The Job Offer - By Eleanor Webb Page 0,76

I want to do is tell him so that he feels that he has to be the father to a baby that he doesn't want. And I won't marry him because of it. Not if he does not love me."

"But you love him," Carla stated matter-of-factly. "Well, in my opinion, I think you are underestimating him. He has a right to know that he is going to be a father, Anne."

"I know, and I'll tell him after I've left the company."

"Have you decided what you are going to do for work? You can't work for another research company for the next year. What are you going to do for money?"

"I plan on writing up my curriculum vitae this afternoon and sending it to the University and to the Aquarium. I hope to get some adjunct work teaching and I can do some consulting. And if that isn't enough, I plan on asking my father."

"There has to be a better way than asking your father. The last thing you need, especially now, is your father in your life messing it up." Carla had her lips pursed in distaste at the mention of Anne's father. She was a true friend, Anne thought. "You told me how you think Ben will feel, but you haven't told me what you feel. Do you love Ben?"

"Yes. I had hoped that it would fade, but it hasn't. It's only gotten worse."

"What about the baby?"

"I'm scared and happy all at the same time. I keep rubbing my belly to see if there has been any change even though I know that it is too early. And I talk to the baby. Is that strange?"

"It sounds perfectly normal to me because I do the same things. Oh, Anne. This will be great. We will go through all the stages together, our kids will play together."

From that point on the conversation turned to pregnancy and babies. Anne and Carla stood back up and continued their walk, and after they were finished, they walked back to the neighborhood. Anne stopped at Carla's house to look at paint samples and to try a new recipe that Carla was testing for lunch. If it was good, she was planning on presenting it as part of the entree course for a catered fiftieth wedding anniversary next month. Then they sat on Carla's back patio and drank glasses of ice water until Gary came home an hour later with Bob in tow.

"Hi, Honey," Carla called out from the patio.

"Hi! Hey, Anne! You have a visitor at your house. There is a car in the driveway."

"There is?" Anne put her water glass down on the table and got up to walk around to the front of the house to look down the block at the strange silver Lexus sports sedan sitting in her driveway behind her SUV. Carla came up behind her, something that did not surprise Anne.

"Is it Ben?"

"I don't know, Carla. I don't know what kind of car he drives."

"I think that it's him. Go on home. You can tell me who it is later."

Anne did not bother to say goodbye but began walking down the street to her house. Her stomach began to jump the closer she got, and it felt as if her nerves were strung tight, ready to snap at the slightest provocation. The car blocked her view of her front door, so she did not see Ben sitting on the front steps until she walked around the back of his car. He was dressed in old jeans with a hole in the right knee, an old gray tee shirt, and a ratty old pair of athletic shoes. His hair was a mess, as if he ran his hands through it several times. Her heart leaped when she saw him. He stopped looking at his smart phone and stood up immediately when she came into view. Feeling too nervous to talk, she pulled her key from her pocket and walked forward until she was only a few feet away from him.

"Hello, Ben," she croaked out a greeting. She could not make out what he was thinking from his expression. His face had a guarded look with a burning, intense gaze. He did not greet her, a fact she noticed because it made the pain in her chest widen to other parts of her body. She climbed her steps and moved around him to unlock the front door. Once she had it unlocked, she stepped over the threshold and held the