Aunt Bessie's Holiday Read Online Free PDF Page B

think I might if you don’t mind
being on your own for a while longer,” she replied.
    “Oh no, you go,” Bessie said
emphatically.   She was quite used to
entertaining herself and had plenty to keep herself busy with.
    This time Doona didn’t return until after an
announcement had come over the tannoy.
    Ladies
and gentlemen, we are approaching Heysham and should be docking in about ten minutes.   At that time, we will ask all car
passengers to make their way to the rear staircases and return to their
vehicles for unloading.   I repeat,
we will be asking all car passengers to return to their vehicles in
approximately ten minutes.   All foot
passengers are asked to remain in their seats in the passenger lounge until
further notice.   Our guests who are
occupying cabins are asked to prepare to vacate them as soon as we dock.   Thank you.
    Bessie was just gathering up all of her
things when Doona opened the cabin door.   She quickly packed up her own belongings and then sat down on her bunk
opposite Bessie.  
    “We only have a few minutes before we have
to join the masses,” she said.
    “But we’re here,” Bessie replied, feeling a
bit silly for being so excited.
    “We are indeed,” Doona said.   “It will be nice to be on dry land
again.”
    “You aren’t feeling poorly, are you?” Bessie
asked.
    “No, I’m fine,” Doona answered.
    “Did you have a chance to see the whole
ship?”
    Doona flushed.   “I saw the bridge,” she told
Bessie.   “Passengers are allowed to
walk around the front of the ship, and from there you can see into the bridge.”
    “That sounds interesting.   Maybe I’ll take a look on the way home.”
    “You should,” Doona replied.
    “Why are you blushing?” Bessie had to ask.
    “I met the captain,” Doona replied, not
quite meeting Bessie’s eyes.   “He
was, well, a bit overwhelming.”
    “In what way?”
    “He’s Italian,” Doona said dryly.
    Bessie laughed.   While she hated stereotypes, some of
them were well deserved, and she often thought that Italian men took great
pride in living up to the reputation they had around the world.
    “Did he show you around the bridge?” she
asked her friend.
    “He did, and then he offered to show me the
captain’s quarters,” Doona replied.
    Bessie laughed again.   “That seems very direct.”
    “I think he was just being friendly,” Doona
said.   “I’m pretty sure it wasn’t
actually a proposition.”
    “But you turned it down anyway.”
    “I would have, but we ran out of time,”
Doona told her.   “It was time to
start the docking procedures and he had to get back to work.”
    “How fortuitous,” Bessie said.
    “He’s going to be captaining our return
journey,” Doona told her.   “He wants
me to join him on the bridge once we’re underway.”
    “Well, you have an entire week to think
about whether you want to do that or not,” Bessie told her.   “For now, let’s get out of here and try
to find your car.”
    Doona laughed.   “Oh, I don’t have to think too hard,”
she said.   “The man is gorgeous and
his accent is very sexy.   I think
I’ll happily let him flirt with me all the way home.”
    The two women were in the best of spirits as
they dropped off the cabin keys at the customer service desk and made their way
back to Doona’s car.   Then they
waited patiently while the long and slow process of unloading the ship began.   Eventually it was their turn to drive
carefully off the ferry and back onto dry land.   Doona had given Bessie a map before
they’d left; now Bessie did her best to follow it and direct her friend.
    The route wasn’t particularly difficult and
once they’d reached the motorway the signs for the Lake District were easy to
follow.   They’d barely entered the
Lake District when they saw their first sign for Lakeview Holiday Park.
    “According to the sign, we have about twenty
miles to go on the motorway,” Bessie told Doona.  
    Once they’d