Page 52 of Too Far To Sea
Kissingthe blarney stone didn’t solve anything other than giving Dana some good quality time with a bunch of strangers. She found a quiet area on the castle grounds and pulled out her phone to text her friends.
Dana: The wedding is off. Brit: What?
Simone: What?
Dana: I caught Chandler cheating with one of the bridesmaids. I feel terrible. Trying to decide if I should come home early or tour London.
Brit: Tour London.
Simone: I can send you my Jane Austen ultimate tour. You can do it all from the train. Mostly. You’ll have to take a taxi to Lyme Regis.
Brit: Definitely go to Bath.
Simone: You better not come home early. Use your planned PTO.
Dana: How detailed is your itinerary?
Simone: Places to stay, eat, essential things to see based on how long you are in a town. Since I usually have 2 days to explore. It is all by train.
Dana: Send it. I don’t know what I’ll have time for. Or if I am expected anyplace. I don’t want to leave Cheyalone, but Renee is her Maid of Honor for good reason. She’s fantastic.
It hurt that Chey’s friends were a greater comfort, but Renee did know her sister better than she did.
Brit: Bath. Sally Lunn bun, clotted cream. All you need to know.
Simone: She has to go to Lyme too. After all the Cobb and Captain Wentworth.
Dana: You know the difference between fiction and reality, correct?
Simone: Haha. A girl can dream.
Brit: I thought you kind of met someone.
Dana: Kind of is as close as it gets for me.
Simone: You could see him after the cruise, right?
Dana: Only if we plan to. He is going home to Indiana.
Brit: What a coincidence, you are moving there with the Ogilvies aren’t you?
Dana: I’ll still be over an hour away from him.
Simone: It would take some effort. Is he worth it?
Dana stared at her screen. Was McKay worth a two-hour drive? Maybe once. If it went poorly, she could return home and say it was too far next time. But if it went well. That would be a lot of driving, and what happened when he returned to the cruise line? She learned from dad, long-distance relationships brought problems.
Dana: Not sure. I don’t see this going anywhere. Eventually he’ll go back out to sea and as fun as cruises are, I don’t think I could ever work on one. Not doing a long-distance relationship.
There was the family thing too. Someday she wanted to be a mother. The Ogilvie kids had shown her that, and a spouse who was gone nine months out of the year didn’t work with those plans.
Brit: You should at least go on an actual date. One where you could hold hands or whatever without cruise ship rules.
Simone: Three dates. One to impress, one that’s a mess, and one to confess.
Dana: Never heard of that. What does it mean mess and confess?
Brit: It rhymes. 3rd date is to decide for yourself how you feel. NOT confess your feelings to him.
