Whitney in Charge (6 page)

Pam planned to visit soon to see what he’d done with the house so far. If she happened to meet Whitney while at his house, Pam might consider his new neighbor good mother material.

Was he ready to ask someone out on a date? Maybe he should make an effort and get on with his life. Meredith sure had gotten over him quickly with starting a glamorous life with husband number two. Ben didn’t know about dating again just so he could get a mother for Adam, but he did know one thing. He picked the right house to move to with pretty Whitney Benson living so close by.

Maybe he’d ask her out to dinner soon. Two single and lonely people should have a lot in common.

* * *

On Monday, Whitney busied herself with cleaning the house and doing some laundry. While getting the towels out of the dryer, she heard the phone ring. She carried a handful and rushed to the kitchen. Before answering, she threw the towels on the table.

“Hi, Whitney. It’s Molly. It’s so good to hear your voice.”

Whitney felt a twinge of guilt since she hadn’t called Molly for a long time. Actually had she ever called her? She remembered Molly phoning her once to see how she was doing. Although she’d sent Molly a thank you note for her generous donation to the cancer foundation in memory of their mother, she hadn’t been very good about staying in touch with her old friend from
The Bold News
. She felt the worst about not speaking to Molly of all her old friends; Molly had even been her maid of honor. “It’s good to hear yours too.”

“I’m so sorry about your mother’s passing.”

“Thanks, Molly. I miss her but I’m glad she’s not suffering any longer. Mom was weak at the end, but she was a trooper. She insisted on getting out of bed and staying mobile. She wouldn’t give up.” Visions of her frail mother using her walker flashed through her mind.

“You must take after her. You kept going when we had to fight to do a complete makeover at the network. Weaker producers would’ve quit at some of the worthless comments made by the heads.”

“But we stuck to our guns and got the changes we wanted,” Whitney said. “I saw where you hired Connie Murphy for the new morning host.”

“It might be too late. Our ratings have plummeted since you left. Instead of calling it
The Bold News
, it should be
The Shitty News
. There’s nothing bold about it any longer. ”

“What happened?”

“Your replacement’s part of the problem,” Molly said. “John’s an ass.”

“I hate to hear how things have gotten. But I think Connie will boost the ratings. She’s a topnotch anchor. Anyhow I hope so.” A whiff of freshly baked goods tickled her nose and she eyed the plate of still warm cinnamon rolls on the kitchen counter. Her stomach grumbled at the sweet spicy smell. Thoughtful Regan had dropped the rolls off for her.

Molly sighed. “Whitney, we need you in the worst way. Please come back. We had a meeting today and regardless if you come back or not, John’s getting the boot. You have to miss New York, don’t you? You’re a big city girl.”

She hadn’t expected they’d want her to return. It’d been close to two years. She had loved working in New York but couldn’t imagine leaving her family. When she was eighteen, she hadn’t wanted to be like her sisters and stay in Cornett. She’d felt smothered by them and had loved going to college in New York. Then getting a job in the big city had been exciting. New York had been an important part of her life, but now this was the place she wanted to be. Besides having a business with her sisters was important to her.

“I’d like to help but I don’t want to move back to New York. I’m enjoying small town life. Plus I’m going into business with my sisters.” She broke a piece of roll off and popped it into her mouth. Regan’s rolls melted in your mouth. If they decided on selling cakes, she wondered if Regan would consider baking cinnamon rolls for their business.

“What’s the business?”

“We have several ones in mind but haven’t narrowed it down to one yet.” She licked frosting off her finger, waiting for Molly’s negative comments. She knew her too well.

“Sounds like an ulcer waiting to happen. I’m sure you can handle the stress but do you want to? Your income will be nonexistent until you get established. You have to learn about business banking, insurance, sign-making—”

“I can hire people to do what I can’t do.”

“You’re meant to be a news producer,” Molly said. “Why don’t you get on a plane and visit? I can order your ticket for any day you’d like to come. I’ll tell you now if you produce the morning news again, your salary will be considerably higher than before so you can afford to buy whatever your heart desires.”

What Molly didn’t realize was that she didn’t need more money. As the beneficiary of Rob’s huge life insurance policy, she could be comfortable for a long time. After the settling of her mother’s estate, she’d have even more money. It wasn’t about making money. It was about making a life. She cleared her throat. “Molly, I appreciate you thinking of me, but I don’t want to give you any false hope.”

“Please don’t say no right now. Think about it.”

She couldn’t return to New York. It was the place of too many memories of where she’d been loved so well by Rob. She knew now why she’d never called Molly after returning to her roots. Molly reminded her of Rob. She’d been the one to introduce him to her. She’d said they were made for each other. No, she couldn’t fly to visit Molly, and do the job she’d loved so much. Her heart couldn’t survive in New York without Rob. It still hadn’t healed in the broken places.

“I have to go, Molly,” she answered, avoiding commitment. “I’ll call you soon.”

She hung up before Molly offered any further argument. After putting the cordless phone back in its cradle, she grabbed the coffeepot. Once the coffee was done, she carried a mug and the paper to read outside on the patio. She’d only read the front page headlines when a deep male vice said, “Hello,” and made her jump.

Ben stood by her chair, her casserole dish in his big hands.

“Ben, you startled me.”

“I apologize. I didn’t realize you hadn’t heard me.”

She smiled at him, and refolded the paper. She felt butterflies in her stomach just from being so close to Ben. “I take it you didn’t have to knock anyone out this morning.”

He chuckled. “Adam has an interesting way of phrasing things.”

“He’s at a cute age.”

“I don’t get to put anyone to sleep until later this morning, so I thought I’d return your casserole dish. It was so good that I’d like to take you out to dinner this Friday.”

She lifted her eyes from the casserole dish to look at Ben. “That’s sweet of you. I’ll let you know soon if I can go on Friday.” She pushed her chair away from the table. “You have to eat one of Regan’s cinnamon rolls. They’re delicious. Are you a coffee drinker?”

“Yes, I’d like coffee and a roll. Thank you,” he said as she stood.

“I’ll even share my paper with you.” She turned at the patio door, holding her empty cup. “I forgot to ask you. How do you like your coffee?”

“Black, please. I’ll just follow you.”

While she got a cup out of the cupboard for Ben, he set down the casserole dish on the counter. She carried the plate of cinnamon rolls, and Ben carried their cups of steaming coffee to the patio.

After Ben swallowed a mouthful of roll, he said, “You were right. This is delicious.” He sipped his coffee. “I came over to tell you something you and your sisters might be interested in for a business.”

She looked into his brown eyes. “What is it?”

“My friends own a small lake house with rooms to rent plus they have several rental cabins. They want to retire so plan on putting their property on the market. There are some neat trails for hiking. I told them you might be interested.”

“I love to hike. My husband and I used to go hiking all the time. Have you hiked at this place?”

He nodded. “I’ve gone hiking there several times. I can take you sometime if you’d like to see it. It’s only about thirty minutes from here.”

While discussing businesses with her sisters, they’d talked about buying a resort place. She’d call her sisters later and see if they’d want to go see it. “Regan and Shannon looked at the ads to see if anyone had a business like this for sale. Do they have a website I could look at first?”

“Glad you asked.” He pulled a piece of paper out of his shirt pocket. “Here’s their website link. And their names and email address. If you’re interested, they can email you their income for the past year.”

She glanced at the paper and read Wild Blossom Lake House. “I’ve never heard of it, but I was away from this area for a long time. I stayed in New York after I graduated from college.”

“They’ve owned it for several years. I’m not sure exactly how long.”

“Are they open year round?”

Ben nodded. “Yes. They get people to come in the winter by having special events. They have a yearly card tournament in February. And other stuff going on.”

She sipped her coffee. “We talked about running a seasonal lake resort after I mentioned a bed and breakfast. Regan and Shannon didn’t want to run a bed and breakfast year round, and thought a resort would be better if it was open six months a year instead.”

“You could probably arrange to do it on a seasonal basis.”

“I could move to the lake house. Regan and Casey want to buy this house.”

He frowned. “Now I regret saying anything about the lake house. I don’t want to lose you as a neighbor.”

She laughed. “I’m sure you can still swim in the pool. And you can visit me at the lake house. It just won’t be as convenient.”

He rubbed his finger around the rim of his mug. “Regan told me about your husband. I saw her at the zoo with Lily and Casey. I’m very sorry. I enjoyed his nightly reporting on the war.”

She’d watched a DVD of Rob’s best segments just last night. In her mind, she saw him standing tall and straight. Her chest tightened at the thought of how he was blown to bits. Why did he have to die like that? “He definitely had a presence. I miss him but being with my sisters has helped.”

“Now that you aren’t taking care of your mother, maybe you can pursue some hobbies you used to enjoy,” he said kindly.

“I can’t think of anything. Producing
The Bold News
took a lot of my time before I came home.”

“Maybe you can learn how to fly. I enjoy flying in my spare time. I’d like to take you flying sometime.”

She shifted in her chair. “I don’t know. I hate flying.”

He set his cup down on the table. “Since I bombed on the flying offer, I better think of something more than dinner and a resort for sale.”

“I’ve never dated an anesthesiologist who is also a pilot.” She wiped her lips with a napkin. “I might be free for dinner on Friday.” Whitney looked up and immediately her heart raced at the intensity of his gaze.

He glanced at his watch. “I’ll call you later. I need to leave soon for work.”

After saying good-bye, she watched him as he walked away. She’d actually flirted with Ben. She hadn’t done that for a long time. Regan and Shannon would be pleased when she told them she liked Ben enough to consider going to dinner with him, but was she betraying Rob? He still felt like her husband. She couldn’t imagine being with another man. Although she might consider dating Jack. There was something about his voice that was exciting but reassuring at the same time.

But could she ever fall in love with Jack or Ben when letting completely go of Rob might be impossible for her to do?

Two hours after Ben left, Whitney held the phone in her hand, trying to decide whether to call Jack. For some reason, he intrigued her. The sudden ringing startled her and she was pleased to see it was the very man she’d been thinking of.

“Hi. I can’t believe it. I was getting ready to call you.”

“I can hang up so you can call me.”

She laughed. “No, that’s okay.”

“What’s up?”

“My sisters are coming over soon, but I just felt like talking to you.” She wouldn’t mention that she’d already spoken to one guy and in person even. Perhaps, it was time to meet Jack.

“That’s good. Has Regan mentioned her dinner? She’s a great cook, but the main thing I’m interested in is meeting you.”

“I’m glad I rate above Regan’s cooking. I’m afraid Casey’s will be at the fire station during this weekend, so it’s not going to happen yet.”

Chuckling, Jack said, “I don’t mind being the only guy among beautiful women.”

“How do you know I’m beautiful? What did Casey say?”

“He wasn’t much help. But, I figure Regan is attractive and you’re her sister. Do you have auburn hair like Regan?”

“No. It’s dark brown.”

“That’s my favorite color of hair on women.”

“I’m glad. I wouldn’t want to change my hair color.”

“So how about meeting at a coffee house this week? Or at a restaurant? We could go out to dinner. I don’t want to wait on Regan’s dinner to meet you.”

“Regan seems to have a lot going on during the week with planning a brunch for the teachers at Lily’s school. How about coffee on Wednesday after you get off work?” She couldn’t put it off any longer. She wanted to meet the guy behind the sexy voice.