at one and go for a bike ride to Orcas Village that afternoon. When she finished with her breakfast, Anne went in search of her mother and informed her about the job offer and that an employment contract was being faxed to her at the inn's number. Her mother promised to call her when it came through. While she waited, she went onto the patio and read the mystery that she had picked up at Boston's Logan Airport in a little store so that she would have something to read on the flight. She did not get much of a chance to read it while flying out to Seattle but made a serious dent in the book yesterday. Between reviewing her notes for the interview and an overly talkative man in the seat next to her on the flight, she only had half of the first chapter read by the time the plane touched down at Sea-Tac. Yesterday, she got all the way to chapter nine before she decided on a swim.
A few minutes after nine, her mother found her on the patio and handed her the fax that had just come through. The cover sheet bore the logo of Stanford Enterprises. Not wanting to read the contract outside, Anne carried it into a quiet meeting room and looked through it. The contract terms were more than fair. Her starting salary was about what she had been making at her old company, and the benefits were good. She would start out with two weeks paid vacation which she could start to use after the first six months. She reached the final page and saw that the contract was already signed by Benjamin Stanford III, Ms. Tomlinson, and Dr. Rudolph. There was a spot for her to sign, and she used the pen she borrowed from the office to sign her name "Dr. Jane A. Conner" on the paper. Then she left the room so that she could fax it back to Stanford Enterprises in the office.
Carrying the fax with her, she was in the lobby passing in front of the gift shop when she was bumped from behind by someone causing her to drop the contract on the floor. She knelt down to pick up the scattered papers and saw a woman's hand grab the cover sheet that showed the company logo and listed her name as the recipient. Anne looked at the woman, saw that the other woman was Chelsea Riverton, and groaned. Chelsea had a smug look on her face that Anne would have loved to wipe off. She probably bumped into Anne on purpose, Anne thought.
"I'll take that, please." Anne took the cover sheet immediately out of Chelsea's hand and stood up.
"What are you doing with a fax from Stanford Enterprises?"
"That's really none of your business, Chelsea. If you will excuse me, I have some things to attend to." Standing up, Anne took the fax, walked back to the office, and used the fax machine. She waited until it went through then called Ms Tomlinson to confirm that the fax was received.
After she took care of her business, Anne took the contract to her parents' house and put it in her briefcase that she had sitting on the floor next to her dresser. Then she smeared sunscreen on her face, neck, and arms and went for a walk in order to get away from the inn for a while. She took off down the drive until she came to Ocean’s Drive then turned left. Following the path that led to Eastsound, she continued walking enjoying the clear morning sunshine. It was a comfortable temperature and a nice breeze stirred the grasses of the watershed area she walked through on her way into Eastsound. As she walked she thought about her discussion with Ben the night before. She could already feel that her emotions were involved.
Their relationship was not just about sex. At least not to her, it wasn’t. What she felt for him in the past seemed like a child’s crush compared to what she felt now. When the week ended, she knew that she was going to be hurt, and she realized that she needed to think about how she could protect her heart from further pain before Ben left on Sunday. The more time she spent with him, the more she wanted to be with him. But he made it clear last night that he would not want to take their relationship further than this