Forever in My Heart

For five years, Jenna Slade has been climbing the corporate ladder at Columbus, Ohio based Pugsley Hotels, which has properties worldwide catering primarily to the corporate clientele. Just when she and her boyfriend Dave Jordan, an executive in the international division of the company, get engaged, Jenna gets her first overseas assignment: making a pitch to some potential investors in Dublin for Pugsley to take over a historic property in the city. Part of the reason for this assignment is that Jenna spent one year in an internship working at family-owned and operated O'Hanlon's Inn in rural Dalkey outside of Dublin just prior to getting hired at Pugsley, so she knows the Irish culture and how to frame the pitch to the Irish mentality. Part of Jenna's wish to work in Ireland at the time was a family connection with her father Jack Slade, who has since passed; they had fixed up some family property there. While in Ireland for this trip, Jenna plans to stop by Dalkey to catch up with her friend Kath, who worked as the baker at O'Hanlon's, and Patrick, the O'Hanlon patriarch and her former boss. She's surprised to see Kath's husband Liam and especially Patrick's son Charlie, who have been on the road performing in their Celtic-music bar band. Charlie was Jenna's boyfriend while she was in Dalkey; Charlie was ready to make a long-term commitment to her five yeas ago, but he didn't want to stand in the way of her professional opportunity in working for Pugsley. As Jenna spends time with all her old friends in Dalkey while they prepare for the annual Heritage Festival, usually O'Hanlon's busiest time of year, what happens between Jenna and Charlie this time around is not only affected by the engagement ring on her finger from another man, but by Jenna learning of the difficulties O'Hanlon's is currently facing: Patrick wants to retire and Molly, one of the inn's guests, wants to reconnect with someone important from her past.—Huggo