The Job Offer (12 page)

"So that she doesn't spoil the
wedding, we, Anne and I, are pretending to be in a relationship, engaged,
actually.  I hope that she will get the message and leave before
Saturday," Ben told them all.  Everyone looked at Anne with inquiring
faces.

"You agreed to this, Anne?  Do your
parents know?"  Troy asked the questions with a speculative look on his
face.  The same look was mirrored by Liz and Lily.

"It was my idea, and I haven't had
the chance to tell them, yet."  Anne looked around but did not see either
of her parents.  "Ben and I will find them after breakfast."

"Well, you two.  I think I speak
for everyone here when I say that we will all act as if the relationship is
real and that we are overjoyed by it," Liz told them.  "Everyone
agreed?"

"Agreed," they all said in
unison.

"It's time to get ready to
go," Liz said after a quick look at her watch.  Everyone gathered their
things and took one last sip of their coffees then stood up to leave.  When the
group reached the lobby, Liz pulled Ben and Anne aside while the others moved
toward the elevator.  "Ben, the tuxes will be coming up tomorrow, so make
sure you try everything on when they get here.  The tailor thought he would be
here by noon, one o'clock.  So make sure that you are here."

"I'll be here, Mom.  Don't
worry."

"Good," Liz said right before
she wrapped Anne in a hug.  "Welcome to the family, Anne."

"It's not real, Mom," Ben said
drily as she continued to hold Anne's arms after the hug.

"I know, Sweetheart.  Chelsea was
looking over here.  You two have fun today."

"Bye, Mom."  Liz turned and
walked over to the elevator just as the door was opening, leaving Anne and Ben
staring at each other.  "Well, Anne, let’s go find your parents."

They did not have to look too far.  Celia,
the assistant manager, told them that her parents were in the office.  Anne
took Ben's hand and led him to the office area in the employees-only area at
the back of the inn.  Since the day they bought the inn, Jane and Jim Petrovic
shared the same office.  They did, however, sit at different desks in the large
room filled with the usual furniture and equipment found in offices.  The room
also had two kayaks, one lime green and the other orange, leaning against one
corner and a row of plants that lined up on the long window sill.

A nice breeze blew gently in from the
window ruffling Anne's mother's hair.  On seeing her daughter enter the room with
Ben, Anne's mother stopped what she was working on and hopped out of her chair. 
She went to stand behind her husband's chair placing her hands on his
shoulders.

"Mom, Dad.  Ben and I have
something to tell you."

*  *  *  *  *

Seven hours later after a leisurely ride
on kayaks down to Deer Harbor and back, Ben stood on his balcony drinking a
bottle of water and thought about the day.  Anne's parents took the news well
that he and their daughter were masquerading as a newly engaged couple, and they
understood the reason why they were doing so.  Strangely, they seemed to be
almost happy about it.  Jim even shook his hand and slapped his back when
Anne's parents walked the two of them back to the door leading to the
restricted area.

From there he and Anne went back to his
room so that he could change into his red swimming shorts and a yellow tee
shirt.  Then he walked with her to her parents' house and waited while she
changed into a light blue bikini that she covered with a well worn white tee
shirt with a peeling University of Washington's purple logo and beige shorts.  She
pulled her hair back in a haphazard pony tail that left tendrils falling out and
wore a pair of sunglasses and white canvas shoes.  A small bottle of sunscreen
was stuffed into her back pocket and it jiggled with her every step.  He felt
his heart turn over at the sight of her.  He knew that he was wearing a silly
grin when he followed her down the path, but he just did not care.

They borrowed life vests, kayaks, and
paddles again from the inn's checkout cabin located by the dock and took off at
a nice leisurely pace down the shore after applying the sunscreen.  Taking the
trip with Anne reminded him of his first time kayaking.  It was here on Orcas
that he first learned how to use a kayak, and little Anne Petrovic was his
guide down the shoreline.  They only went a few miles that first time years
ago.  She was quite the spitfire adventuress for a nine year old, he remembered,
and he liked her immediately even if she was Lily’s age.

That trip was the first time his family
had come to the inn, and his first time in the San Juan Islands.  His mother
had married Troy Carlson a few months before, and the trip was their first as a
family.  He also had his first kiss from a girl named Allie who was also along
for the kayak trip.  He had a lot of firsts that summer, he remembered.

Their conversations throughout the day
were easy exchanges intermingled with companionable silences that made Ben feel
like he was with one of his friends.  He and Anne paddled down the northwest
side of the island enjoying the smooth waters that hugged the shore.  The
shoreline on his left was mostly rocky and covered with fir trees and scrub bushes. 
He knew that further in from the shore, grassy meadows and watershed areas
would replace the dense forests.  To the right was the channel and Waldron
Island.  He could smell the salt water and pine trees, two scents that he had
come to appreciate living in the Puget Sound area and up here in the San
Juan’s.  They passed several anchored fishing boats and waved to the fishermen.
 Anne recognized one of the men and called out to him by name.  Gulls circled
and dove trying to grab bait from their fishing lines as the men cast into the
water.  Overhead, bald eagles soared.  They did not see any whale pods on the
trip down the coast but passed a couple of sightseeing boats on their way out
in search of orca and humpback whales.

Once they reached Deer Harbor a few
hours later, they stopped for lunch at a little red painted burger shack that
was set up by the dock.  The four picnic tables were all taken, so they carried
their cheeseburger baskets and diet sodas over to the dock and ate while
dangling their feet in the water.  As they talked, another sightseeing charter
filled up with tourists and took off.  A few sail boats with their sails hoisted
drifted around the lower point of the Deer Harbor peninsula.  He recognized one
belonging to a businessman from Seattle that would dock up in Eastsound’s
harbor.  Several families with children and a couple of college age students
walked down the dock shaking the deck boards that Ben and Anne sat upon.

After they were finished eating, Anne
picked up their garbage and carried it to the trash container by the shack
while he readied the kayaks for the return trip up the coast.  It was while he
was doing that that he saw Anne talking to a twenty something year old woman
with two small children at the shack order-pickup window.  They appeared to
know each other.  Then the woman handed Anne the several months old baby she
had been holding while she ran after the little boy who started to wander away.
 Anne secured the baby naturally against her hip and held the little girl's
hand while she swayed.  Both Anne and the baby were smiling as Anne talked to
the small child.  The woman returned with her wayward son and took the baby
back right before their order was ready.  Then Anne carried the tray for the
woman over to a newly vacated table before she said goodbye and walked back to
Ben with a smile on her face.

The whole scene caused the catch in his
gut again, the one he was beginning to recognize far too often when he was with
Anne.  But instead of fear, he felt the level of his desire for her increase.  He
asked her if the woman was a friend when she was next to him again, and she
told him the woman's name and that they had graduated from high school
together.  Then they set out on their return trip and arrived back at the inn a
few minutes ago.  He excused himself when they returned so that he could get
some work done while she decided to grab a book and read.  That brought him to
now, standing on his balcony looking down at Anne reading in the shade of an
umbrella on the patio by the pool.  She looked up and saw him standing on the
balcony and waved at him before going back to her book.

He smiled at her and finished his water
before going back into the sitting room to turn on his computer.  While he
waited for it to warm up, he listened to his phone messages and returned the
first one, a call to a Japanese customer about a new product released last
month.  The product was a new chemical designed to separate the metals more
effectively and efficiently from the water used to clean computer boards in the
manufacturing process.  It had already garnered praise and had earned his
company an award which was to be given out the first Friday of August.  He saw
the article about it in the Times and remembered the interview he gave on
Monday morning to the business news reporter who came to talk about the award.

Sitting down on the couch, he looked
over at the neatly stacked newspaper the maid straightened when she went
through the room earlier in the day.  Ending his phone call, he then returned a
call to his administrative assistant, Gail, who told him that the trip he had
planned to Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Tokyo in two weeks was being moved up to
next Monday because of an issue with the permit paperwork he needed signed by
the Chinese minister in the Huangpu District of Shanghai.  The official would
not approve the paperwork without first meeting with Ben personally to discuss
the proposed research partnership between Stanford Enterprises and Shanghai
University's School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering.  This meant that
Ben would need to cancel his plans to interview final applicants next week and
extend his visit to China and Japan from one month to six weeks.

Sighing in reluctant acceptance over the
change in plans, he ran his eyes over the front page of the newspaper's
lifestyle section at the top of the stack as he talked to Gail about what she
would need to do in his absence.  Andrew Conner had found himself another wife,
Ben thought absently when she stopped talking to look for something on her
computer.  He had met the man on a couple of occasions and did not think much
of him.  Conner was the type of man who would say or do just about anything to
get what he wanted, not qualities that Ben admired.  Gail began talking again,
and Ben's mind returned to their conversation while he finished giving her
instructions.

After making his phone calls, he checked
his emails.  Several of them were copies of emails that were sent between his
managers designed to keep him in the loop.  There was one from Bernie about the
interviews, and he emailed her back about his change in plans for next week.  Because
he wanted the scientist working on their staff by the time he returned from Asia,
he told her to have Winfield, Rudolph, and her email their choice for the hire
and to make an offer of employment to the person if the three of them were in
agreement.  Ben trusted their judgments.  Then he noted the time and reviewed a
report from his CFO.

Twenty minutes later he was notified
that a fax was waiting for him in the inn's office.  He went down to pick it up,
peeked out on the patio, and saw Anne reading in her spot.  He smiled at the
sight of her in her old U of W tee shirt.  Bringing the fax back to his room,
he looked through the employment contract sent from his attorney's office and
signed him name on the last page.  He approved of the choice of hire.  Then he
went back to the office and faxed the document to Bernie so that additional
signatures could be added.  It was a fair offer of employment, and Ben thought
Dr. Conner would sign it without making any amendments.

His cell phone rang about an hour later.
 It was his mother on the other end reminding him of the photo session and that
they needed him downstairs and dressed in something other than jeans and a tee
shirt in fifteen minutes.  Cursing, Ben hung up and scrambled to shower and
shave before donning a cream silk Oxford shirt and brown Chino pants.  He made
it downstairs just in time to see the photographer taking a photo of Lily and
Tom posing on a wooden bench with a flower bed in front of them and the small
bay behind them.

Over the next hour, the photographer had
the couple pose for several "casual" shots alone and a few with the
rest of the family.  The purpose of the photos was to give the couple a photo
record of the days leading up to their wedding as well as allow the
photographer a chance to test different settings and lighting so that the final
wedding photos would show the couple and family at their best.  The reception
would be at the same time of day on Saturday, so the lighting and angles would
be similar.  After an hour, the photographer finally wrapped up, and Ben quickly
excused himself so that he could look for Anne.  He had a sudden desire to have
her by his side.

He walked back by the patio where she
was earlier and found her now at the side of the swimming pool lounging with
her eyes closed.  Her hair and bikini were soaking wet and water drops were in
the process of evaporating from her skin indicating that she had just left the
swimming pool.  Water ran down her stomach collecting in her navel, and his
mouth went dry with the sudden thirst that could only be quenched by lapping it
up.  Looking over her reclining form, he felt a surge of arousal when he saw
the way the light blue suit clung to her curves outlining the areolas and hard
nipples of her breasts and the shape of her mound.  His hands itched to explore
her.  Not able to help it, he leaned over and kissed her lips, a move that
startled her, and she opened her eyes with a gasp.