As Keira hurried back to the inn, she heard her phone ringing in her bag. She grabbed it, wondering if Shane was finally calling her back, as if they were telepathically connected somehow. Instead, it was Joshua's name that she saw flashing on the screen at her.
So he'd finally decided to shout at her. His dose of painkillers from the broken leg must have been reduced.
Sucking in her breath, Keira answered the call.
"Tick tock, Keira," Joshua said menacingly, not even bothering to say hello. "You're nowhere near finished. Where's my final draft? I need to see how it all hangs together with the disastrous date the matchmaker sent you on."
Simon and Sylvia's advice was still ringing in Keira's ears. She made a decision there and then. No longer would she pander to Joshua's demands. She wasn't feeling it, the article would be phony. She needed to write from her heart, speak her truth. She was going to delete everything she'd written so far and start again. She was going to write something she actually cared about. She was going to drop the irony, the snark, the condescending arrogance. Because this place had taught her something far more important. The power of love.
"I didn't get to go on one, remember? He refused to match me." She smiled to herself as she said it, realizing what William had been doing when he failed to match her. He'd been stopping her from falling into the same dating traps she always had, from wasting her time on unsuitable people. He really did know what he was doing and Keira was finally willing to accept it.
"Then how are you ending the piece?" Joshua yelled, sounding incensed.
"Don't worry. I have something else up my sleeve that will blow your mind."
She was certain it would do just that. Just not in the way that Joshua was expecting.
"Tell me what it is first," he demanded. "I want to make sure you're heading in the right direction."
"I just met a couple who got married here," Keira said. "The Lovers of Lisdoonvarna, they call them."
"Okay. And? What's the problem? Are they both hideously ugly? Ex-cons? What's the deal? How are you going to spin it?"
Keira suppressed a smile. "Let's just say they had some interesting anecdotes and some advice for a young woman."
"Which was…?" Joshua prompted. He didn't sound like he was buying it.
Just then Keira reached the B&B. "Look, do you want me to write this piece or chat about it? Because I know where my efforts would be best expended."
Joshua let out an infuriated cry. "Fine, Swanson. Do what you want. You always have. God, if I could go back in time and unspill that macchiato, unbreak my leg, I would make sure you NEVER got this piece. You've been nothing but trouble. I've had to micromanage this whole thing from my bed!"
Keira just rolled her eyes. She'd heard enough of Joshua's angry tirades.
She finally got to hang up the phone and entered the busy pub. Orin was behind the bar, as usual. He looked up, then back away again when he saw her enter. Keira had taken to scuttling away from him, ashamed, hiding up in her room. But this time she walked confidently up to the bar.
"What can I get for you?" Orin asked, looking surprised that Keira was standing in front of him.
"I wanted to apologize," Keira said, emboldened by Simon and Sylvia's words earlier. "I'm so sorry about what I wrote. I was trying to get approval from all the wrong people, like my boss back in New York City. But I've come to realize that doing things to make bad people like you is akin to being a bad person yourself."
Orin watched her intently as if letting her words sink in. Keira felt happier with every second that passed. Apologizing, admitting guilt, it was cathartic.
"I wanted you to be the first to know that I'm not going to publish the article," she continued. "I'm going to withdraw it. My editor has the most recent draft, she's a friend. I'm going to ask her to delete her copy so my boss can't get hold of it. It will be completely erased, everything I said."
Orin frowned then. "What are you going to do instead? It's still your job."
"I don't care," Keira said, and to her surprise she realized that she meant it. She really didn't care. She didn't want to write pointless ranty articles just to impress Joshua. "Even if it costs me my job I'd prefer your friendship and respect over Joshua's any day!"
Orin suddenly smiled. He came out from around the bar and hugged her tightly. Keira felt that surge of fatherly love again that she'd lost when she'd broken Orin's trust.
"I'm so happy to hear this, Keira," Orin said. Then he released her from the embrace. "But you know who really needs your apology? Someone who is probably living in hope that you'll have a change of heart before you leave?"
"Shane," Keira finished for him.
Orin nodded. "Shane. You should call him."
Keira chewed her lip, thinking of the message she'd left on Shane's voicemail. It had been inadequate. She'd hardly even broached an apology.
"I know," she admitted. "But I left a message and he didn't return my call. I don't think Shane wants to hear me groveling."
Orin looked at her sternly. "One voicemail? You're giving up after one knock back?"
"I don't want to seem like a stalker," Keira said.
"Would you prefer to risk being perceived as uncaring instead? Because that might be how you come across."
Orin was right. One voicemail was pathetic. She had to show Shane how much she cared. And she was running out of time to do it.
