The Job Offer

chapter 16


Ben woke up the next morning with a raging hangover. The one and only time he had a hangover in college, he swore to never drink to excess again. But last night he returned to the party and went up to the open bar first thing. He stayed there for the rest of the party hoping the alcohol would help him forget. But no amount of alcohol was able to drown out the pain in his chest or his feelings of betrayal. His behavior worried his parents who asked him several times where Anne was. He avoided their questions until they stopped asking.

Now with the cold light of day smacking him in the face, he looked over at Anne's empty place in the bed. His anger was gone, and all he felt was emptiness and regret. He had accused her of some awful things the night before, and now he knew that he had acted like a fool believing the crazy story his mind had strung together to explain all of the coincidences. That hurt more than anything. She was none of those things he accused her of being. It was all just a big misunderstanding that he played a major role in perpetuating. If he had only told her his last name, then all of this would have been avoided.

But he wanted her and had wanted her even when they were teenagers. She was such a big part of his life even though they only saw each other for a few weeks every year. For years after he graduated college he would come to the island hoping that he would run into her, but she never came when he was here. Then when she was suddenly at the inn on Monday, he knew he had to have her. But, looking back, if she had known who he was, then she would have kept her friendly distance. In honesty, that was not what he wanted.

The fact that he jumped on his crazy story as if it was the truth shamed him now. What a fool he was to let Chelsea’s poison get to him. But he had been so afraid to lose Anne, so afraid that she would reject his love that he tried to protect himself in the worst way possible. He projected his own fear of her rejection of his love into a stupid theory until he drove her away. Talk about a self fulfilling prophecy. When he realized that he did it because he loved her, had loved her for years, and had just been afraid of being hurt, he switched to drinking because of his own stupidity. She would never forgive him for what he said, and he could not just showed up drunk at her parents' door and apologize.

If nothing else, he owed her an apology. He would have to find her this morning, apologize, and hope that she would forgive him. Then somehow he would have to find a way to work with her for the next year while he loved her knowing that she could never love him for what he did, for what he said. His mind played over their time together the last few days. Did she love him? Was that what she was trying to tell him yesterday morning before they were interrupted by his mother? He needed to find her and set things right today.

Looking at the clock, he saw that it was much later than he thought and that he only had one hour to check out before he had to leave for the airport. That would not give him much time to find Anne. He would try calling her first. Rolling out of bed, he sat up and dialed the front desk. He did not know the number of Anne's parents' house and asked the front desk clerk. The man connected him directly, but the phone rang until the answering service picked up. He would try Anne's cell phone, he decided, and went into the sitting room to check his computer for her resume. Then he saw the necklace on the table sitting next to his laptop and groaned in pain. It was worse than he thought. She was going to cut him out of her life entirely if he did not act soon. He needed to apologize this morning while he still had a chance. She would shut him out forever, otherwise. But she did not answer her cell phone when he called, and he left a message asking her to call him. That would not be enough. He needed to see her in person.

After quickly showering and haphazardly throwing his clothing and bathroom kit into his suitcase, he went to the lobby to check out. Seeing his family in the dining room, he went inside to see if he could spot Anne. She wasn't there. He did not want to waste time talking to anyone else and did not go over to his family's table even though they waved him over. Anne had to be around somewhere. He decided the best place to start looking was at her parents' house. He knocked several times on their door but no one answered, and he eventually left. Then he went down to the dock, but did not see her. He even checked the log bench further down the shore. Knowing he was running out of time, he went back to the inn’s main building.

He ran into Jim coming out of the office door when he walked into the main building through the back way. Stopping him, Ben asked Jim if he knew where Anne was.

"I wish I could help you, Ben, but I thought she was with you."

"No. Is she at your house?"

"No, she's not there. At least she wasn’t when we got up." Ben looked at the time and swore under his breath.

"Look, Jim, I have to leave. My flight back to Seattle will be leaving soon, but I need to talk to Anne. Can you tell her to call me?" He pulled a business card from his wallet and wrote his personal cell phone number on the back with a pen he saw sitting by the fax machine.

"I'll give her the card, Ben."

"Thanks, Jim." Ben walked back to the lobby, disappointed that he would not see Anne before he left. He would feel much better if he could talk to her. His family came out of the dining room and walked outside onto the veranda. The car that would take them back to the airport had arrived, and the driver was packing their luggage in the trunk. After looking around one last time inside of the inn, Ben finally went to the veranda and climbed into the vehicle. She would call him, and when she did he would tell her that he loved her and beg for forgiveness, if necessary.


* * * * *


Anne returned to the inn late that afternoon after a long day on the water kayaking. The sky was overcast and she could feel rain in the air. Fitting, she thought. She would not have been able to stay at the inn and watch Ben leave, and she also did not want to face her parents, so she left early that morning. She and Ben said their goodbyes the night before and a whole lot more. She was not up to seeing his derision today when he looked at her. Over the course of the day she went through every minute of their time together, and her heart ached with pain. She honestly had had no idea that he was Benjamin Stanford, and it hurt her tremendously that he accused her of using him to get a job with his company. Then she went and fell in love with the man she thought he was, the grown boy from her youth. That should teach her to follow her heart. Whenever she overrode her logic, she always got into trouble.

She walked into her parents' empty house and went to the kitchen for a bottle of water. She had not eaten anything since last night and only had a bottle of water during the whole day. She was dehydrated, hungry, and had a terrible headache from caffeine withdrawal. Deciding to make herself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, she went to the counter by the silverware drawer and saw a business card with the Stanford Enterprise logo on it sitting on the counter. Looking at the front, she saw Ben's, make that Benjamin Stanford's, contact information at the office printed in neat lettering.

He probably stopped by wanting to rake her over the coals again or threaten her with legal action if she declined the job now that the contract was signed. That’s probably what his phone message was about earlier. She did not want to answer it and turned her phone off when she saw that it was him. She was just not in the mood to deal with what he would throw at her next, and knowing that when she finally saw him again, it would be at a distance as boss and employee, she picked up the card and threw it in the garbage. If he wanted to talk to her, he had her cell phone number.