back. She turned around suddenly to look at him when Jane said his name.
"It is nice to see you too, Jane. Jim. Anne." He acknowledged each of them individually. Now that he was standing there next to Anne, he was suddenly tongue tied. Searching for something to say that did not sound like pure blathering, he commented on the nice weather. Did they think it would last through the weekend? Yes? Well, that was good. Anne looked up at him with a curious expression on her face. He knew that he did not sound like his usual self-assured self, and certainly not like the CEO of a company. "How is the water this year? I thought I might kayak over to Waldron Island tomorrow."
"It's fine, Ben. The water along the northeast shallows is quite warm already. Good enough to go swimming, or so I’ve been told," Jim reported.
"Anne, you just said that you wanted to kayak over to Waldron," Anne’s mother chimed in. "Why don’t you and Ben go together tomorrow?" Anne blushed beautifully and shot her mother a pleading look to stop. Apparently you were never too old to be embarrassed by your parents. Ben stifled a laugh at the obvious setup. He was all for it.
"I don’t want to impose on Ben’s time, Mother." Yup, Ben thought. Anne was either angry or nervous. He remembered that she became formal when she was angry and nervous. He wondered which one it was. Hopefully it was nervousness. He felt plenty of that himself right that second. "He has so much to do."
"That’s quite alright, Anne. I would certainly be available for kayaking tomorrow." She liked being manipulated even less than being set up. But she also could not be rude, especially to a guest, something that worked in Ben’s favor.
"Ben, would you like to come with me tomorrow? I would be delighted if you joined me." She suddenly asked the question then relaxed and smiled up at him. She never could keep a bad emotion for long, especially when he would charm her out of one.
"I would like that, Anne." Her smile made his stomach flutter. Tearing his eyes away from her face, he looked back at her parents. "I must get over to my table. Thank you for your suggestion. Enjoy your dinner."
"You also, Ben," both of Anne’s parents said by way of a goodbye. Ben noticed that Anne remained silent. Hoping that was a good sign, he made his way across the room to his table and sat down. After he sat, he looked over at Anne again. She was staring at him. When she saw him looking back at her, she turned away and talked to her parents. Yes, Anne Petrovic, he thought. We will definitely become reacquainted this week.
Chapter 5
The next morning Anne dressed in her red bikini and covered it with blue shorts and a light pink tee shirt. Keeping her face clean of makeup except for her customary sunscreen and lip gloss, she clipped her hair behind her head then headed up to the inn to eat and find Ben. She already ate her breakfast at her parents’ house. It consisted of her typical one slice of peanut butter toast and coffee, but she decided that she was still hungry and wanted some extra coffee. Her sleep the night before was quite restless, making that two nights in a row where she did not sleep, and she yawned several times as she walked up the path.
She was supposed to go kayaking with Ben today. How was she supposed to sleep last night after being maneuvered into issuing the invitation? It did not matter that she actually wanted to spend time with Ben. Could it get any more embarrassing than to have her mother push her into issuing the invitation? What if Ben was not been able to go with her? There was no question that he wanted to go. They never even had another moment to talk to arrange a time to meet that morning or to give him an out. How was she to give him an out if they could not talk?
She ran into Ben in the dining room when she walked in and waited to be seated. He came up behind her, surprising her with a “good morning” spoken softly in her ear. She gave a small jump and turned to look at him. How was it possible that he was more handsome today than he was yesterday? This morning he