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The women laughed.

“And we all will be expecting an invitation to your and Finn’s wedding,” Pearl added.

Maisie shook her head in amusement, sending another wave in their direction as she walked back to her hotel once more. She couldn’t deny it. While she’d miss the passengers—most of them, anyway—she was glad to see the last of the trip.

With Finn, it would have continued to be a dream. With Thomas, the last five days had been a struggle to get through. And with Mrs. Waterstone, it had been torturous.

She and the woman had come to an unspoken agreement that they wouldn’t exchange another word with each other, and fortunately, they’d both made good on that promise.

Maisie had tried to see things from the woman’s perspective, knowing Mrs. Waterstone was lonely, bored, and unhappy, but it had hardly helped Maisie’s opinion of the matter.

So frankly, she was glad to leave it all behind and was looking forward to seeing Finn more than she ever had before. She’d hoped he would have messaged her earlier with news of what had happened between him and his boss, but he hadn’t, so she’d tried to wait patiently.

As she made it back to her hotel, she pulled out her phone, finding another message from Daphne about suppliers and how the menu needed a bit more tweaking.

She and Maisie had started texting each other again Monday night, though they’d kept things strictly business-related. It was easier than trying to explain to Daphne what was going on—that Maisie had fallen for the tour guide, broken the rules by kissing him, potentially kicked his family out of their lifelong home, and was now wanting to remain in Northern Ireland instead of returning to Boston to set up a restaurant with her aunt.

Daphne would definitely not understand.

Instead, Maisie gave her an update on the final foods she’d tried in Northern Ireland—none of them holding a candle to Niamh’s stew—then pulled out her luggage to begin packing for the flight tomorrow. She’d done this countless times over the last four months, so it was strange to think it was the last time she’d do it now.

After half an hour, her phone buzzed, and Maisie was delighted to see Finn’s name pop up instead of her aunt’s.

Finn

Fancy a visitor?

Her heart trilled.

Maisie

Depends on who the visitor is…

She smiled, staring at the dots that appeared before he responded.

Finn

Knock, knock.

Maisie tipped her head to the side in confusion, then a tap, tap sounded on the door of her hotel room. Another moment of uncertainty passed before she gasped, dropped her phone, and ran to the door.

She couldn’t rein in her hope as she swung the door open, revealing Finn’s smiling eyes.

“Finn!” she exclaimed.

Without thinking, she launched forward and wrapped her arms around his neck.

He laughed, embracing her in return and lifting her up. “Ach, I missed you,” he said, holding onto her tightly before her feet touched the ground again.

“I missed you, too,” she said, pulling back.

They stood staring at each other for a minute, a flicker of awkwardness hanging between. It was strange, having him there. Their time before had felt like a perfect dream. To see that it had been reality—that Finn really did exist and that he really did like her—she hardly knew what to do with herself.

“What are you doing here?” she asked. “Do you want to come in? I thought we were gonna eat somewhere?”

He laughed. “One question at a time, please. I can’t keep up.”

“Sorry, I’m just so excited!” She clasped her hands in front of her, trying to match his calm mood.