The Job Offer - By Eleanor Webb Page 0,65

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