Free The Tour by Jean Grainger

Dorothy one. But, as he reminded himself, his job was to drive the coach and keep them happy, not enquire too deeply about what was going on.
    ‘Em no… She…she’s in the room. I just came out for a walk and thought I might just have one glass of wine since I’m on vacation…’ Juliet’s voice trailed off.
    Conor smiled. ‘Of course you did. You are in Ireland after all. Do you want to join me or would you rather some peace and quiet? I won’t be insulted if you want to be on your own?’
    ‘Well if you’re sure you don’t mind I would be happy to join you.’
    ‘So, have you and Dorothy been friends for long?’
    ‘Well, yes and no I suppose. I know her through our church, and when my husband died, she suggested that we take a trip together. And so, I guess, here we are.’
    ‘You must get on great so, to say ye went on holidays together,’ Conor prompted.
    He was intrigued by this woman who, when away from her companion, wasn’t nearly as mousy as he had originally thought.
    Juliet smiled sardonically.
    ‘I guess so. Though to be honest, I sometimes wonder what, if anything, we have in common. Dorothy is very well travelled and well read. She’s actually a university professor in some kind of science, but to be honest I’m not sure exactly what. So, she’s kind of hard to please I guess. She’s very definite about what she does and doesn’t want, and usually gets her own way in the end. I tend to go with the flow a bit more.’
    Conor considered the various aspects of Juliet’s predicament.
    ‘Well Juliet, I’ll tell you something I’ve observed in my amateur studies of human behaviour, well …on my coach tours anyhow, for the past twenty years. You can please some of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time. To my mind, people decide either they are going to have a great time or a miserable time and there’s very little anyone can do to change it once they have decided on that. I hope you decide you are going to have a great time, and that you don’t give a damn what anyone else thinks.’
    Juliet smiled.
    ‘Do you know Conor, I think you’re right. That’s exactly what I’m going to do,’ she said with a grin.
    For the next hour, a very pleasant hour, they spent the time talking about Larry and about her life in Des Moines. She told him she was thinking of buying a condo in Florida, about her life as a librarian. Conor was so easy to talk to, she even confessed to him about her daily chats with Larry.
    ‘I guess you get all kind of fruitcakes on these trips, so one who talks to a dead guy every day isn’t all that amazing.’
    Conor smiled. ‘Do you know something Juliet? I think you are a very lucky woman to have known such happiness as you had with your husband all those years. I do believe we go somewhere when we die, and that we’ll all meet again, so why shouldn’t you keep in touch with Larry? He’s probably looking down at you right now, hoping you have a great holiday, that you splash out on a nice steak and a bottle of wine tomorrow night, and that you forget about having anything to do with the tap water and the early bird seafood platter.’
    Juliet felt guilty revealing all that stuff about Dorothy, but it felt good to let off some steam. Somehow, she knew that Conor O’Shea was the soul of discretion. She finished her third glass of wine and stood up.
    ‘Thank you for a lovely chat, Conor. I really enjoyed talking to you.’
    ‘And I enjoyed talking to you too. See you in the morning Juliet. Codhladh Sámh .’ Noting her confused expression, he said, ‘It’s the Irish for goodnight. It means I wish you a peaceful sleep.’
    ‘Well, Colla sawve to you too,’ she replied, and went back to face the wrath of Dorothy Crane with a lighter heart – the first time she had felt light-hearted since she left Des Moines the previous week.

Chapter 8
    After the informative tour of Charles Fort the following morning, the group sat outside a