me, cara . What’s going on?”

“I got an interview for that job,” I whispered. “The one I thought I was underqualified for.”

“The dream job?”

“That’s the one,” I said. She blew air through her full lips, trying as hard as I was to process what this meant. I figured

the least I could do was help her along. “And I have to fly home on Thursday to interview on Friday.”

“ Merda. ”

“ Merda is right.” I dropped my head onto my folded arms. “If this was what I wanted the whole time, Flo, why does it hurt so bad

to leave?”

“Oh, Chelsea. Look around. Whether you can admit it or not, you’ve built quite a life here in the past few months. Goodbyes

are never easy.”

“I can’t believe I thought it would be,” I said. “I feel so stupid.” I thought back to that day in Boston when Helen and Jack

told me they were closing O’Shea’s. When I’d woken up thinking it was going to be such a good day. I should have learned then

there was no use in trying to predict the future.

“No sense in any of that,” Flo said, waving her hand. “When you first got here from Boston, you were only thinking about getting yourself back to America. How could you have known all you’d do for this place? How could you have known you’d fall in love?”

“Flo!” I sat up straight.

She laughed. “You’ve fallen in love with Ireland , at least . But it’s obvious you’ve fallen for Collin too, Chelsea. I’ve seen you two together. And I’ve heard you talk about each other.

And I saw you sneaking out of his room the other morning, which I will forgive you for not telling me. But it doesn’t look like

just a summer fling.”

“He talks about me?” I asked.

“If you could see your face right now.” She smiled, shaking her head.

“What does he say?”

“Same thing we’re all thinking, really. He wishes you wouldn’t leave. He can’t imagine the Wanderer without you.”

It was a good thing we had left the lobby, because I couldn’t keep the tears back for much longer. The end of my time here

had come even sooner than I’d expected, and it was a lot to bear.

“Was this whole thing so selfish?” I asked. “Getting involved with him, knowing I was going to leave?”

“You wouldn’t be hurting this much if it was selfish,” she said. “And besides, he’s an adult. He knew what he was getting

himself into and made the choice anyway. Though I don’t know how much of a choice it was for either of you, judging by how

hard you tried to resist but ending up falling anyway.”

I was so embarrassed by how I’d acted when I’d first gotten here, I almost had to laugh.

I had no intention of getting in volved, or making connections, or doing anything beyond the job I was required to do.

But everyone who came to work at the Wanderer left as part of the family, and I was the only one who couldn’t see it.

I was the only one who had been determined to resist what everyone else knew was inevitable.

And had I known then what I know now, about how special this family really is, how special Collin is, I never would have resisted it in the first place.

“How do you always know the right thing to say?”

“I’m Italian, tesoro .” Flo laughed. “We know about love. And I’ve seen enough people come through this place thinking they’re one thing and leaving

another.”

I took a deep breath, but it didn’t make me feel any steadier. “I’d have been so lost without you this summer.”

“Oh, trust me, I know. You’re still lost even with me.”

I dropped my head again onto my folded arms. “You’ve been such a good friend since I’ve gotten here, and I’ve been such a

basket case.”

She reached out and squeezed my arm. “Basket case or not, you’ve been equally good as a friend,” she said. “But I’m not sure

why we’re talking in the past tense, like we aren’t going to be friends after you leave.”

“That would be a nightmare,” I said. “I’m not sure I could manage.”

“Which is why we’ll keep in touch,” she said. “You’re stuck with me now, cara .”

The idea of being stuck with anyone other than Ada was so foreign it made my heart ache. Flo and I had only known each other

for two months, during most of which I was certifiably insane, and she didn’t want to get rid of me.

“It’s an honor,” I said.

“So, you’re really leaving, huh?”

“I was looking for the dream job, and I finally have a shot at it,” I said, trying hard to picture Hotel Blue and not the

very place I was sitting. “And my time here is up, so, yeah, I suppose I am.”

She jumped off the table and threw her arms around me.

“I’m proud of you,” she said into my hair. “As long as you don’t forget about us and come back to visit, yes? Maybe for a

long time, like, say, another summer?” She pulled away and wiggled her perfect brows, and I was grateful to be laughing instead

of crying.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” I said. “And don’t tell the others yet, will you?”

“My lips are sealed. Now get out of here. I also don’t want to cry this early in the morning, so I need to get back to work.”

I pushed through the swinging kitchen doors before either of us succumbed to the wave of emotion, returning to my desk only

in body. My mind couldn’t have been farther away.

I’d been in such a daze, so different from the one I’d been in when I started the day, that it had taken me almost an hour

to realize I’d gotten a text from Collin.

Last day off tomorrow. Reckon you’re finally ready for the Cliffs?

I nearly dropped my phone on the floor fumbling to answer. I thought that was up to you , I replied.

You’re right.

And I’ve made up my mind. You’re ready. Be ready tomorrow morning by 10.

With braids , he added in another message. It’s windy. And you know I quite like you in them.

I’d spent most of the morning trying to decide how I was going to tell Collin the news, only to decide I wouldn’t tell him

right away. I didn’t want to ruin the Cliffs, or our last day together. If I was going to make it through the day without

unraveling entirely, I would have to avoid all thoughts of my departure until then.

“There she is,” Collin said when I walked into the lobby at a quarter to ten. “Big day ahead of us, haven’t we?”

His smile was becoming so familiar to me I couldn’t imagine a time in the past when I hadn’t known him. Which only made me

hate imagining a future without him even more.

“How do you always beat me down here?” I said.

“I get impatient waiting.”

“Are you ready, then?”

“The question is, are you?”

Our eyes locked together like magnets. I was both woefully unprepared and as ready as I could ever be, and the sensation made

me feel like I was already on the edge of a cliff.