style double doors, Anne stepped onto the wide front veranda that swept along the full length of the building and around both sides. Outdoor wicker furniture was placed strategically along the veranda for guests who wished to sit outside and enjoy the view. The main part of the inn was a large two story plantation style building covered in white clapboard siding with black shingles and shutters. Large windows faced out the front onto the veranda and lawn. Six thick white square pillars stretched up to the second story roof, and supported a second story gallery that ran the full length of the building. A wrought iron railing enclosed the second floor gallery and additional furniture was placed outside for guests who wished to look out onto the sweeping front lawn lined with large oaks and flower beds.
The main building was constructed over a hundred years earlier by a wealthy Seattle shipbuilder who wanted a vacation home on Orcas Island. He was originally from New Orleans and wanted to create a vacation home that could rival any of the great plantation homes found in the South. The house took five years to build and cost a couple of million back when it was completed in 1897. It was reported that several heads of state and wealthy industrialists had stayed at the home back when the shipbuilder, Thomas Rhodes, owned the place. The house and lands were sold in the 1950s when the direct family line died out and descendants of Mr. Rhodes from California decided that keeping the home was not worth it to them. After the house was sold, several cabins were added along the water's edge, and the place was turned into a vacation and fishing resort.
The place changed owners several times over the years until Jim Petrovic and her mother bought it when Anne was two years old. Jim and Anne's mother were just married, and using all of their savings and any capital they could scrape together through loans and private investors, they turned the run down building and cabins around into a thriving inn and vacation resort. When Anne was eight, the inn expanded adding the events center, and she and her family moved from their suite in the main building into the remodeled caretaker's house. Over the years, the inn also added a swimming pool, a spa, tennis courts, and an art gallery-gift shop combination that featured the works of local artists.
Now, rounding the corner of the wrap around veranda, Anne walked back down the trail to the family's house to retrieve some money from her purse. The inn listed Eastsound as its address, but the inn and resort were actually two miles outside of Eastsound village limits along the northwest shore of the island. She could see Waldron Island off in the distance with the expanse of the blue waters of President Channel in between. She also saw several kayakers out enjoying the calm water and a fishing boat off to the right. Further down the channel on the left, she could make out a sightseeing boat on its way north looking for a pod of orca whales for which the island was famous. She could imagine the surprise and awe of the faceless tourists when a pod was spotted. It never stopped thrilling her, and she had seen them countless times.
After grabbing a twenty dollar bill and stuffing it in her back pocket, she headed back to the main building to check out one of the inn's mountain bikes. She decided to take the back staircase that led up the southern elevation of the veranda instead of walking around the pool area and cutting across the patio to the back entrance into the building. As she walked, she became lost in her own thoughts recalling every nuance of that morning’s interview. Surely, they would not have given her the tour if they were not seriously looking at hiring her? Research companies guarded their research as if they were Fort Knox.
Smack.
Lost in her thoughts, she did not watch where she was going and bumped into a man on the veranda who was rounding the corner to head to the back staircase. The force of hitting him would have knocked her down if not for his quick actions to stop her from falling. Immediately after the collision, strong arms enfolded her in a hug before they moved away. She felt strong hands grab her arms to steady her. After the initial hard bump, her